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Last updated on November 25, 2008

To assist congregations to reach out to children and youth of their neighborhoods to help them realize there potential (academically, socially and spiritually) and to grow within a community of faith so that Christ becomes a valuable part of their lives.

To assist Congregations to minister in and with the community in which they are located so that their neighbors are invited into Christian community and are helped to grow in their ability to address their needs.

The word of God is brought to all people especially the population whose native language is Spanish and they are made active partners in our family of faith.

Congregations support each other in ministry and share resources as partners.

Description:
The West Berks Mission District is comprised of the 45 Lutheran Church in Berks County. We support the congregations in their ministries and coordinate other programs that is a benefit to all the churches. These programs are such that it would be difficult for one church alone could do. To name a few of them we maintain a Food Pantry. In emergencies, social agencies can obtain boxes of food from the West Berks Mission District Office. We also coordinate several satellite pantries in varies churches in Berks County and hope to expand that program. Another one is an after-school tutoring program. We coordinate eight different sites. Each site has their own type of tutoring (some serve dinner). In other words we organize and financially support programs that would be difficult for one congregation to do. You might say that we are a cooperative group. We are unique because we are the only district or conference in the ELCA that has employed staff.

History:
In 1989 the Lutheran Church in America and the American Lutheran Church merged to be one entity, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The administrative formation was broken into Regions, Synods and Conferences (in Northeastern PA Synod we already had districts so the districts are the same as conferences). The West Berks District assumed a lot of the programs of a coalition in Berks County called the Greater Reading Area Involved Lutherans, GRAIL. That coalition was dissolved because of the new church organization.

Contact people:

Dawn Baxter, Executive Director, (610) 375-8303, (email) Dick Kleinsmith, Mission Associate, (610) 375-8303, (email)

Office fax number: (610) 375-8303

Address:

1015 Windsor St. Reading, PA 19604 (See a map)

Web Site: http://westberksmissiondistrict.org

Directions:

We are located 9 blocks from Penn St. North of the city @ 10th & Windsor Streets. We are between Spring St. and Douglass streets that run parellel to Windsor running East and West and between 9th and 11th Streets running north and south.   Nearest Bus Stop: Across 10th st. on the corner

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