| World Communion Sunday helps to build dreams BY MELISSA LAUBERUMCONNECTION STAFF  For the past four years, money dropped into United Methodist collection plates in early October has built a dream for Crystal Carter of Epworth UMC in Baltimore.
Carter, a senior at Syracuse University in New York, is a recipient of the World Communion Sunday Ethnic Minority Student Scholarship. World Communion Sunday is one of six special Sunday celebrated each year in the United Methodist Church on which special offerings are taken. This year, World Communion Sunday is Oct. 5. Carter is grateful to all those whose names she does not know who helped her offset the cost of her studies to become a registered nurse. I am a very ambitious person and plan to give back to my community that has had faith in me throughout my college experience, she wrote in an e-mail. Unfortunately, in todays world I needed more than a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love. I needed the funding to get the education necessary to pursue nursing. The people in the pews have helped me live out my dream. A nursing and psychology major, Carter claims college has opened up the world to her, providing her with a wide variety of activities, that range from becoming an emergency medical technician and serving on an ambulance to white water rafting and dancing. Faith plays a major role on campus for me because whenever I feel like I am becoming overwhelmed with work or other pressures, I remind myself that if God brought you to it, hell get you through it. As she begins her senior year, Carter reminds herself that, I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. She says she is looking forward with anticipation to passing the state exam for registered nursing and beginning a career as a geriatric nurse in New York City or Atlanta. World Communion Sunday is the most supported of the six special Sundays. They include: Human Relations Day, One Great Hour of Sharing, Native American Ministries Sunday, Peace with Justice Sunday and United Methodist Student Day. Originally a Presbyterian observance, the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America established Worldwide Communion Sunday in 1940 as a global, interdenominational event, according to the Web site, www.umcgiving.org. In 1971, the church changed the name of the observance to World Communion Sunday and redistributed the offering to support the Crusade Scholarship Program, begun in 1944. On World Communion Sunday last year $1,123,699 was contributed by United Methodists. In the Baltimore-Washington Conference, $4,370 was given. These funds were distributed, according to The Book of Discipline, with one half of the offering receipts going to ministries beyond the United States. Fifty percent was paid for Crusade Scholarships in the United States and abroad, 35 percent went to the Ethnic Scholarship program for undergraduates and 15 percent was used for the Ethnic In-Service Training Program for ethnic minority people seeking second careers in church-related vocations. The theme of this years World Communion Sunday is Always Excel in Gods Work. Resources to assist churches in observing this Sunday can be obtained by calling (888) 862-3242. | 
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