St. Mark’s & St. John’s is proudly located in the Beechwood neighborhood in the city of Rochester. Dismal statistics have made Beechwood and our adjoining neighborhood, EMMA, a focus area of the Rochester Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative (RMAPI). There have been many talented and caring people from all corners of our city and surrounding county who have met, strategized, mapped, and then met some more in hopes of stopping the downward spiral of oppressive forces that are at play in our neighborhood. The issues are complex and Rochester, as is true with so many other places in our country, did not get here overnight.

 
For decades SMSJ was emblematic of what was happening in our neighborhood. We were losing members and money, having to heat and keep up a large physical plant, all the while professing to be a beacon of hope for those who needed it. In 2012 the church's leadership decided to chart a different course. We stopped praying for our own institutional survival and started praying that God would direct our hearts, minds and hands in a way that we could make our neighborhood a place more reflective of God's dream for all of us. So we stopped attending meetings and literally started digging. 

Since then, we have started seven urban vegetable gardens. Tangible signs that transformation, life, and health are possible NOW. We've nurtured and harvested thousands of pounds of vegetables and distributed them to our most vulnerable sisters and brothers and their children. We've laughed and cried with our neighbors... mowed grass, picked up trash, pulled weeds, spread compost, handed out food, anointed those who sought healing, danced with our kids, watched the sun go down on the front steps with our neighbors, canned salsa and sauce, and tried to not take ourselves too seriously.