A Place of Faith and Hope - Group 5 Reports

Places of worship are great places to get a pulse of communities they are in. For the past few weeks we curiously walked by The First Presbyterian Church of Germantown on Chelten Avenue. With our time and energy focused on our other stories we never got the chance to find out what the church was all about, but today we did. We got the chance to speak with someone who does have a pulse on the church and on the Germantown community.

Eileen Jones, Director of Urban Ministry, has worked at the church for 21 years now. Those 21 years are only a small history of the church which will be celebrating its 200th Anniversary next year. Those 21 years however are not small in their impact. One of her roles involves running and organizing the Germantown Avenue Crisis Ministry. The program has a food cupboard, offers small grants for people struggling economically, gives information to the unknowing, and offers a friend to talk to.

Jones, a Mount Airy native, loves Germantown and fondly remembered the Germantown of her youth. "This was such a very vibrant shopping district, so I've known this area my whole life." She doesn't believe the change in the community was due to white flight and cites the diversity of Germantown and of her congregation which she says is about "fifty-fifty" in terms of whites and blacks.

People are joined together in faith and also in service. The Crisis Ministry helps people with or without faith. Jones, calls herself a, "Baptist, working at a Presbyterian Church, with a Pentecostal preference." She runs into people without faith and some even blame God for their struggles. She actually relishes when those moments arise and said, "We're not going to help them because of their faith, we're helping you because of ours. We're called to do this."

It is that calling that fuels Jones' energy and keeps the Crisis Ministry running and expanding. She now runs a summer day camp for about 50 young people in the community. The kids usually come from working parents who cannot afford to send their children to other camps and programs. Jones believes in the importance in giving a helping hand and hope to those who need it most. "As Germantown is strengthened," she says, "that branches out to the surrounding communities." The pulse of the community is strong, and the church, Jones, and the Crisis Ministry are a big reason why.