Over the years many have struggled to understand what Jesus was trying to teach us. Furthermore, many have sought to understand the meaning of both his life and his death.

When I think about ministry, About midway through the gospel according to St. Mark, Mark reveals Jesus's purpose as he understood it. Jesus said, I came to serve and not be served and to ransom my life for many.

I invite you to look at several translations that help me to understand the passage:

The King James Version: Mark 10:45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

American Standard Version: Mark 10:45 For the Son of man also came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

New Revised Standard Version: Mark 10:45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.

The Bible in Basic English: Mark 10:45 For truly the Son of man did not come to have servants, but to be a servant, and to give his life for the salvation of men.

YLT Mark 10:45 for even the Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Have you been to "Church" lately?

We are different: we are both traditional and contemporary. We respect and value the traditions passed down from the generations of members who have gone before us. That being said we are not stuck; we are progressive and consistently are introducing new music and worship styles to the weekly experience.

God has blessed us with a dedicated congregation in a rich mission field. Our building is gorgeous, but is after all it is just a building: it's the people that are St. Mark's Church. We are a collection of about 150 souls who come together each week to hear the Apostle's teaching, have fellowship, break bread, and pray. We are a community of believers who are here to serve and not be served, pointing always to the cross and the gift.

So who are we? We are a community of Christians who are not ashamed of the Christian faith. We teach the faith as passed down through the Apostles from the Lord Jesus Christ who reigns over this broken and sinful world.

We have in common this wonderful sense that we are intimately embracing God through our worship. It is abundantly clear to all of us that God is immediately present in our community.

At St. Mark's Church, Frankford, we believe that we are joining in the Grand Procession of Saints as depicted in our stained glass windows. A great cloud of witnesses surrounds us, as we lay aside the incredible burdens that we must carry and the sin that permeates our lives, and run with perseverance the race that has been set before us.

We live out our faith in a number of ways. We worship and share stories with each other through Christian education, we feed the hungry, we engage the poor, we live together. We teach, preach, and pray balance. There must be balance or we tend to fall over. The balance in our lives is found in three forms: worship, service, and discipleship, in no particular order. You will find more about this on subsequent pages on this web site, or visit our church.

Location:

We are located in the Lower Northeast Philadelphia at 4442 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19124. Our phone number is 215 535 0635.

We gather for worship:

Sundays at 10:30am (Almost a Festal Feel in the Main Church)

Wednesdays at 10:30am (Ecumenical Worship)

Wednesdays at 7:00pm (Informal Prayer Gathering)