The Board of Child Care Auxiliary
By Maidstone Mulenga
UMConnection Staff
The Board of Child Care Auxiliary on Thursday, May 16, 2013 marked its 60th anniversary, celebrating decades of faithful support of the Board of Child Care, operated by the Baltimore-Washington Conference of The United Methodist Church.
Under the theme, “Helping to Polish Diamonds in the Rough,” the ceremony at Board of Child Care campus in Baltimore hailed the Auxiliary’s service since 1953 in which its volunteers and supporters serve more than 2,000 children each year.
In attendance were Washington Area Resident Bishop Marcus Matthews and his wife, Barbara. In his address, Bishop Matthews noted that since 1874, the Board of Child Care has given children and their families hope for the future and power in their present lives. “It is because of the Auxiliary members, church families and individuals affiliated with the Baltimore-Washington Conference that we continue to provide financial and volunteer support.”
Bishop Matthews challenged The United Methodist Church to go beyond social service delivery in its caring for the children and the poor. He said the church “must nurture and build just, hospitable, and compassionate communities in which the least have access to God’s table of abundance.”
“The focus must be on communicating and living the Gospel of Jesus Christ with all children and intentionally reaching out to poor persons as recipients and means of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.”
Bishop Matthew noted that there is a crisis among children today, a crisis he called, spiritual and that affects all persons. “Without a challenging vision that includes justice and compassion for the most vulnerable, we become self-absorbed.”
Urging those participating in the celebration not to miss opportunities to show affection to the children, Bishop Matthews said he often thinks about all the times he and others felt like they might have missed the affection.
“In preparing for this day I could not help but think of the thousands of children who do not have a daddy or mother to hug daily.”
Bishop Matthews called on United Methodists to intensify the urgency and the opportunity for the church to be in ministry with children and poor people.
“The current political climate makes the prophetic and compassionate voice of the Church on behalf of children and the poor all the more important. Public policy decisions that affect children and the poor urgently need participation by the Church in the local, state, national, and world political arenas,” he said, adding: “The time is now for the Church to become the voice of the voiceless.”
He said the crisis among children and the poor and the theological and historical mandates demand more than additional programs or emphases. Nothing less than the reshaping of The United Methodist in response to the God who is among “the least of these” is required.
The Council of Bishops in The United Methodist Church in 1995 approved a resolution setting forth The Bishop’s Initiative on Children and Poverty. This initiative has three objectives: (1) to reshape The UMC in response to the God who is among “the least of these”; (2) to provide resources for understanding the crisis among children and the impoverished and enable the church to respond to them; (3) to proclaim in word and deed the gospel of God’s redeeming, reconciling, and transforming grace in Jesus Christ to and with the children and those oppressed by poverty.
Quoting Matthews 25:35-45, Bishop Matthews said Jesus made it clear that he so fully identifies with the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned, and the immigrants that to not be in ministry with them is to fail to be in ministry with him.
“Through the Board of Child Care, we are claiming both our role to teach and our role to speak evangelically and prophetically to the church and society.”
To reshape the church in response to the God who is among the “least of these” means that every time we conduct worship, approve a church budget, organize a youth event, plan a vacation Bible School, the first question we should raise is “What will be the impact of these actions on children and on the poor.”
He said all children need to know that they are made in the image of God and loved supremely by God. “Jesus Christ welcomes them as an integral part of a community of grace and service. Children of all economic conditions need to experience the gospel.”
Earlier, Board of Child Care President and CEO Thomas L. Curcio noted that the Auxiliary has made thousands of children happier by bringing smiles to the faces in so many ways.
“Your conditional love of the children in care has lifted and bridged the pain and hurt and relieved their distress in order for them to discover the strengths and abilities they never they had. You have assisted our staff to help children grow in full, God-given potential,” Curcio said.
Guy Everhart, president of the Conference Auxiliary, noted the Auxiliary volunteers have used their talents to provide cookies, gathering gifts for the Christmas store, collecting box-tops and labels, making afghans and other behind-the-scene activities.
“While the parameters of within the which the Board of Child Care and the Auxiliary must operate will continue to evolve over time, our fundamental goal to enhance the quality for the children will be as valid in the future as it is today and as it has been for the past 60 years, “ Everhart said.
The Board of Child Care is a human services organization that helps children. Since 1874, it has given children and their families hope for the future and power in their present lives. Today, it serves more than 1,300 people through our residential and community-based services.
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