Service & Advocacy
We learn and march; we work together to advocate policy changes that support people of many gender identities and expressions, sexual orientations, abilities, ages, races, nationalities, and ethnicities. We believe that Cornel West is right: “justice is what love looks like in public.”
Below are opportunities to serve and advocate together in group-organized projects throughout the year. Click on a project to learn more.
Give. Share. Eat.
It's pretty simple, really. There are a lot of food-insecure and hungry people in the world. Together we can relieve some of this hunger when we give of our finances and share our time and energies so that people may eat nutritious, easy-to-prep food. In one year beginning with GSE 1.0 in September 2017, volunteers packaged and distributed over 276,000 meals ! As of September 2023, we packaged and distributed over 466,000 meals.
Sanctuary & Accompaniment
After months of prayerful deliberation, on April 9, 2017, Gethsemane declared itself a "sanctuary congregation," committed to: "Protect refugees and undocumented persons who are under threat of arrest and deportation; offer shelter and a safe place for those escaping persecution; and advocate for just immigration policies."
Hope Center
Believing that “together we grow,” Hope Center addresses issues of housing and food insecurity by engaging with its downtown Seattle neighborhood to provide healthy food, informative programs, and a space for the work of Mary's Place Day Center.