Guilds and Organizations

St. Mark’s has a number of guilds and organizations for parishioners that serve the faith community in various ways. All ages are invited to work together to serve in these ministries.

A gift of hospitality…
Hosting Sunday Refreshments after 10 am
Our Sunday refreshment time after the morning services is a great gift of hospitality to our faith community and guests. Anyone is welcome to host and snacks need not be elaborate - for about  50-75 people after the 10 am service. Vestry members and others will help make coffee (simple - like using a "Mr. Coffee" machine). Sign up on the sign up sheet in Stacy Hall or click the button below:

Click to host refreshments

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Readers
Parishioners read the scriptures aloud in the Sunday services and on holy days. The Readers are youth and adults who volunteer to read the first and second readings and lead the praying of the psalm. The readers also lead the Prayers of the People (intercessions). The schedule and the roster are distributed to all readers by quarter, so they can practice the selected readings ahead of time and so they can trade with other readers if they are unable to read on the assigned dates. As a rule, one reader reads the first reading and leads the psalm, and a second reader reads the second reading and leads the Prayers of the People.
Contact: Patrick Henry [email protected]
 
Altar Guild
St. Mark’s Altar Guild is responsible for setting up the altar for all regular and special church services, caring for altar linens and vestments, decorating the church for the seasons of the church year (Advent and Christmas, Lent, Holy Week and Easter and the “green” seasons after the Epiphany and Pentecost), providing weekly floral arrangements for the sanctuary, maintaining the 7-day sanctuary lamp candle in the chapel and the blessed water in the baptismal font, and caring for the Memorial Garden. Altar Guild members are assigned to one of five teams, and each team serves one Sunday each month.
Contact: Yvonne Lowe [email protected]
 
Chalice Bearers
Chalice Bearers offer the chalices of wine during the Eucharist (communion) at St. Mark’s, following the priest who gives the bread. They do not vest, but come to the altar from the congregation.
Contact: Bob Jennings [email protected]
 
Acolytes
Our Acolytes are children and youth and a few adults, all of whom are specially trained, and who assist in leading the liturgy. Their services include processing in and out with the cross and torches, assisting with the offering, and assisting the priest at the altar. Acolytes vest for services.
Contact: Bob Jennings [email protected]
 
Ushers
St. Mark’s ushers are 25 or so volunteers who are part of our ministry of welcome at the 10 am service every Sunday and holy days as well as at funerals and special events. The ushers greet worshipers as they arrive, provide them with a service leaflet, and direct them to seating or elsewhere in the building, as necessary.
Contact: Angie Janes [email protected]
 
Alms Counters
Two of St. Mark’s Alms Counters meet after the 10 am service each Sunday to count all pledges, plate offerings and other donations made at the 8 am and 10 am services. Forms are completed totaling the donations in various categories, and the two assigned Alms Counters complete bank paperwork and deliver the paperwork and the donations to the bank.
Contact: Marnie Olmstead  [email protected]
 
Memorial Garden Guild
St. Mark’s Churchyard Memorial Garden contains 309 burial plots for the cremated remains of parishioners, family members and friends of the parish. Almost half of the plots have been filled or are reserved by those who have chosen the garden as their final resting place. Inside the English style lichgate, brass memorial plaques honor those whose remains have been scattered in the garden area beyond the designated burial plots. A service for veterans interred or scattered in the garden is held each year on Memorial Day. The Memorial Day service includes prayers, presentation of the colors and a gun salute.
A restricted account, holds funds from plot sales, and is used for maintenance and improvements. The benches in the garden are all memorial gifts. St. Mark’s sexton is responsible for plot preparation for interments, setting each stone marker and basic maintenance.
Contact: Olivia Flisher [email protected];
Leslie Zuller, Business Manager [email protected]
 
Concert Guild
St. Mark’s Concert Guild hosts and makes arrangements for a number of concerts held at St. Mark’s throughout the year. Schoolhouse Music Evenings are currently in their 37th season, led by Music Series Director Linda Stafford Burrows. The series began in the old Los Olivos Schoolhouse on the Dunn School campus under the direction of then Dunn music teacher and St. Mark’s former organist and choir director Rose Purcell Knoles.
The Concert Guild also sponsors other special concerts at St. Mark’s, and volunteers from this Guild sell tickets (prepaid and at the door), make the arrangements for the concerts and provide simple refreshments for receptions following each concert. St. Mark’s has become a regular venue for concerts open to the Santa Ynez Valley community and musicians particularly enjoy the excellent acoustics in St. Mark’s sanctuary.
Contact: Linda Stafford Burrows [email protected]
 
Sunday Greeters
Sunday Greeters work with Ushers to welcome worshipers to St. Mark’s and answer any questions they may have. 
Contact: 
 
Weekday Greeters
Weekday Greeters volunteer in St. Mark’s parish office and provide hospitality to parishioners, visitors and neighbors who come to the church campus during the week. This service is usually provided from 10 am to 2 pm on weekdays, but hours are somewhat flexible. The volunteers serve from one to five days per month, and there are currently approximately 10 greeters in this ministry.
Contact: 
 
Gardening Guild
St. Mark’s employs a gardening service that does routine maintenance of the church grounds, but Gardening Guild volunteers hold several workdays throughout the year to prepare the grounds for special seasons, such as Christmas and Easter. The workdays are generally on Sunday mornings after services (Grubby Sunday), and the volunteers plant and prune the garden beds and do other tasks to beautify St. Mark’s grounds for all who come to our campus.
Contact: Puck Lohnas [email protected]
 
Hospitality Guild
St. Mark’s Hospitality Guild organizes food and beverages for Sunday refreshments after services and receptions following special events, such as concerts and art shows. To host Sunday refreshments, volunteer hosts sign up on a bulletin board in Stacy Hall or online here:
Host Sunday Refreshments​

Newsletter: The Little Roar and the eRoar
St. Mark's has a printed newsletter, The Little Roar, distributed on Sunday morning at church, and an email newsletter, The eRoar. If you have information you would like included, write the article that you would like to see and send it in email to Freda Iverson, [email protected] to be included in the Little Roar and the eRoar.