St. John's Garden Door Ministry

​As the Garden Door Ministry grows, our parish continues to struggle with keeping up with the needs of our neighbors who come to our door and the use of space efficiently in the parish office. As we evaluate the future operations of Garden Door, we will explore opportunities to house the Garden Door Ministry offsite in the downtown area or via a mobile unit that is able to travel around as needed. 
​For the past several years the Garden Door Ministry has served as a great light for our homeless neighbors in downtown Indianapolis providing for their needs both physically and spiritually.  The Garden Door Ministry is located inside the parish office and utilizes the front door of the parish office.  Garden Door storage space is also a challenge as the ministry takes up one office space for meal prep and serving and an additional storage room in the parish office basement. As the ministry has grown (seeing on average 140 people per day), our parish continues to struggle with keeping up with the needs of our neighbors who come to our door and use of space efficiently in the office to both serve our homeless neighbors and our parishioners who come to the door for meetings. This past year we had to discontinue the use of clothing at the Garden Door due to the high demand and stress put on volunteers, which called us to take a step back and re-evaluate the Garden Door location and take it to prayer about where God may be calling this ministry in the future. 

​​Our commitment to care for the poor is a priority for St. John’s!  As we evaluate the future operations of Garden Door, we will explore opportunities to house the Garden Door Ministry offsite in the downtown area or via a mobile unit that is able to travel around as needed. This would be similar to a food truck but would be outfitted to meet the needs of the Garden Door Ministry.  This would allow St. John’s to be involved and guide the Garden Door Ministry but would move the ministry outside of the parish office and allow the function of the front door to be used for welcoming parishioners and guests into the parish office for meetings, baptism classes, marriage preparation, etc.  
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