Promptly every Monday morning, 11 Sojourners Community members, more than a third of our community, prepare for the workaday world. Off they go to counsel and pastor, teach and cook, heal, administrate, advise, and, in general, respond to the many and sometimes overwhelming needs presented by the broken ones of this city. As Dolly Arroyo put it, "Outstretched hands are everywhere."
Although these community members do not work in a Sojourners ministry, they all, like Janice Johnston, find service to others a major component of their day. Over the phone and in long conversations in the doctor's office where she works, Janice finds herself in contact with rich and poor, white and black, male and female, who have in common a struggle with chemical addictions and psychiatric disturbances.
Millie Bender and Jackie Sabath, who have been trained as pastoral counselors, see their ministry extending beyond the community to touch others in the Sojourners congregation and in the city.
Martha Kincannon's gifts in music and worship leadership also involve her centrally within the community's life; yet her healing presence reaches outside that circle through her part-time job as a caretaker of homebound sick and elderly people.
Dawn Longenecker's job keeps her in touch with people directly in and around our neighborhood of Columbia Heights. She is on the staff of the Woodley Housing Corporation, whose mentally troubled residents need social and emotional support as well as financial assistance to help them adjust to the pressures of the world around them.
The work of some in the community revolves directly around children. Tricia Spivey observes and helps youngsters who have difficulty learning. She also works with their parents, who are concerned about their progress.
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