The Mary Martha Society

The Mary Martha Society of the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, Barrie, Ontario is a member of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League-Canada. It has been established to foster and support the program and undertaking of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League-Canada: Mission Education, Mission Inspiration, Mission Service. It does so by promoting growth in Christian knowledge; furthering a love for and helping provide for active participation in Christian service; fostering Christian fellowship; and co-operating with the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in its ministry to build the Kingdom of Christ.

Ministries of Mary Martha

    Society Socials- Each year the Mary-Martha hosts social events to provide opportunities for the women of Good Shepherd to fellowship with their sisters in Christ. This year’s events are the Mary Martha Brunch, the Craft Night, the Christmas Social, the Valentine’s Social, the Speaker’s Night, and the Mother/Daughter Banquet. The responsibility for organizing the various events will be divided among the circles and the executive.

  The Christian Growth Retreat- The Mary Martha has hosted a winter Christian Growth Retreat for the past two years. The intent of this retreat is to provide women the opportunity to grow in their faith through Bible Study and fellowship with their sisters in Christ in a retreat setting. Themes of past retreats include; “Stressed and Blessed” and “The Leaner Me”.

  Altar Guild- The Altar Guild serves Good Shepherd by caring for the preparations for the Lord’s Supper and the beautification of the chancel with flowers.

  Out of the Cold Ministries- Out of the Cold Ministries is a local organization which provides hot meals and warm places to sleep to people in need. The Mary Martha Society participates in this ministry by helping to provide casseroles. Each circle undertakes the job of cooking one batch of casseroles and additional cook-ins are scheduled as needed. The congregation is encouraged to donate to special offerings to fund this effort to help stamp out hunger in Barrie.

  The Seminary Guild- The Concordia Seminary Guild is a society that helps to support the students at the Seminary in St. Catharines. They work to link seminary students with LWML societies through the student adoption program. The guild also co-ordinates donations of food and clothing for seminary families. They hold several special days each year, Harvest Day in the fall and Guild Day in the spring. Members of the guild are able to gather together on those days to hear of the work of the guild. They also try to do special things for the seminarians at Christmas and around call day. Membership in the guild is well over 1000. The only requirement of being a member of the guild is paying a membership fee of $5.00. With this you are supporting the work of the guild and in turn the men preparing for the pastoral office.

  Student Care Packages- Each circle has the opportunity to send a care package to each one of our university students. The packages are sent two times a year to remind the students they are being prayed for and remembered.

  Adopted Seminary Student- Each year our society adopts a seminary student from the St. Catherine’s seminary. We remember our student with letters, a birthday and Christmas gift, and in our prayers. Our Seminarian is also included when we send our student care packages.  

Mites - Offerings

    Your Mary Martha Society collects two kinds of offerings at monthly circle meetings. The general offering collected goes to fund the operating costs of our society. It helps to pay for things like postage for care packages, desserts for funeral luncheons, coffee and table cloths, support of our seminary student, sending our delegate to convention, supplies for mission projects, gifts for shut ins, and many other worthwhile undertakings.

    The second offering collected at monthly meetings is called the Mite offering. We also try to collect special mite offerings at the various Mary Martha functions and socials. LWML Mite money goes to support the district and national work programs. This includes the operating cost of the league and all the mission projects selected at conventions. Mission Projects are selected by LWML-C and its districts. They are voted on in convention by delegates representing our society. These projects are supported by our mite giving. Each mite dollar is split between national and district projects. 60% is given to the Ontario District and 40% to LWML-C to support mission projects.

      Traditionally, LWML mites are thought of as the coins dropped into a mite box with the prayer that God’s kingdom will be furthered. The Biblical reference to mites is found in Luke 21: 1-4 where the poor widow gave all she had to the Lord. Take the time to consider your mite giving. Remember the sacrifices of the widow and of our Lord Jesus who both gave their all.

Remember: Mighty things can be done with our mites!