In the Spirit

-- Michele Marr

Church name: St. Mark Presbyterian Church

Address: 2100 Mar Vista Drive, Newport Beach

Telephone: (949) 644-1341

E-mail: o7 stmarkchur@aol.comf7

Web site: o7 https://www.stmarkpresbyterian.orgf7

Denomination: Presbyterian (USA)

Year church established: 1962

Service times: The Sunday worship service is at 9:30 a.m.; Sunday

school for preschool and elementary school-age children is concurrent.

Adults and teens meet for study at 11 a.m. following the worship service.

Pastor: Gary Collins

Director of Christian education: Lynn Peck

Church staff: Rich Messenger, choir director; Leslie Brockman,

organist and accompanist; Mary Hornbuckle, director of the community

preschool; Curt Webster, director of outreach; Kathleen Shematek, interim

executive director of the St. Mark Health Alliance; Deborah Farnsworth,

director of counseling services; Carol Baker, office manager and Bob

Smith, business manager.

Size of congregation: 380 adult members

Makeup of congregation: Members come primarily from Newport Beach,

Costa Mesa, Irvine and other cities in the greater Orange County area

Child care: Available for infants and toddlers

Type of worship: Traditional Presbyterian, in contemporary language,

including both traditional and contemporary music led by the church’s

30-voice choir

Type of sermon: Biblically based, the sermons emphasize that faith

isn’t a declaration of belief in Christ so much as following Jesus, and

that all people are invited into Christ’s family. We are called to love

what Jesus loves and, like him, to be self-giving and inclusive. Themes

come from a Scripture text. Sermons address social justice issues of our

day and the question of how God’s people are to live a life of faith in

our time and place.

Recent sermon: “If the rich man had said, ‘Yes”’

Welcome wagon: A hospitality team welcomes guests. A fellowship hour

in the patio follows the worship service. The Rule of St. Benedict guides

the hospitality offered: “All who present themselves are to be welcomed

as Christ ...”

Outreach programs: The church is dedicated to its mission. Meeting

people’s needs in the congregation, the community, the country and the

world is a high priority for the congregation. Throughout the week,

members, their children and their friends have numerous opportunities to

pray, plan, play, study and serve within the family of faith at St. Mark.

Some of the programs supported by the church are: the St. Mark Health

Alliance, which offers services on a sliding scale basis to families and

individuals, with special expertise in abuse issues and anger management;

a partnership with Glenn Martin Elementary School in Santa Ana, where

church members provide tutoring and library books and have established a

$20,000 endowment for a field trip program; and a partnership with a

group of 12 congregations in Managua, Nicaragua, through a program

developed within the Protestant Council of Churches of Nicaragua to

promote economic growth for this impoverished area. The church provides

loans in support of entrepreneurial efforts by small businesses in this

region. The church also runs a community preschool at the church site.

The school provides a multicultural curriculum for children 2 years, 9

months (in September) to 5 years of age.

Dress: Casual, as you like

Church design: Two simple, contemporary buildings, designed for

function and renovated, recently, floor to roof.

Mission statement: We live our lives in the conviction that God is at

work today, establishing the reign of God’s love and justice in this

world. Jesus Christ inaugurated and embodied the reign of God in his

life, taught what this kingdom is to be and promised its fulfillment in

God’s future. We love him, cherish his vision and believe his promise.

God has called us together at St. Mark Church, in time and place, to live

toward the vision of the reign of God given to us by Jesus. Our mission,

therefore, is to act as God’s hands and voice, as agents of

reconciliation and companions in our commitment to Jesus’ vision. We

intend all we do in worship and study to engender in us a passion for the

love and justice of Jesus Christ. Believing that every group of people

belongs to God and that every person is God’s creation and, therefore,

sacred, we will actively seek to find ways to share the good news with

them all and invite them to listen for God’s call to them.

Interesting notes: An alternative Christmas market supporting helping

agencies will again be held on the campus on Nov. 19. The public is

invited. The theme for Advent worship will be “Walking to Bethlehem”

beginning on Dec. 3. Adult and youth members will be working at a

fund-raising breakfast for the Someone Cares Soup Kitchen on Dec. 9. A

Hanging of the Greens evening will be held in the sanctuary on Dec. 10.