Stroudsburg UMC, winner of the 2024 Herbert E. Palmer Award for Urban Ministry for the North District, is deeply committed to serving the community that surrounds the church. For more than 24 years, they’ve been welcoming people through their doors for a Sunday afternoon meal, community, and connection. Now the church is preparing to take that collaboration to the next level as they break ground on a new community resource center.

This project is the fruit of a long process of deep listening—to the community that surrounds them, the partners who join them in meeting needs, and to their own story as a faith community.

Rev. Guepet, who was first appointed to this church 6 years ago, has led the congregation through a season of careful reflection—asking who is sitting in our pews and in our community, and helping members to notice what’s already happening around them. As they looked at how they have changed over time, they realized that from 1788 to 1988, they were a faith community comprised of professionals: doctors, lawyers, college professors. About 35 years ago, that began to shift.

Their time of reflection, and their work through the Journey of Hope/Wholeness, led them even deeper into their history. As they looked at their story, they noticed that when the congregation was formed in 1788, 20% of its founding members were freed people. “This congregation has always had a bit of a heart for anti-racism work,” Rev. Guepet shared.

Just this summer, after viewing a film on the subject, a member came forward to share that not only was there a stop on the Underground Railroad across from the church, but that there’s evidence that the church may have played a role in it.  

Loving their community and supporting those at the margins has long been part of this church’s DNA. Now that DNA is taking new expression.

The revitalization project will enable Stroudsburg to be more intentional about how they lead the soup kitchen. The congregation also regularly partners with the Red Cross to offer emergency shelter. The addition of a shower will make the space more hospitable for guests when they stay. Stroudsburg also plans to open its doors to professionals providing case management support, so that others can share their expertise and serve the community from within the church’s space.

Stroudsburg isn’t just creating space for people in the community within their building—under Pastor Monica’s leadership, they’ve also worked diligently to create space for them within their hearts and shared life of faith. The church installed a prayer mailbox outside the doors of its Main Street building. Locals, tourists, and passersby are welcome to leave a prayer request in the box. Those prayers are lifted up during a Wednesday midday prayer service, open to anyone who wishes to gather—both in person and virtually. Together, they read Scripture, hear a brief reflection from Rev. Guepet, and spend the remainder of the time in prayer for requests both great and small.

“Even today—today’s Wednesday—we had folks put things in the mailbox. People are praying about addiction, and big concerns about housing. Not all are local; some are asking for housing in Boston, and another for housing in Miami,” shared Rev. Guepet.

Praying together, with whoever shows up, has slowly transformed the way that Stroudsburg UMC embodies its discipleship, shifting from a place of hesitation to engaging with difference, to a spirit of openness that fully embraces everyone who walks through the door, even when things get a little messy.

For Rev. Guepet, this embrace of our neighbors as they actually are, is an essential part of our Christian discipleship. “Our scriptural mandate through discipleship is clear, caring for one another and serving our neighbor absolutely impacts not only their salvation and ours as well. We are tied up together, in not only our faith lives, but ultimately in salvation.”

Week in and week out, Stroudsburg UMC continues to build a radical embrace of its community, becoming the kind of place where people walking down Main Street feel welcome to step inside and join in Wednesday afternoon prayer.

“It is the heart of this congregation that has been doing this for generations. This is what it looks like today—following in the footsteps of those who cared for their community from 1788 to today.”

In every meal served, every prayer lifted, and every act of welcome offered, Stroudsburg UMC bears witness to the boundless grace of God at work in their midst. Their journey shows that when the church opens its doors—and its heart—God creates new life, not just within the walls of a sanctuary, but throughout the whole community.