Community Engagement

St. Martin’s is committed to community. Jesus’ call to “love thy neighbor” is realized with our neighbors in Chestnut Hill, our regional neighbors in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley, and our national and international community.

View the 2022 Community Engagement Committee (CEC) Handbook here.

St. Martin's Community Engagement Ministries:

Climate Action Team

St. Martin's Climate Action Team

The St. Martin's Climate Action Team brings members of our congregation together to understand, act on, and pray about the very real challenge of climate change.

St. James School

Community Engagement Ministry Partner

St. James School serves the immediate under-resourced area of Ridge/Allegheny/Hunting Park. The school (grades 4-8) provides a private school education worth approximately $30k per student to nearly ninety students per year at minimal to no cost to the families. The staff and faculty also engage the residents through the Welcome Table and through many community activities. St. Martin's parishioners volunteer and contribute needed funding on a reliable basis and the commitment through the covenant creates a sense of stability and structure on both sides.

Guatemala Companion Parish Ministry

The work of the Guatemala Companion Parish Committee involves maintaining the relationship between St. Martin’s and the priests and parishioners in our three Guatemalan companion parishes (San Marcos, San Juan Apostol, and San Martin, Obispo), supporting programs developed by our companions, and visiting our companion parishes. Over nearly 25 years of relationship-building, the Committee has provided funding to support programs devised by our companion parishes to promote human, economic, and/or community development.

Racial Justice

Becoming Beloved Community: A Process for Racial Justice.

At St. Martin’s we use the phrase Becoming Beloved Community to describe the parish’s ongoing work of inclusion, transformation, and public witness aimed at racial justice. The effort flows from the parish’s aspirational value to become a racism-free and diverse community that reflects the city where we worship.

Refugee Resettlement Ministry

Launched in 2016, the Refugee Resettlement Ministry at St. Martin’s was created out of concern by several members of the parish about the global refugee crisis, particularly coming out of Syria. St. Martin’s Refugee Resettlement Ministry joins with leaders of faith communities, secular organizations, and citizens in the Philadelphia area to resettle refugees in a safe, secure, and welcoming environment.

POWER Local Organizing Committee

The Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields is a founding member of Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower, and Rebuild (POWER), a faith-based community organizing project that includes over 40 interfaith congregations throughout Philadelphia and more throughout Pennsylvania.

Jubilee School

St. Martins has been a long time contributor to the Jubilee School, a Pre-K through 6th grade independent school in West Philadelphia committed to integrating scholarship, social activism, and the celebration of heritage, in a rigorous, comprehensive private school education which is affordable to all, regardless of income.

Ongoing Ministries

Food & Hygiene Items for St. Luke's - Daily

Drop off non-perishable foods and hygiene items at St. Martin's. Donations are taken down to St. Luke's Food Cupboard in Germantown every week or so.

Blessed Baking - Weekly on Friday

Each Friday at 9:00 a.m. bring homemade, packaged, and fully labeled baked goods for The Welcome Table at St. James School. Jane Good leads this effort.

Diaper Drive for the Church of the Crucifixion - Daily

St. Martin's Refugee Resettlement Ministry hosts an ongoing Diaper Drive to support immigrant families served by the Church of the Crucifixion in South Philadelphia. Packaged diapers of all sizes can be delivered outside the parish house daily. They are collected each Friday at 9:00 a.m. Read more here.