There was a time, five years ago when St. Francis Episcopal Church was the Inn on the road to Jericho for the poor and beaten, documented or undocumented, Latino neighbors who visited our doors. Most of them worked long hours- paid for what they received and we offered them a Church home and services that were out of their reach. The Good Samaritan were the majority, but as the years passed the numbers of Latino members cought up and surpassed them; the Church became a multi-service Home-Church, Food Pantry, Court Resource, After School, Award Winning Summer Camp, out patient Clinic etc. So now we serve 40 children 5 days a week, offer counseling to 50 adults and families everyday, provide food and bill relieve to another 400 every month, and celebrate with 140 parishioners on Sunday. Now our English members number is a dedicated 12 adults and we have managed to grow on a shoe string of grants, volunteers from Furman University, GHS and AARP, some gifts, and a small income from a Gym fund.
We have been a main story during the crisis of immigration raids, and joblessness; however, we realize that the shoes we have worn thin stepping up to the plate, have to be replaced with the sandals of St. Francis. Like our Lord- we have no place to rest our head, house our programs, or even hold our services. We have been faithful customers of Duke Power, and Piedmont Gas, but the time has come to change from being neighbor head consumers to community conscience, and take our mission on the road. Five years of trust building, and service hang in the balance.
Is the height of the economic crisis, the best time to abandon the poor? Can we turn to the Good Thief on the Cross and say 'Son I have problems of my own', or rather listen to the truth he is sharing- "We are all under the same sad sentence- Be Kind"
In the near future St. Francis Mission to the poorest and most vulnerable, like its' patron saint, will drop the robes and titles of the past and pursue Lady Poverty. We will no longer be an isolated congregation, but a mission in every sense, treading the road to Jericho, and looking for a resting place for those we rescue on the path. The victims are many, the rescuers are few- Will you join us? In partnership?
Rev. Robert Taylor
