Congregations for Coats will not be happening in 2022 due to Covid-19. 

Please stay tuned for further outreach activities.

Lift Up Southfield now accepting new and gently used coats

First Baptist Church of Detroit is the primary drop off location

for other drop off locations, click here

After a successful 1st Annual Southfield Prayer Breakfast, members of Lift Up Southfield! are getting ready to host our annual Congregations for Coats event in November. 

Join us!

The First Annual Southfield Prayer Breakfast

(benefitting the South Oakland Shelter)

Wednesday, May 29, 7:30-9am

St. John's Armenian Church
22001 Northwestern Highway
Southfield, Michigan, 48075

Lift Up Southfield! presents our keynote speaker, renowned area television personality and person of faith Chuck Gaidica who will be speaking on The Power of Faith.

Master of Ceremonies is Pastor Theodore Turman, First Baptist Church of Detroit.

Come join us for festive breakfast as we join community leaders from across Metro Detroit to pray for our region and hear the inspiring words of local broadcasting personality Chuck Gaidica. Faith leaders from many different traditions will be on hand to offer prayers as we seek to come together in faith and hope for our community and raise money for the hungry and homeless of our area.

Cost: $15, in advance, $20 at the door;
Purchase tickets in advance - click here
(benefiting South Oakland Shelter & Lighthouse of Michigan)
(for more info on SOS & LIghthouse click here)

For more information, please contact The Very Reverend Chris Yaw of St. David’s Episcopal Church: 248-557-5430

Lift Up Southfield!

Resolution of Support and Denunciation of the Violence

at the Tree of Life Synagogue
Wednesday, October 31, 2018

We, the clergy of Lift Up Southfield!, an interfaith community of Southfield congregations, pray for the victims and families affected by the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA and roundly denounce the violence which occurred as innocent worshippers gathered for Shabbat services on October 27.

The murder of eleven people and wounding of many more have broken the hearts of faithful people of all walks of life, but our souls, our beliefs, and our shared unity of purpose remain unshaken.

As representatives of many faiths we share values shaped by our holy texts - all of which command us to revere life. And we recognize that an attack against anyone, particularly who’s practicing their constitutional right to freely worship, is an attack on all people of good will.

We further denounce the current political climate of polarization, prejudice, and xenophobia, which is now so rampant in our country. We will not stand by idly and allow forces of hatred and bigotry go unchallenged.

In solidarity, we commend the interfaith community of Pittsburgh, more than a thousand of whom gathered shortly after the shootings, to demonstrate their love for and mutual support of their Jewish neighbors during this tragic time.

We commit to embodying these ideals by drawing closer to one another and by urging all peoples and communities of faith in Southfield and Metro Detroit to do so as well.

The Very Rev. Chris Yaw – St. David’s Episcopal Church

The Rev. Kimi Riegel – Northwest Unitarian Universalist Church
Pastor Jill Heather – Emmanuel Lutheran Church
The Rev. Theodore Turman – First Baptist Church of Detroit
Rabbi Aaron Starr – Congregation Shaarey Zedek
Fr. Jeffrey Scheeler, OFM - Catholic Church of the Transfiguration
Fr. Jeremy Harrington, OFM – Catholic Church of the Transfiguration
Very Rev. Fr. Aren Jebejian – St. John’s Armenian Orthodox Church
Rev. Fr. Armash Bagdasarian - St. John’s Armenian Orthodox Church

Interfaith Group Calls Community Together to Help the Needy

Congregations for Coats

This November Join Local Congregations to Fill a Truck with Winter Coats

 (Southfield, MI October 29) - The cold will soon be upon us and a local interfaith group wants to help those most vulnerable. Lift Up Southfield! a consortium of 9 Southfield congregations along with the Friends of the Southfield Police, are inviting the community to donate new or gently used coats throughout the month of November.

Coats can be taken to a Lift Up Southfield! congregation, or St. David’s Episcopal Church, 16200 W. 12 Mile Road, where a huge truck is parked. Special thanks goes to Central Transport of Warren for the truck donation.

“The Christian scriptures say that if one person has two coats, he ought to give one away to a needy person,” said Lift Up Southfield! Convener, The Very Rev. Chris Yaw, Rector of St. David’s Episcopal Church. “If you’re like me, you have way more than one coat. This is an opportunity for us to reflect on our blessedness, and take action for those who don’t have enough.”

Organizations involved with Lift Up Southfield include: The First Baptist Church of Detroit; Northwest Unitarian Universalist; Congregation Shaarey Zedek; St. David's Episcopal Church; Emmanuel Lutheran Church; Peace Lutheran Church; Transfiguration Catholic Church; St. John’s Armenian Orthodox; and the Covenant Presbyterian Church.  The Friends of the Southfield Police Department are a group of officers and supporters dedicated to community improvement.

Coats will be collected throughout the month of November. They will be distributed to several local charities throughout Metro Detroit including the South Oakland Shelter in Lathrup Village. For more information, please contact The Very Reverend Chris Yaw of St. David’s Episcopal Church: 248-557-5430 or visit their website at www.stdavidssf.org

Lift Up Southfield!

Clergy Recruited as Police Department Chaplains

What happens at the scene of a fire, accident, or other tragedy when pastoral care is needed?

The Southfield Police Department has a list of chaplains they regularly use to provide emergency chaplaincy services to our community. 

Several 'Lift up Southfield!' members serve, and are being recruited to serve, as police department chaplains. If you are a clergy member in Southfield, or if your religious leader would like to serve in this capacity, please contact Fr. Chris Yaw at: 248.557.5430 or chris@stdavidssf.org