Clarence Pettit – St. Mark's Online

January 29, 2022January 29, 2022

New Pettit Scholarship to benefit Hilltop youth

We thank God for a new scholarship designed to provide support for students affiliated with one of St. Mark’s ministry partners, Hilltop Lutheran Neighborhood Center.

The scholarship, created in honor of the Rev. Clarence and Helen Pettit by philanthropists Gordon and Fran Fisher, will help multiple students with the cost of private secondary schooling and/or post-secondary schooling.

The Pettits have served the community for many years and Clarence Pettit will also be familiar to those who have seen St. Mark’s Midweek Extra videos, where he was featured in several conversations with our former Interim Pastor David Mueller.

The scholarship offers successful applicants up to $2,000 for tuition and up to $500 for textbooks.

All are invited to support Hilltop students and honor the Pettits through this fund. To learn more about the scholarship and how to give, visit Hilltop’s website.

April 22, 2021

Midweek Extra: The Rev. Clarence Pettit

The Rev. Clarence Pettit of Unity Church in Wilmington

Clarence Pettit, senior pastor of Unity Church in Wilmington, joins us for a third conversation with Interim Pastor David Mueller in this week’s Midweek Extra. In previous conversations, these pastors have discussed race and pastoral issues anecdotally. This week, they pursue a more theological discussion of these matters.

Click on the image below to listen in.

Previous conversations are available at these links:

August 19, 2020August 19, 2020

Midweek Extra: The Rev. Clarence Pettit

The Rev. Clarence Pettit and Interim Pastor David Mueller

Interim Pastor David Mueller welcomes a special guest to this week’s Midweek Extra — the Rev. Clarence Pettit, pastor of Unity Church in Wilmington, Delaware.

Pastor Pettit has served in the ministry for more than 47 years. Before coming to Wilmington, he served the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Seattle, Washington, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

He has been active in religious and social service organizations in Delaware and recently served on the Delaware Maryland Synod Council.

He and Pastor Mueller are friends and in today’s video, they discuss church growth, race relations and what it takes to be a good pastor.

News & People

Historic photo of Brandywine Hundred Fire Company No. 1

Celebrating the centennial of Brandywine Hundred Fire Company No. 1!

September 21, 2024

Did you know St. Mark’s has strong ties with Brandywine Hundred Fire Company No. 1, stretching back more than 80 years? Our first service was held on the second floor of the company’s fire house on Jan. 11, 1942. We moved to our current site almost a decade later, and our first service was held in our new building on Christmas Eve 1951. When a disastrous fire broke out in our building in May of 1969, our firefighting neighbors rushed to our aid. You can read more about that fire and our history on our website. This year, Brandywine Hundred Fire Company No. 1 marks its 100th anniversaryand we have plans to join their celebration and honor these first responders.

Get into something good with us this summer!

June 1, 2024

Join us as we launch our new summer schedule and get into something good together! Our summer schedule starts Sunday, June 2, with adult education at 9 a.m., fellowship at 10 and a single worship service at 10:30 a.m. Pastor Kelley will lead our first adult education class of the summer (9 a.m. on June 2), as we discuss the recent visit of Shane Claiborne, a Christian activist from Philadelphia who works for peace and non-violence in local, national and international initiatives. He demonstrated the work of the RAW Tools project during his visit on May 25, using the hammer and anvil in the photograph above to show how lethal weapons can be transformed into useful tools. God does transformative work in us, too, as we connect for study, prayer, worship and service. We also have plans to get together at community events this summer, using those opportunities to get to know each other better and get to know our neighbors better, too. We hope you’ll join us as this new summer journey begins!

Swords to Plowshares: ‘Youtherans’ host Shane Claiborne at St. Mark’s May 25

May 22, 2024

Join us Saturday afternoon, May 25 for a very special event as the “Youtherans” and Lutheran churches (ELCA) in Delaware and Maryland welcome Shane Claiborne and the “Swords to Plowshares: Forging Peace. Disarming Hearts” project to St. Mark’s. Using a forge and a hammer, Claiborne will demonstrate how weapons of violence — guns that were donated, broken down and decommissioned — can be turned into garden tools and other instruments of peace. The public event will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. at St. Mark’s parking lot. The Raw Tools project draws its inspiration from a Scripture passage in Isaiah: “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, they will train for war no more. Everyone will sit under their own vine and fig tree. No one shall make them afraid.” Also participating Saturday will be the Rev. Raymont Anderson, a survivor of gun violence and a representative of the Newark chapter of Moms Demand Action, a grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence. Claiborne is the co-author of “Beating Guns: Hope for People Who are Weary of Violence.” He worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India, and is the founder of The Simple Way in Philadelphia and the leader of Red Letter Christians, a movement of folks committed to living “as if Jesus meant the things he said.” In 2023, he received The King Center’s Beloved Community Award for Social Justice from Dr. Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. “We do more than turn guns into garden tools. We are turning violence into peace. We are turning fear into trust. Through relationship, dialogue, and resources, we are welcoming neighbors with loving arms rather than bearing arms. Join us.”