Teams

The teams of St. Michael’s are responsible for the care and nourishing of the church, both its members and its building and grounds.

Advocacy Group – The St. Michael’s Advocacy Group is dedicated to promoting areas of advocacy within the parish and community at large. We recognize three areas of being advocates in the public square: awareness, education, and action. The Advocacy Group’s work is founded in the gospel message of Jesus to love our neighbors, and the group looks to the Episcopal Church’s stances and policies on various issues, including human rights, social justice, and opposing racism and other forms of hatred and bigotry. Recently, the group has hosted several forums including ones by Sheriff Scott Wrigglesworth and State Senator Curtis Hertel via Zoom. Stay tuned and check our Facebook page and website for upcoming educational events hosted by the Advocacy Group.

Community Garden- During the growing season, more than 20 local gardeners plant and tend to their plots through the St. Mike’s Community Garden.   The garden is part of the Garden Project of the Greater Lansing Food Bank.  They support our gardeners with seeds and seedlings, a resource center, tilling as well as training garden leaders.   For more information, please see the Community Garden tab.

Finance – Budgeting, ongoing financial oversight, establishing sound financial policies and practices are all functions of this team.

Labyrinth – Our Labyrinth is an outdoor prayer tool.  It is the home of many types of wild plants and flowers native to Michigan.  There is a team of gardeners who help keep the labyrinth in beautiful shape and tend the flowers and plants.  We are always looking for more eager gardeners.  The labyrinth is designed to help you pray, so please stop by and pray the labyrinth.  There are some directions on site there to help you.  For more information, please see the Garden and Labyrinth tab.

Mission Beyond the Parish – We at St. Michael’s seek to look beyond ourselves to the people around us and share the love of Christ as we serve and connect with our neighbors.  Our Mission Beyond the Parish Team does this through several projects throughout the year as well as to support agencies with monetary contributions.  Below are our current projects.

• _{St. Michael’s runs a diaper ministry in partnership with Christian Services.  We provide diapers and baby wipes every other week for needy babies and children who are referred to us by Christian Services.}
• _{We have an ongoing collection of Personal Needs items for the Personal Needs Closet run by Christian Services.  This helps our neighbors with personal needs items which are not covered by state funding programs.}
• _{Our Giving Tree Project, at Christmas, provides clothing and toys for children in need that we adopt for Christmas.  We partner with Give-A-Kid-A-Christmas Program to help brighten our adopted children’s Christmas.}
• _{For over 40 years, we have voluntarily operated Booth 26 at the MSU Stadium for home football games.  This gives us a chance to show our love of Christ by shining our light in a friendly and caring way to our neighbors at the stadium.}
• _{We have partnered with Lansing Area Aids Network to provide Christmas Meals to two of their families. Brightening their Christmas season.}
• _{We send monetary contributions to Episcopal Relief and Development to be used to help people in the United States as well as in the world after a disaster or during a crisis. Not only helping our neighbor locally but throughout the world.}

Pastoral Care – The people of the pastoral care team work with the rector to help meet the spiritual needs of the parish by providing visits to the homebound and those in the hospital or care homes.  Members of this team work with the rector to bring Holy Communion to those unable to be present with us on Sundays and special days.  Pastoral Care members keep in touch with our extended parish family and bring their needs to the parish.

Property and Grounds – The charge of the property and grounds team is to keep the church building and surroundings in good repair, safe, and inviting through its attractive appearance.

Stewardship – This team guides the congregation in its understanding of how personal stewardship fulfills the mission of the parish. Typically, this is managed through a campaign to encourage annual pledge support. For more information on stewardship at St. Michael’s please go to the Stewardship tab.