Evangelism is sharing the Christian faith by word and example. The aim of evangelism is to seek the lost as Christ did with the Gospel and to encourage commitment to Him as Savior and Lord.

Through our Evangelism Training, Greeters and Newcomer Ministries, we seek to educate our congregation about our Christian duty to share faith by word and deed and inform the congregation about opportunities to share faith. We strive to have at least one on-going evangelistic opportunity for our congregation. Finally, we aim to attract new members, strengthen their faith and integrate them into the congregation.

We have held a Small Group and Ministries Fair to inform members of the congregation of the many opportunities available within our parish for members to be active participants in The Great Commission and to live out our mission statement, "to make Him (Christ) known." Informational brochures, stewardship campaign and other printed materials and new banners for display on adjacent Patterson Avenue have been produced by our Evangelism Team and Marketing Committee. Our Marketplace Ministry members, who reach out to the business community, work closely with Needle's Eye Ministries.

Outreach

St. Matthew's has a long tradition of reaching out in many directions both in the Richmond metropolitan area and to the ends of the earth. We have been able to support many important areas with prayer, active personal involvement and financial support. Significant funding is provided in our church operating budget and is in turn distributed every year to more than twenty organizations.

• Examples of our outreach efforts close to home have included: CARITAS (Congregations Around Richmond Involved to Assure Shelter) a ministry to the homeless; STEP (Strategies to Elevate People) which works in the Gilpin Court Community; Central Virginia Food Bank; youth group and adult outreach support of people in need in places ranging from Appalachia and South Carolina to Mexico; Boys Home; Crisis Pregnancy Center; Crossover Ministries; Freedom House; Habitat for Humanity; Inter-Varsity and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes; Prison Fellowship, Angel Tree and other prison ministries; the Shepherd's Center; Trinity Episcopal Seminary; and many more.

• Examples of overseas missions have included: Anglican Frontier Missions specializing in taking the Gospel to the 25 least evangelized groups of people in the world; support for missions to Nepal, Central Asia, Costa Rica and Bolivia; support to the Diocese of Honduras; and many others.

Weaver's Guild

This organization of fifty members provides greeters at the 10:30 am and 6:30 pm services each Sunday and at special services throughout the year. Guild members also deliver gifts to visitors on the afternoon of the day the visitors worshipped at St. Matthew's.

Alpha

Alpha is a program that involves teachings in the fundamentals of Christianity. It originated in the United Kingdom and has recently been introduced in the United States. The program includes twelve study topics, presented in a teaching format, with each lesson followed by small group breakout sessions to discuss the lesson and build interpersonal relationships among the small group members. A principal objective of the program at St. Matthew's is to build small groups during the study series that would live beyond the end of the formal Alpha course. These groups continue bible study in areas of their particular interest and nurture Christian growth both within and outside their group.

General reaction and feedback in the Alpha program has been extremely positive. The dinner, speaker/teaching and small group format in very popular. Participants speak of reinforcement of their Christian faith; a desire and knowledge to reach for "life question" answers in the scriptures; an understanding that we all have much work left to do in our Christian journey; a need to nurture and serve each other in our daily lives.

We are extremely grateful to both Chuck Alley and Lee Moore for their teachings during the program. They brought understanding to our minds of God's word; inspiration to our hearts in developing and strengthening Christian relationships and relief for the doubt and frustration we often experience in knowing how to live our lives as Christ has shown us.

Alpha has been successful and will be successful only with the support of volunteers for the many tasks there are to support the program. Small group leaders, culinary artists, musicians, librarians, logistic planners, child care, are but a few of the needs. We encourage everyone in the church to participate.

Cursillo

Three Cursillo reunion groups comprised of St. Matthew's members meet on a regular basis. A number of parishioners participate in monthly regional Ultrya groups.