Church pays it forward BY MARY CAHILL
UMCONNECTION CORRESPONDENT It was like Publishers Clearinghouse, but instead of Ed McMahon, Reisterstown UMCs pastor and missions chairwoman knocked on the doors of four local ministries to give away money. It began with Reisterstown UMCs building campaign, Building on Faith. From the start, the congregation pledged to give 10 percent of the funds they raised to missions. When the campaign ended, the church had $1 million. The congregation of about 1,000 members is evenly distributing its tithe of $100,000 to local, conference and global ministries. From the time the idea took form, it seemed like the natural thing to do was to give back to God some of the generosity that we were blessed with, said Mary Smith, chairwoman of the missions committee. At first, the committee didnt consider how much the money might mean to the recipients. But when the Building on Faith campaign wound down, said Smith, I suddenly realized the huge responsibility this put on the missions committee to disburse these funds carefully. The committee members began the process by writing down ideas for recipients. Next, with the help of a Baltimore-Washington Conference staff person, who works with global missions, they selected areas that would benefit most from the missions tithe. A smaller group narrowed down the options and the entire missions committee reviewed and agreed upon the final list of recipients. Smith summed up the mission groups spirit by paraphrasing Kahlil Gibran: The search for one willing to receive is joy greater than giving. A total of $33,333 has been designated for local ministries. Smith and the Rev. Richard Dick Harden have presented checks to St. Marks UMC in Baltimore, and to Reisterstown ministries at St. Lukes UMC, the Community Crisis Center and the food pantry. You can just imagine the smiles and sense of gratitude that was forthcoming from the recipients, Harden said. To the delight of the Reisterstown congregation, St. Marks UMC in turn gave 10 percent of the gift they received to Mt. Winans UMC, located in an area with 94 percent unemployment. St. Marks also gave an additional 10 percent of their gift to their own worship ministry, and the remaining 80 percent of the Reisterstown gift will be used in mission work. Donations to conference ministries, totaling $33,333, will go to AIDS ministries, Volunteers in Mission and the Casa del Pueblo-Calvary UMC in Washington, D.C., among others. Some of the $33,333 designated for global missions has been presented to Maplereign Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, Africa University, the Bishops Initiative on Children in Poverty and the Street Childrens Ministry in Rio de Janeiro. | 
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