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BY SHAUN LANE
UMCONNECTION STAFF

More than 15,000 people from more than 250 United Methodist churches in the Baltimore-Washington Conference recently locked arms for a common purpose over a 48-hour period: to make a difference in their communities in ways both large and small.

The Change the World weekend, October 8-10, enabled United Methodists to move out of the pews and into the world in a symbolic and meaningful manner. Throughout Washington, Maryland and West Virginia, they fed the homeless, conducted food and clothing drives, held community parties, cleaned-up and cared for the environment, built houses, visited nursing homes and provided flood buckets and other items for disaster relief projects for victims around the country.

The conference Mission Center held a community day that included sorting and delivering more than 8,000 pounds of food and goods to food banks.

"This is what happens when you don't put limits on God," said Olivia Gross, the project manager of the event. Gross' church, Locust UMC in Columbia, engaged more than 60-percent of their church in mission-related activities for the Change the World weekend.

"Many of our churches got really excited about this and realized that this was more than just another activity. This was about making a difference in their community," said Gross.

"When all of the churches come together as a team and don't try to put God in a box, great things like this can happen," she added.

At Epworth UMC in Gaithersburg, the Rev. Jen Fenner and Bishop John Schol invited the 250-member congregation to participate in 13 different mission projects following worship.

"If you get nothing else about the Gospels, I hope you get Matthew 25. This is a pivotal teaching," said Bishop Schol in his sermon Oct. 9 at Epworth, which was simultaneously translated into Spanish.

"At the first church I served in Philadelphia, there was a homeless man named Charles, who lived on the steps of the church," the bishop said. "We decided we wanted to help him, but rather than just reaching out and getting to know him, care for Charles got caught up in committee after committee until one cold evening, Charles died on the steps of that church and I knew that was Jesus who died on those steps that night."

"This weekend, 15,000 United Methodists joined hands and hearts and reached out to listen and hear the stories of so many in the communities across the Baltimore-Washington Conference," said Schol. "We heard the needs in our communities, and we acted. That is the heart of what being a United Methodist Christian is all about."

The need has never been greater, the Rev. Ann LaPrade told the people who gathered at Potomac UMC in Montgomery County Oct. 8. As an interfaith community, they are seeking to alleviate the increasing amount of homelessness and poverty in the county.

A fundraising concert by Washington Vocal Artists, ending with "A Medley of Hope," raised money to help in those efforts. 

Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, one of the event's sponsors, quoted from the passage from Isaiah(58:6-7) read throughout synagogues for Yom Kippur: clothe the naked, free the oppressed, feed the hungry, loose the bonds of injustice. "May we reach out together today to find the presence of the Lord in our midst," he prayed.

That presence was a lively one at Bel Air UMC Oct. 9, when more than 500 United Methodists came to worship dressed to serve in more than 30 community projects. They carried with them the slogan, "Don't just go to church, be the church."

"Worship isn't something we need to always do in a building," said the Rev. Barry Hidey, who encouraged those present to become living sacrifices, practicing faith not just with their heads and hearts, but with their bodies as well."

Use your hands, your feet, your back - all that you are - to express the grace and love of God, he said. "If we believe our relationship with Christ changes us, we can change the world."

The congregation then celebrated Communion at the exit doors of the sanctuary. "This is the body and blood of Christ," Hidey told them, as they stepped out into the world to serve.

Christie Zimmerman, Linda Worthington and Melissa Lauber contributed to this story.