St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church stands on North Helen Street in North St. Paul, just off Highway 36, and has served this community for more than 125 years. Its mission is short enough to memorize: love God, love others. Sunday worship at 9:30 am follows Lutheran traditions of Holy Communion, congregational singing, reading and teaching from the Bible, and prayer, while school-year Wednesday evenings begin with a homemade meal and carry through faith formation to a brief service.
Grace at the Table: A Faith With Room for Everyone
St. Mark's is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and its welcome rests on convictions the church names plainly. Jesus invites everyone to God's Table of Grace, where there is a place for everyone and always room for more. God's love meets people where they are but never leaves them where it finds them. And as members of Christ's Church, the congregation believes it has been entrusted with God's story and sent out to share it. That story, as St. Mark's describes it, runs against the culture around it: there is enough for all, the stranger is neighbor, the outcast is beloved, hope is stronger than despair, life overcomes death, and love wins.
The building and grounds carry that same welcome. The sanctuary sits near the center of the property, with Lundquist Chapel and the church offices reached by a separate entrance along 13th Avenue. Outside, east of the sanctuary, the columbarium and memorial garden form a quiet, landscaped place for reflection, with niches that hold the urns of two people each and a memorial wall for loved ones whose remains rest elsewhere. A garden team tends the church's gardens, raises money through garden center gift cards and relies on volunteers for seasonal cleanup and summer watering and weeding, while Saturday Stewards keep the indoor and outdoor spaces in shape.
Work is organized through lay-led administrative committees that collaborate with the pastors and staff. The church council acts as a board of directors, setting long-range plans, priorities and the annual budget, and it includes the pastors and at least 12 members, one of them a youth member, elected by written ballot for up to three years and no more than two consecutive terms. Separate committees handle finances, personnel, property and grounds, and special gifts and memorial funds. The St. Mark's Foundation, an independent nonprofit corporation, manages a perpetual fund built from the support of members and non-members and awards grants meant to spread the Christian message.
Sunday at 9:30: Communion, Song and the Whole Congregation
Sunday worship begins at 9:30 am with Holy Communion, congregational singing, the reading and teaching of Scripture, and prayer. For those who cannot be in the room, worship is livestreamed on YouTube, where the broadcast goes live as the service does and viewers who arrive late can rewind and start from the beginning. Previously streamed services stay available in the church's live category through the Sunday worship livestream.
Music is a defining part of the morning, and the church treats singing as participation rather than performance. The congregation is described as the primary choir, everyone from toddlers to elders, people confident in their faith and people still working out their doubt, singing praises, laments, celebrations and sorrows. The Choir of St. Mark's, open to middle school, high school and adult singers, sings classic hymns, contemporary Christian music, global and gospel pieces. St. Mark's Ringers, a handbell choir, leads worship about once a month, a worship band leads contemporary Christian music about once a month, and the St. Mark's Strummers, open to all ages and skill levels with ukuleles loaned to newcomers, take their turn as well. New singers are welcomed at any time, and the church values participation over performance, authenticity over perfection, and tradition that can breathe alongside contemporary that can ground.
Wednesday Nights Built Around the Table
On Wednesday evenings during the school year, the doors open with a community meal from 5:00 to 6:00 pm. The homemade Wednesday Night Dinner is served to anyone who comes to the table, with freewill donations welcome, and it doubles as fellowship before the church's education hour begins.
From 6:00 to 6:45 pm, faith formation options run for every age. Faith and Fun welcomes PreK through 6th grade for activities, games and service projects. Seventh and eighth graders meet for Confirmation, a two-year program through the Bible and Lutheran tradition, with confirmation in the fall of ninth grade year. The Youth Room opens for high schoolers to gather informally, and adults gather for Adult Convo, casual conversation about faith and life in the middle of a busy week. The evening closes with a brief service from 6:45 to 7:15 pm that includes music, Word, prayer and communion.
Making Room for Children, Teens and Families
Families are central to how St. Mark's forms young people in faith. Sunday morning worship is called the most important factor, and children are affirmed as part of the worship space rather than set aside from it.
For 4-year-olds through 4th grade, Sunday School runs from 9:30 to 10:30 am September through May. Children begin the hour in worship with their families, then head to class for the week's lesson and rejoin the congregation for the close of worship. A nursery for children ages 0 to 3 is available during the same 9:30 to 10:30 window, with the service livestreamed into the nursery and caregivers staying with their children. A Grace Space inside the sanctuary lets parents with young children share in worship while children move and play. Fifth through 12th graders are encouraged to worship with the congregation, where they hear the Word, share in Holy Communion and learn the rhythm and seasons of the church, and they can also serve as classroom leaders and helpers.
Teenagers have a primary gathering of their own: the high school youth group for grades 9 through 12 meets the 2nd and 4th Sundays from 6:30 to 8:00 pm for activities, Bible study and outings. Deacon Kate Bentley joins them for a check-in, and the Wednesday youth room offers an informal place to gather during the week.
Bible Study for Mornings, Evenings and Busy Weeks
Adult education is built around ongoing Bible studies and shorter series, and every group is open to everyone regardless of experience. The Tuesday Morning Bible Study convenes from 9:00 to 10:00 am for a yearlong walk through the highlights of the Bible from beginning to end. Thursday morning pairs scripture and conversation over breakfast at Perkins, across from Maplewood Mall, beginning at 8:00 am.
Women of St. Mark's organizes four monthly groups that follow the yearlong Bible study presented in the ELCA's Gather magazine. The Phoebe group meets the third Monday at 1:00 pm, Naomi the third Tuesday at 10:00 am, Elizabeth the third Thursday at 1:00 pm, and Anne the fourth Thursday at 6:30 pm. The meetings double as fellowship and connection.
Handwork carries the same spirit. The congregation's quilters have tied quilts for more than 45 years for Lutheran World Relief and for people in the community, producing roughly 1,325 quilts and about 10,600 yards of material over the last 15 years. They gather twice a month from 1:00 to 5:00 pm January through March, and no experience is needed beyond the ability to tie a knot. A prayer shawl ministry meets monthly to knit and crochet shawls for people in hospitals, nursing homes and other times of need.
Care for Minds, Grief and Homebound Friends
The St. Mark's Mental Health Ministry began in February 2023, launched at the encouragement of the St. Paul Area Synod and growing concern about mental health. Its aim is to carry forward the mission of love God and love others by building a welcoming, caring faith community, reducing the stigma of mental illness through education and connecting people to resources. The volunteers who take part are not mental health professionals, and the ministry says so plainly.
Through a partnership with Mental Health Connect, a coalition of about 40 faith communities, the church helps people find free, customized and confidential help, including crisis support and navigation to care. The partnership is funded by a grant from the St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church Foundation. The ministry also keeps a book cart in the narthex with age-appropriate books for young children and their families, and a book club reads current books on anxiety, addiction and other mental health topics, with copies available in the church library.
Grief support points people toward local groups and the 13-week GriefShare program, offered in person and online with free daily support emails. A caring ministry team of volunteers provides monthly worship, fellowship and home visits, often with communion, for members who can no longer attend worship in person, and hosts an annual spring homecoming luncheon with a brief service and hot lunch for those members and their caregivers. Caring Hands volunteers prepare and serve refreshments and simple meals after funerals and memorials so families can be present with friends. Each week a community prayer list shares joys, challenges, long-term needs and prayers for military personnel, and it can be sent by email or by mail.
Serving North St. Paul
St. Mark's describes itself as one family through Christ, called to share, walk with and pray for the needs around it. The church has a long association with the North St. Paul Food Shelf, taking part in regular food drives, helping clients shop for needed food and other items about every two months, sorting donated food and serving on the Food Shelf board. In summer the church provides space and volunteers for monthly pop-up farmers markets organized with the Food Shelf.
Food insecurity among students is addressed through the Polar Den at North High School, an emergency needs shelf stocked for students who occasionally need a meal or hygiene products. Twice a year, Soup Sunday proceeds purchase holiday meals for area families in need and support global mission ministries, with one serving held before Thanksgiving and another at the annual congregational meeting. At Christmas, members working with Ramsey County and HeadStart can provide gifts, hats, mittens and grocery gift cards to families in need. From July through September, a produce giveaway is set up outside the chapel at the corner of Helen Street and Castle on the fourth Monday of each month, with no income requirements.
A Companion Congregation in Tanzania and Children in India
St. Mark's global ministry centers on a companion congregation relationship with Kihesa Lutheran Church of the Iringa Diocese in Tanzania. The relationship has grown from visits into lasting support: 45 scholarships help young students reach secondary education, funds have helped build a Youth Life Skills Center and buy a motorcycle for Kihesa staff, and mission teams have traveled there five times. Teams in 2002 and 2004 helped construct the Life Skills Center, a 2006 team held an AIDS/HIV seminar and established a library and sewing class, and a 2008 team dedicated the donated motorcycle and made home visits to people living with AIDS/HIV. Nine people traveled for two weeks in March 2010, and 13 more visited in July and August 2012.
In Bapatla, India, St. Mark's has supported children at REACH Orphanage Home and School for more than 40 years. The Indian government closed REACH after its founder died during the COVID-19 pandemic, and resident children were sent to live with family. Six children who had lived there since birth had no family, and St. Mark's India mission leaders Angel and Pete Mogren found them a new home at Hope Orphanage Home and School. A mission trip in late 2023 found the six teenagers doing well and thriving alongside 40 children living at the home and 61 more who come to day school from the surrounding area. The building is clean and well run, and the people who operate it have a solid Christian foundation.
Finding the Sanctuary and Making Yourself at Home
St. Mark's sits just off Highway 36 in North St. Paul. Drivers coming from the west exit Highway 36 at McKnight Road, go north one block, turn right on 11th Avenue, turn left on 1st Avenue and right on 12th Avenue North into the west parking lot, entering through Door 7W. Coming from the east, exit at Margaret Street and continue straight on 11th Avenue through the first stop sign; the sanctuary and accessible parking lot will be on the right, again through Door 7W. Parking for Sunday and Wednesday worship is located off 11th Avenue, and the sanctuary GPS coordinates are 45.0165696, -92.9967181. The church provides directions and parking information for the grounds.
Accessible parking is on Castle Street, with entry through Door 1S or Door 3S, and the west parking lot is also entered through Door 1S. Visitors attending Lundquist Chapel or the church offices, which are open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, come in through Door 12N along 13th Avenue.
A hospitality committee works to make first visits feel personal. Its volunteers serve as greeters, ushers, readers, communion servers, altar care, sound and projection support, and kitchen helpers for coffee hour, along with Welcome Center attendants who hand out bulletins and welcome people after worship. The church also hosts gatherings built around fellowship, including an annual Christmas Progressive Dinner, game nights and the North Saint Paul Parade. A free family gathering with decorated cars and costumed friends handing out candy is co-sponsored by the Northern Star Girl Scouts.
Gifts can be made securely through Realm Giving from a computer, phone or tablet, and the church also accepts stock gifts. The church office provides columbarium information and pricing for the niches and the memorial wall.
The People Behind the Ministry
Lead Pastor David Bjorklund grew up in church, drifted away from faith as a teenager, earned his GED and studied at Normandale Community College before graduating from Hamline University in 2006 with work in political science, philosophy and religion. After time in Hawaii and a return to Minnesota, he became active at Mount Olivet in Minneapolis, where he heard his call to ministry. He was ordained in 2016, served five years in rural North Dakota, joined St. Mark's as associate pastor in 2021 and became lead pastor in 2023. He lives in North St. Paul with his wife Anna and their two children, and spends his free time baking bread, cooking elaborate meals, going to the movies and riding bikes around the Twin Cities.
Deacon Kate Bentley began at St. Mark's as a diaconal intern in February 2023 while a candidate for the Word and Service roster of the ELCA, and was called as deacon that November. She holds a Master of Divinity with a concentration in children, youth and family ministry, was ordained at her home church in Massachusetts, and names faith formation, pastoral care and service as her vocational interests.
Rachel Wyffels is a pastoral intern and a senior at Luther Seminary, a candidate for pastoral ministry with the Minneapolis Area Synod. She cares deeply about faith and the climate crisis and has worked on climate initiatives with the Northeastern Minnesota and Saint Paul Area Synods, the BTS Center and ELCA Advocacy. A 2021 graduate of St. Olaf College, where she majored in music and religion, she served as president of the student congregation council, played in the St. Olaf Orchestra and sang in the St. Olaf Chapel Choir.
Tom Paulson, Director of Music and Worship, brings more than 30 years in church music from Crown of Glory Lutheran Church in Chaska, Wayzata Community Church and Incarnation Lutheran Church in Shoreview, along with 22 years as Music Director and Conductor of the Edina Chorale. He holds a BA from St. Olaf College and an MA from the University of Minnesota, and he has a passion for leading congregational singing and for worship as a participation sport. Micah 6:8, do justice, love kindness and walk humbly, is his current favorite verse.
On North Helen Street, St. Mark's keeps Sunday worship at 9:30 am, a Wednesday table and school-year classes, and a wide circle of care for North St. Paul and beyond. The mission stays simple: love God, love others, and always leave room at the table.