St. Paul Community, Pontiac is located in an impoverished area. The church seeks to serve its neighbors and every day there is someone in need. According to their pastor, Rev. Chris Jung, “they come to our door every day and they have food needs, or someone needs a phone and we help them get a government phone. Or (they) come for clothing from the clothing closet. We just try to help them in any way we can.”
It’s not easy, but Rev. Jung is blessed to have some help in Mary McColeman. Mary is a member at St. John, Rochester but spends a lot of time at St. Paul. She and her husband, Mike, take care of the food pantry and spend hours organizing and making the meals for the community. “They do this out of the goodness of their heart,” says Rev. Jung, “because they want to serve Jesus and His kingdom.”
McColeman is adding a new title to her name and some extra hours at St. Paul Community: She has become the church’s Parish Nurse. She is excited about the opportunity and says, “It will be a lot of health teaching and spiritual support. They say the definition of Parish Nursing is Christ-centered nursing.” And she already has plans in mind for her new position: “We’re talking about some basic things like first-aid boxes and defibrillators, first-aid classes, vaccination clinics, health care classes, blood pressure checks.” On October 7, from 5-7p.m., they will be holding a free flu vaccination clinic at the church.
McColeman says she is so glad that God has placed her in this spot and at this time: “God uses each of us in different ways. Everybody’s got something they should be doing, and I just think right now this is maybe something I can do.”
The ministry at St. Paul Community, Pontiac is part of the A2E initiative supported by the Michigan District’s Here We Stand Campaign.
Photos and video by Jeff Heisner/Michigan District, LCMS
