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Giving shapes givers

BY JENNY SHOCKEY

Having children makes me a lot more conscious of the decisions we make as a family.

I want to be intentional about how and why we give to others because I want my daughters to understand "It is better to give than to receive," and "God blesses a cheerful giver." I want to do for my children what my parents did for me.

It all started in the 1970s with a friendship that my parents formed when they were in college. After they graduated, their friends Rob and Karen joined a mission agency and went overseas to share the love of Christ in Spain.

My dad had just started his first job and my mom was starting her master's degree. They supported their local church and didn't have a lot left over, but felt called by God to support the ministry of their friends. They began sending a small monthly donation.

Over the years this donation grew, as did our family. Growing up, my three brothers and I were raised hearing about Rob and Karen and the work they were doing in Spain. We prayed for them regularly and Mom and Dad faithfully sent their monthly contribution to their ministry.

As I grew, I decided that I wanted to help them, too, so I began to save part of my allowance for them. Every couple of months I'd empty my "missions jar" and Dad would send them a check for me.

By the time I was 16, I felt like I knew Rob and Karen well, although I'd rarely seen them.

At that time, through circumstances that only God could arrange, I was able to spend a few weeks in Spain with Rob and Karen and their young son Jonathan. I helped care for Jonathan, learned about the work they were doing, participated in some ministry with their church and practiced my Spanish.

Because of this experience (and many others that followed) God has burdened my heart to be a part of spreading his Gospel around the world. Sometimes I have been privileged to do this personally, and other times I have been led to give financially to specific missionaries and friends.

It is my hope that my husband, my girls and I can find a missionary family to partner with for the long term so that my girls can grow up like I did - experiencing first hand the work of God through financial partnership and prayer.

Who knows, maybe they will go somewhere halfway around the world for a summer ... or more? I know that our financial contribution will start small, but every little bit helps missionaries to spread the Gospel to those whose lives will be changed for eternity.

The challenge for us is to live more simply and sacrificially that others might know God and how he changes us.

 

Conference Advance Specials

The ministries highlighted on this page were approved at the 2009 Annual Conference as the Conference Advance Specials. All but four receive no conference funding. The four that do also rely on contributions to help with their programs and missions. To contribute to any of them, write a check to "Conference Treasurer" and mail to Baltimore-Washington Conference, 7178 Columbia Gateway Drive, Suite D,
Columbia, MD 21046. Be sure to include on the memo line which ministry the gift is for.

Campus Ministry

Campus ministry chaplains work with young adults at American, Howard and Frostburg State Universities and the University of Maryland, to help them grow in faith and serve in mission. The chaplains are United Methodist pastors who guide the students to look deeply into their faith. Support from the denomination and conference has been cut back in recent years and campus ministers are building partnerships with local churches to help enable them to carry on their programs and ministries of making, growing and nurturing disciples.

Deaf Ministries

The Deaf and Deaf-Blind community is often overlooked by social services and agencies that provide services to hearing individuals. Language barriers prevent them from receiving services from most organizations. The Deaf Shalom Zone, Inc. seeks to bridge the gap between hearing and deafness, as it supports and empowers Deaf and Deaf-Blind individuals through advocacy, case management, education and referrals. Deaf Ministries projects also include Deaf Camp, Deaf-Blind Camp, Religious Interpreter's Workshop, Deaf Lay Speaking Class, and Deaf Prison Ministry.

Casa del Pueblo

Casa del Pueblo Community Ministry serves the educational, social, health, cultural and spiritual needs of the changing multicultural immigrant community in the Capitol Heights area of northwest Washington, D.C. The church, Calvary UMC, has a boxing ring in its basement that provides a resource for programs seeking to provide an alternative to the gangs in the area. It has a small Hispanic after-school program and a drama and dance ministry that stages performances several times a year. The small congregation is unable to keep up with repairs to the old building. VIM teams come each summer to work on the building.

Columbia Road Health Services

Columbia Road Health Services, a primary care health center in the Adams-Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C., across the street from Christ House, provides quality and affordable health care to poor and uninsured individuals. Since its opening in 1979, founded by United Methodist minister, the Rev. Allen Goetcheus and his wife Dr. Janelle Goetscheus, more than 25,000 patients of all ages have received comprehensive primary care, mental health counseling and social services regardless of ability to pay. The clientele has changed from predominantly African-American when the clinic opened to 80 percent Latino today. All medical assistants are bilingual. One-third of its budget comes from patient payments and insurance, and the rest from individual and foundation support. To learn more, go to http://www.crhs.org.

Christ House

Christ House opened in December 1985 as the first residential medical facility in the region for the homeless. Its 33-bed facility is the only mission in Washington, D.C. providing 24-hour medical care for sick homeless men and women. It has served more than 6.500 homeless people since its opening. An average patient stay is 35 days. Once admitted, patients receive medical care, case management, nutritious meals, clothing, addictions treatment, long-term housing placement assistance and other supportive services. Learn more by going to http://www.christhouse.org.

HIV/AIDS Ministries

HIV/AIDS Ministries support the Quality of Life retreats, held four times a year, to minister to people living with HIV/AIDS. Since its beginning in 1988, 86 retreats have been held with more than 2,800 participants. The December and February retreats are held at the Washington Retreat House in Washington; the June retreat is held at West River; and the September retreat at Manidokan Outdoor Ministry Center. One participant wrote, "This experience for me has been one I'll remember all my days. Thank you all for caring about God's people." Another said, "How do you thank a group of people for supporting and caring for us and who would freely give their time to walk along side and down the uncertain paths of so many sick and emotionally wounded. .... This retreat is a beacon to help us on that journey."

NETS

NETS (Neighbors Eager to Serve) is an ecumenical outreach ministry in Charles County, in southern Maryland, which regularly provides food, warm clothing, bicycles and financial help to families in need throughout the year. Begun in May 2001 by Indian Head UMC, NETS is supported today by 10 small United Methodist churches along the 210 corridor in Charles County, and several churches of other denominations. NETS, with an office at Shiloh UMC, primarily provides financial support for groceries, utilities, rent or transportation, through paying the bills directly to the provider, rather than the individual. Potential clients are carefully screened. NETS coordinates services from other organizations such as Red Cross, Life Style Inc., Angel Watch, and Christmas in April, a food pantry and thrift shop.

New Church Starts

New Church Starts is a special conference fund from which seed money will be available create a new United Methodist congregation. The conference has a goal to create two new churches in 2011, as part of the national United Methodist plan to start 365 churches a year around the world. The conference currently has two new churches in the process of being launched: HopeVine out of Bel Air UMC and the Frederick District's Hispanic Initiative with Spanish services in Frederick and Martinsburg, W. Va. Conference leaders and the Next Steps Team are developing an ongoing process of starting new churches that includes identifying outstanding leaders and partner churches and equipping them for church planting.

SMILE

SMILE, an ecumenical outreach ministry in Southern Calvert County, provides food, clothing and other assistance to those in need in the Lusby area. Service Makes Individual Lives Exciting was organized when a group of clergy and lay persons from seven primarily United Methodist, congregations (now nine) in Lusby and Solomons met in the summer of 1991 to address the issues of those in need in the area. It is entirely volunteer run. From the beginning, SMILE has operated a Thrift Shop and a Food Pantry. It also provides emergency assistance for utility bills, rent, mortgage, gas, fuel and prescriptions as needed. Volunteers hold special ecumenical worship services throughout the year and provide holiday baskets for about 400 families on holiday. To learn more go to www.smileinc.org.

REACH Caregivers

REACH Caregivers, formerly Social HELP Center, with an office in Hagerstown, serves Washington County. REACH's purpose is to respond with compassion to people in need. Its program includes the Crisis Intervention Fund, which provides medical, shelter, food and transportation assistance and operates on-call 24-hour emergency shelter assistance and food assistance, and daytime travel assistance for stranded motorists. The Day Resource and Referral Program assists those facing eviction and utility cut-offs, and helps those searching for employment and housing. It is largely volunteer run and is in need of volunteers, particularly on Thursdays. For more information, visit www.reachcaregivers.org/CrisisIntervention.htm.

 

Hope for the City

Hope for the City is a Baltimore-Washington Conference initiative to bring healing and wholeness to the residents of Baltimore. Counseling and camping scholarships for children affected by violence, Shalom Zones that foster community development, and a myriad of other initiatives draw together the 42 Baltimore churches to address the challenges of poverty, drug addiction, AIDS, violence, an educational system in crisis and spiritual hunger. A copy of the 10-point Hope plan is at www.bwcumc.org/microsites/c/baltimore.

Mount Auburn Cemetary

Mount Auburn Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Baltimore for African-Americans. The trustees of then Sharp Street Methodist Episcopal Church purchased the land in Mt. Winans in 1810 and dedicated it as "The City of the Dead for Colored People." It is the resting place of many prominent African-Americans, bishops, freed slaves and others from all walks of life. It was designated a Historic Landmark in Baltimore City in 1986 and since 2001 is on the
National Register of Historic Places. Though historically prestigious, the church has few resources for its upkeep. United Methodist Men have diligently worked to clean up and repair it. Many volunteers and funds are needed for its restoration and preservation. For information, go to www.sharpstreet.org/mtauburn.html.

United Methodist Community Service

United Methodist Community Services supports assistance ministries at three Service Centers where food, hot meals, clothing, temporary housing and counseling are offered. It also provides a conferencewide Referral Center, staffed by trained volunteers, who personally guide pastors and needy people to resources that are accessible and reliable. It maintains an online UMCS Human Resources Directory, which includes information about services available at local UMCs, interfaith, non-profit and government agencies. Contributions account for the majority of UMCS' income.

For more information, contact conference Global Ministries Secretary, the Rev. Richard Brown-Whale, at or Sandy Ferguson, conference director of social justice ministries, at


God calls us beyond

BY WILLIAM CHANEY

God's people are generous.

Evidence of this generosity is all around us. God's people give to build homes after a hurricane, they give of their talents in designing systems to improve healthcare and education. They give financially to clothe the naked, feed the hungry and shelter the homeless.

But this generosity may be only the beginning of what God expects of God's disciples. Sacrificial giving should be our ultimate goal.

Giving sacrificially in the early church was the norm, not the exception to the rule. Acts 2:44-45 states. "All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need." The fellowship of believers were totally committed and invested in sacrificial giving.

John Wesley speaks of sacrificial giving in his sermon, "Use of Money." "Do not stint yourself. ... Render unto God, not a tenth, not a third, not half, but all that is God's, be it more or less; by employing all on yourself, your household, the household of faith, and all mankind, in such a manner, that you may give a good account of your stewardship when ye can be no longer stewards" Sacrificial giving was expected to be the standard of our giving as Methodists.

Every person must explore their faith to discover how God is calling them to give and how they can grow in the spiritual discipline of stewardship.

As you reflect upon your giving, consider:

• Sacrificial giving is a result of unity of purpose. The people of the early church were together meeting daily for the breaking of bread and fellowship. They acted as the body of Christ.

• Sacrificial giving is an act of worship. We honor God when we give sacrificially.
• Sacrificial giving is a result of spiritual maturity.
• Sacrificial giving is a witness to the world that we trust in God.

The Rev. William Chaney is a Guide in the Western Region.

Redefining ‘rich'

BY DAVE MYERS

When I was asked to write a short piece on the spiritual aspects of second-mile giving for the UMConnection, my first reaction was, "They must be kidding. Don't they know the pressures I am under at this time of year? I just finished Charge Conference, struggled to get all the evaluation forms into Gateway, and now we're staring at the new deadline of Statistics due January 15! Christmas is already upon us. What time do I have to do this?!?!"

But a small voice in my head immediately stopped my litany of concern. "What am I saying? I'm not the only one busy this time of year; and more importantly, those who aren't blessed to be as busy as me/we; are probably that way because they have great need. The reality is, that my ‘needs' are not really needs; the truth be told, they are only ‘wants.'"

I remember my first trip to Nicaragua in 1991. I thought I had myself prepared. Intellectually I knew just because they lived in the second poorest county in our hemisphere didn't mean they were lesser people than I was. But when I got there; making the connection between head and gut was hard. Upon reflection, I'm glad I was there for three weeks.

I'm glad a part of our trip forced me to live in their homes, in their communities, because it was there that I really experienced the power of God and what giving meant.

The biggest surprise was as one considered "rich" in this world, they were the givers, and I was the one who received.

I experienced faith and gratitude in a land where I saw little reason to be thankful. But most of all, I experienced hospitality from people that taught me what it was to welcome a stranger.

It is almost too obvious to say, but my spirit was changed and enriched. I have often imagined what an intrusion on their family life I must have been - at least it would have seemed that way to me. But I got no hint of that from them; only open arms, open hearts and open doors.

I was convinced that they had not only gone a second mile in receiving me, they had gone two or three extra miles. But as we talked about it I learned something; they said, "hospitality is important to us as
Christians."

When I came home I thought and meditated a lot about what had happened to me. And I was haunted - and still am haunted - by the fact that I was taught a spiritual practice of generosity from the poorest of the poor.

The Rev. Dave Myers is pastor of Chevy Chase UMC.