Outreach ministries of Good Shepherd

Saturday Community Meal: Every Saturday, with help from several other congregations, we provide a meal from 1:00 to 2:00 for anyone who is hungry.

Lake Grove School: In an ongoing relationship with our local elementary school, we have provided books, school supplies, and Thanksgiving meal assistance to children and families in our community.

Alcoholics Anonymous: Two men's AA groups meet at Good Shepherd: one on Thursday nights and one on Saturday mornings.

New Hope Center, Goma: This ministry for grieving children in the Democratic Republic of Congo was created by Good Shepherd parishioners Anita and Bruce Paden, and we help support it financially.

Refugee Resettlement: With help from the Refugee Resettlement Office of the Diocese of Olympia, we are sponsoring a family from Afghanistan to help them get settled in federal Way.

Seattle Angels: This group provides assistance to foster families; with their help, we are sponsoring a family in our community.

Good Shepherd's extensive outreach efforts have qualified us as a Jubilee Ministry Center of the Episcopal Church. In order to qualify, a congregation must:

•   be connected with the Episcopal Church,
•   be involved among and with poor and oppressed people wherever they are located,
•   be rooted in worship,
•   include several programs, including at least one human rights advocacy program, and one human service program,
•   and be willing to demonstrate its operation for models, maintain “how-to” files, act as a resource center for other ministries, and be subject to review.

Our outreach partners

No church has the capacity or the call to address every need. We are glad to live in a part of the country with lots of social services beyond the church, but navigating them can be confusing. We have found the following Federal Way organizations to be the most effective at what they do:

The Federal Way Community Caregiving Network meets at Good Shepherd every Tuesday from 10:00 to 11:45 a.m. to provide people with rental assistance and gas vouchers.

The Federal Way Day Center, run by Catholic Community Services, provides a welcoming space to adults who are homeless and vulnerably housed, with showers, laundry, computers, phones, mail reception services, space for meal preparation, a full-service low barrier clinic, and access to health care and other social services.

The Multi-Service Center, co-founded by a member of Good Shepherd in the 1970s, uplifts communities by increasing equitable access to advocacy, opportunities, and well-being. They can help with food, housing, energy bills, job-hunting, and more.

Fusion is the first place to contact for families with children who are experiencing homelessness.