Our Mission Statement

St. Mark’s is a people and a place for God’s grace. We are a baptized and believing people claimed by Christ. Therefore, we call all people to Worship and Witness, Learn and Serve, Share God’s Word and Sacraments and Reach Out with Words and Deeds of Love.

Our Story

St. Mark’s is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Faithful children, youth, and adults founded St. Mark’s in 1954 in order to provide a place of worship and witness for people who were settling in the north end of Tacoma. Over the years, the community has changed and the congregation has grown, but our commitment to being a people and a place for God’s grace has always stayed the same. The last two decades have been marked by significant growth in membership and in ministry to the world around us. We have greatly expanded our facilities in order to keep pace with the work God is doing among us, and our programs of outreach to the community and the world have led us into a deeper understanding of our mission.

The most common observation of people who come to us as visitors is that we are a “welcoming community” that allows each person to share their gifts and their unique perspectives in a safe and affirming environment. As a whole congregation, we are very diverse in how we express our faith, how we read the Bible, how we vote, and how we address important social issues, but we strive to live together in ways that show respect and love to all people and we remember that it is Jesus Christ who binds us together as one and reconciles us with God and with the whole creation.

Another important part of our story is the way that we have become an inter-generational community that connects people of all ages in worship and mission throughout the year. A  wonderful symbol of that is our Wednesday “Church Night” when everyone from babies to senior citizens gather for music, learning, serving, worshiping, and eating together. On our yearly mission trip to Mexico, every decade of life between teenagers and people in their eighties is represented on the team that serves. This is something that gives us great joy!

In recent years, our music programs at St. Mark’s have also developed a strong reputation in the community. Led by three outstanding music directors who engage people of every age group in service together, we enjoy rich and diverse music that reflects the many gifts of our members.  This is most evident in worship every week, when vocal and instrumental groups lead us in giving praise to God.

Having four staff members who focus all of their attention on ministry with children and youth, along with a caring and experienced Preschool Staff, has made St. Mark’s a great place for young people to be nurtured and supported in their journey of faith. However, it isn’t just the staff that makes this happen. At St. Mark’s, we see ministry with children and youth as the vovation of the whole congregation, and that is just as evident at the Sunday morning Coffee Hour as it is in the Sunday School classrooms.

From the beginning, the story of St. Mark’s is also one that includes a passionate commitment to peace and justice in both the local and global community. Whether it is serving meals at a local shelter, walking with refugees as they come to live among us, supporting families of incarcerated people, or serving the needs of the poor in other countries of the world, we see this as the mission of Jesus Christ that has been given to all those who follow him in faith.

In the spirit of full disclosure, we should also say that we are like every other family we know. In other words, we are quirky at times and there is always a part of us that is dysfunctional. That is why grace matters so deeply to us! That is why the words you see at the top of the page are much more than a “mission statement.” When we say that we are “a people and a place for God’s grace”, we are talking about a precious gift that is received and given daily in ways that free us and fill us with a desire to share this grace with others.