Entries Tagged 'Outreach' ↓

Every year, Samaritan’s Purse conducts a wonderful outreach called Operation Christmas Child.

We’ve been able to participate in this ministry for the last several years through some of the churches we serve. This week is the week shoe boxes are delivered to drop-off locations all across the country, which will then be delivered to larger facilities for checking and packing, before finally being delivered to children all over the world.

May God bless children around the world as they receive show boxes, filled not only with little gifts, but even more importantly, acts of love.

The United Methodist Church expands its ministry around the world!

It was recently reported that the United Methodist Church, after cutting some of its missionary efforts in recent years, is re-igniting its missionary recruitment drive. We’re excited about that!

As reported, while the UMC continues to decline in the US, it has grown an amazing 177% in the last decade outside the US! The denomination is becoming much more global. That’s a reality that church leaders (i.e. the Council of Bishops, who met recently) have been wrestling with recently, specifically their leadership “role in the growing global denomination.”

May God help the UMC make a difference for God in the world by meeting people’s needs and helping people follow Jesus!

How to help Kansans recover from recent tornadoes.

Our hearts go out to the people in Kansas who were devastated by last week’s violent tornados. More than 70 tornadoes were reported throughout the state. Greensburg, Kansas, a town of 1,600, was destroyed May 4, including the Greensburg United Methodist Church.

There are efforts underway to help with the recovery: United Methodists begin Kansas tornado response. See UMCOR’s page dedicated to the storm for more information.

Both links provide details on how we can help. If you attend a United Methodist congregation, you can place your check in the offering plate, marked, “UMCOR Advance #901670, Domestic Disaster Response” (they can also be mailed; see links for mailing address). Online donations can also be made to the Kansas Area Disaster Fund directly at the Kansas West Conference of the UMC website.

Check out the Kansas West Conference’s photo page for photos of the storm’s damage, including the one pictured here. Photo by Rev. Kendal Utt, Dodge City District Superintendent, included here with permission.

Sponsoring a child is a great way to make a difference in someone’s life!

For years we talked about sponsoring a child through one of the organizations that offers child sponsorship. We finally made the commitment to make a difference in the life of a child a few months ago by sponsoring a child through World Vision.

World Vision offers two types of sponsorship: Child Sponsorship and HopeChild Sponsorship. Child Sponsorship provides clean water, nutritious food, health care, educational opportunities, and spiritual nurture. HopeChild Sponsorship, offered in communities affected by HIV/AIDS, adds support for AIDS prevention, care for sick/dying parents, and HIV/AIDS counseling.

We chose the HopeChild sponsorship program and now have a couple photos of Jeanne, an 11 year old girl from Rwanda, on our refrigerator, which reminds us to pray for her. May God bless Jeanne, her family, and her community, through World Vision and through our prayers and financial support. And may God equip Jeanne to be a transforming presence in her community! (Speaking of Rwanda, we highly recommend the movie, Hotel Rwanda.)

You can search for a child to sponsor here (select Child Sponsorship or HopeChild under “Type of Sponsorship” in the left column, if you have a preference; currently, monthly donations are $30 and $35 per month, respectively).

Let us know if you have any questions (click on “Comments” below this post).

One of the causes we support (see list of causes we support in the sidebar) is Nothing But Nets, an effort in which the United Methodist Church is one of 5 founding partners. I’ve written a couple posts before: here and here.

As a follow-up to the event that Joleen spearheaded, Joleen was named an MVP.

Thanks again to all who helped, participated, and gave money. More money was donated since our last post. The total now stands at $1096.

Earlier, we offered a brief reflection and prayer in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy.

Now UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) is helping the Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church to offer A Message of Hope to the Virginia Tech Community. TV spots “aimed specifically at helping young people cope with the tragedy” will be airing in the area.

For more on what United Methodists are doing, see United Methodists Across Virginia Rally to Offer Prayers and Support for Virginia Tech.

As you continue to pray for Virginia Tech, pray that God will bring hope and healing to people through this outreach. Also pray for churches in Virginia as they reach out to their community.

It has been about a year and a half since Hurricane Katrina blasted the Gulf Coast causing incredible devastation. And while much of the media interest and coverage has greatly diminished, the recovery efforts continue.

There is a team of about 35 people from our district that is working in Mississippi this week. The team’s daily reports are posted at the district’s website. This trip is the third trip from our district in the past year.

United Methodists are known for their long-term commitment to helping people recover, long after it’s popular to do so. Perhaps it was this reason that FEMA asked UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) to lead its long-term efforts for the recovery, which are expected to take about 12 years (last I heard). See the website dedicated to this effort: Katrina Aid Today. And you can learn more about what UMCOR is doing for the recovery here.

A recent newsletter from the Mississippi Annual Conference of the UMC, reports the following …

2300 teams, representing 33,000 volunteers, have been scheduled through the Mississippi Conference Disaster Response Center to the Mississippi Gulf Coast since Sept. 1, 2005.

34 local churches and 3 UM Disaster Response camp sites have hosted the volunteers in Mississippi.

1,000,000 labor hours have been accumulated by volunteers each working an average of 30 hours.

$18,000,000 in homeowners’ savings was provided by volunteers. (This figure comes from the labor hours above using accepted statistics from the non-profit sector.)

Volunteers have come from across the United States and some foreign countries, hundreds, possibly thousands of them making long-term commitments.

May God continue to bless the ongoing recovery efforts. Thanks to all who have given of their time and/or money to help!

I recently wrote about a youth sporting event to raise money and awareness for Nothing But Nets. That event took place last Saturday night. Youth from several area churches brought money from donations to help send nets to Africa.

We gathered at the Juniata Valley High School gym for an evening of basketball and volleyball (net sports). Randy opened with devotion and shared that early Christians were called “athletes of God.” The group of “athletes” who gathered in the gym Saturday night, Randy said, came for more than physical activity; they came to make a difference in someone’s life in another part of the world.

Many thanks to area youth who raised $1051!

And that number is sure to rise as donations are still coming in. Special thanks to our top two money raisers: Erica Brechbiel (from the12th Street UMC) who raised $173, and to Ben Irvin (from Faith UMC) who raised $166.

For more info on this effort to save lives in Africa, check out Nothing But Nets.

Athletes of God …

Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9.24-27).

March is a big month for college basketball fans. Locally, the madness will include playing for a great cause. On Saturday (3/31), area youth in grades 6-12 will join together for an evening of sports activity in order to raise money for Nothing But Nets. The event will take place at the Juniata Valley High School gym (pending school board approval), 7:00-10:00 pm.The United Methodist Church was invited to be one of five founding partners of the campaign, along with NBA Cares, Sports Illustrated, Mark J. Gordon Foundation, and United Nations Foundation.We need nets!Not hoop nets, soccer nets or lacrosse nets. Not New Jersey Nets or dot-nets or clarinets. We need mosquito nets. Nearly 3,000 kids die each day in Africa from malaria. According to the World Health Organization, transmission of the disease would be reduced by 60% with the use of mosquito nets and prompt treatment for the infected. It costs $10to ship and install an insecticide-coated net.Area youth are raising funds for the 3/31 event, asking friends and family members to make a donation to help save lives!