Service and Outreach
This parish runs on volunteer-power. Whether it is singing in the choir, hosting coffee hour after the service, taking the altar flowers every Sunday to those who are shut in, cleaning the building or tending the church grounds, just about every parishioner volunteers in some way. Volunteers also run many fund-raising activities that go to support the parish' outreach.
The Church of the Ascension and many of its parishioners have played a leading role in the Lakewood Christian Service Center, a local ecumenical service organization that provides food, clothing, and many other services for those in the Lakewood community who are in need.
Besides the direct involvement by many of its members, the parish participates through food drives and has been a distribution site for the Center's activites. Additionally, the parish furthers its ministry to those in need through particular programs organized by the ECW and Brotherhood of St Andrew.
Our partnership with St. Paul's Lutheran in Westlake feature a Community Meal. Our kickoff of January 11, 2001, was a great success. With over 20 Ascension parishioners volunteering, we served 96 guests . Our guests dined to the music of Lakewood High School's
"Four Seasons".
The Community Meal continues to be well
attended by those people in the community.
While the parish makes use of the church and buildings on Sunday, the rest of the week the parish provides these spaces for numerous dependency-support groups. These group meetings often number more than one hundred, at the present there are six during the business week. The church gymnasium is provided to a local catholic high school for their team's practice. Many of our parish volunteer their time to make sure these groups have convenient access and the cost of keeping these spaces available to such group is bore by the parish.
One of our newest out reach programs is "Loving Paws", a pet ministry, which is now
30 members strong and in it's third year.
