Meet St. Mark's, Raleigh

A Raleigh church takes seriously its commitments to formation and racial justice

By Lauren Kirkpatrick

St. Mark’s, Raleigh, was founded as an intentional, Eucharistic-centered worship community in 1963. As Raleigh has grown up around us, so have our own existing spaces, as well as the view from our windows.

Our campus has enlarged to include a sanctuary with a flexible worship space, a community life center and a small building for classes that was our original church building. Likewise, our neighborhood has grown and changed dramatically around us. Our church is located in an area of Raleigh that is culturally and economically diverse with unique community needs.

Deepening our spirituality is a priority for our parish. Our adult formation activities regularly feature scholarly guest speakers who assist our members in deepening their Christian identity and witness.  

As we live into the future to which God calls us, perhaps no other need has impacted our life and society as much as than that of racial justice. The threat of racial bias, micro-aggressions and hate crimes still looms large over our city and our nation. Our rector, the Rev. Tyrone Fowlkes, and vestry initiated an in-depth study around race and racial reconciliation over the past year. During Lent, the parish undertook a five-part discussion on race in modern America through intense reflection of the provocative work of James Baldwin as captured in I Am Not Your Negro. These conversations spurred us to form a book club that continues to meet and deepen our awareness through the works of Ta-Nehisi Coates and other provocative writers.  

This year, we also partnered with the Racial Equity Institute (REI), an alliance of trainers and organizers devoted to creating racially equitable organizations and systems. Through REI, St. Mark’s has hosted two Phase I trainings for our members and for other community leaders. We will build on this work in 2019 by offering REI’s Phase I and II training.  

For Lent 2019, we have considered two more important publications: Carolyn Anderson’s White Rage and Robin Diangelo’s White Fragility. We believe that developing an analysis of racial oppression is crucial in expanding our witness in our community and living out our Gospel calling in our parish life.

St. Mark’s has always linked spirituality and social engagement. Through the New Hope Road Alliance, a gathered group of lay and clergy leaders along New Hope Road in Raleigh, we steadily water the seeds of prayer, justice and inclusivity. And some of our work with children includes numerous volunteers who serve the Read and Feed tutoring program a Wilburn Elementary School just blocks away from St. Mark’s.

Just as our parish modeled radical welcoming of the LGBT community in our midst, we hope the seeds we plant today will assist us in engaging our newest frontier, that of our rapidly changing and increasingly diverse neighborhood.

With God’s help, we trust that we can live out our Episcopal identity within this small section of Raleigh.