The Mustard Seed Migration Grants, inspired by the well-known parable about growth, provide United Methodist congregations with up to $2,000 to support one-time, community-based service projects.  Churches receiving the grants will be able to assist refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented persons and migrants of all types in their own cities and towns.

“As Jesus shares in his parable, small mustard seeds have the potential to grow into something pervasive that spreads throughout a field,” said Roland Fernandes, general secretary of United Methodist Global Ministries and UMCOR. “Since the start of the grants program, we have seen United Methodist churches learn more about immigrants, migrants and refugees in their local communities and address their needs through these Mustard Seed Migration Grants, the ‘seed’ of welcoming strangers has been planted in new and unique ways in congregations around the country.”

“Mustard Seed Migration Grants provide an opportunity for local churches to learn more about and have a greater impact on ministry with refugees, immigrants and migrants,” said the Rev. Jack Amick, director of Global Migration for UMCOR. “UMCOR, and those who contribute to it every year, are excited to support these churches caring for the most vulnerable in their midst.” 

Examples of recent work of United Methodist churches supported by Mustard Seed Migration Grants include:

• In California, Echo Park United Methodist Church in Los Angeles supported its new Immigrant Youth Entrepreneurial Empowerment Program, a youth mentoring program designed to help them learn how to become successful small business owners.
• In Florida, Gray Memorial United Methodist Church in Tallahassee used a grant to support Love on Wheels, their ministry to provide Afghan refugee families with bicycles they can use to be independent, find employment and go shopping.
• In Michigan, members of First United Methodist Church of Birmingham used a grant to build on their tradition of purchasing home furnishings for Afghans in need. To date, they have furnished 26 homes housing 102 refugees.
• In Pennsylvania, members of Haws Avenue United Methodist Church in Norristown used a grant to fund their Grace & Mercy for All program, supplying Latino immigrants with baby supplies for newborns and with rent assistance.
• In Texas, members of McKinney Memorial United Methodist Church in Houston purchased school supplies and food vouchers for 60 immigrant and refugee families.
• In Vermont, members of First United Methodist Church of Brattleboro used their grant to purchase carpets for the homes of Afghan refugees in their community. The church decided to buy the carpets after getting to know the refugees and learning how important fabric floor coverings were to them.

For samples of eligible Mustard Seed Migration Grants projects and to apply online, visit HERE. For a list of past recipients, please visit HERE.

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About the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)

Founded in 1940, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is the global humanitarian relief and development agency of The United Methodist Church. A part of United Methodist Global Ministries, UMCOR works in more than 80 countries worldwide, including the United States and its territories. The agency’s mission, grounded in the teachings of Jesus, is to alleviate human suffering with open hearts and minds to all people. Working in the areas of disaster response and recovery and migration, UMCOR responds to natural or civil disasters that are interruptions of such magnitude that they overwhelm a community’s ability to recover on its own. Learn more about Global Ministries by visiting https://umcmission.org/or by following www.facebook.com/GlobalMinistries and Twitter.com/UMCmission.

Media Contact

Dan Curran for Global Ministries/UMCOR
770-658-9586
media@umcmission.org

The post UMCOR Mustard Seed Migration Grants program accepting applications for 2023 appeared first on Global Ministries.

In response to recent tornadoes in central Alabama and central Georgia and flooding in California, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) approved early relief grants to meet immediate needs in three annual conferences.

On Jan. 12, multiple tornadoes slammed the southeastern United States, killing at least seven and destroying numerous communities.

Assessing needs in hard-hit Selma, Alabama, a leadership team from the Alabama-West Florida Conference noted that approximately 600 households were affected by more than a dozen tornadoes. “It would not surprise me,” said the Rev. Chris Ackerman, conference disaster response coordinator, “if the total number of houses affected is over 1,000.”

“From the moment the warning was activated in Dallas County,” recalled the Rev. Diane Everette, Church Street United Methodist Church, Selma, “our UMC connection stayed in touch with me to ensure that I was personally safe as well as our church members. While Thursday was, perhaps, one of the most terrifying days of my life, I was never alone, thanks to my brothers and sisters in Christ in this conference. It will be a long road ahead for Selma, but our conference disaster response team will walk with us every step of the way.” 

In the North Georgia Conference, 200 homes were destroyed by winds and hail in a multicounty area, according to the Rev. Scott Parrish, conference disaster response coordinator.

Griffin, Georgia, was among the communities impacted by a confirmed tornado. Griffin First United Methodist Church opened as a Red Cross shelter, and their trained Early Response Team (ERT) deployed Jan. 13. By the weekend, ERTs from Alpharetta First UMC, Northside UMC, Canton First UMC and St. James UMC, Atlanta, had joined the effort.

Steven Redmond, the disaster response warehouse manager for the North Georgia Conference, delivered UMCOR cleaning buckets and hygiene kits assembled by North Georgia UMC congregations to Meriwether County. In addition, the South Georgia Conference sent a shower trailer to a newly established Red Cross shelter in Locust Grove, also in Meriwether County.

Urging volunteer response through established channels, Parrish said, “Our coordinated response upon invitation is a hallmark for our United Methodist connection and one reason we are a trusted partner of GEMA (Georgia Emergency Management), VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) and others.”

In the West, recent rainstorms produced significant flooding in a number of communities, including Half Moon Bay, California. The Pilarcitos Creek flooded about 20 homes in an affordable housing community for low-income and agricultural workers. 

Steve Elliott, disaster response and missions coordinator for the California-Nevada Conference, expressed appreciation for UMCOR’s immediate response. “We will be providing further assistance to this flooding recovery and others as needed,” he said. He requested additional cleaning buckets, as well as donations to the disaster-response ministry.

Prayer and generous gifts, either to individual conferences or to UMCOR, are encouraged. Gifts to UMCOR U.S. Disaster Response and Recovery greatly increase UMCOR’s ability to support conference disaster response ministries across the U.S.

Barbara Dunlap-Berg is a freelance writer and editor in Carbondale, Illinois. Communicators from Alabama-West Florida, California-Nevada and North Georgia annual conferences contributed to this story.

The post UMCOR supports three annual conferences with early relief grants appeared first on Global Ministries.

By Christie R. House
October 19, 2022 | ATLANTA

The people of Ukraine have endured eight months of violence and destruction in a war that Russia recently escalated with attacks on civilians. Amid new terrors are also signs of hope, as churches, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), ecumenical agencies and other nonprofit organizations band together to reach as many people as possible with care and support.

Since July, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) has approved more than $14 million for partners representing a wide spectrum of caring ministries across Ukraine and neighboring countries that have taken in refugees.

In his report to Global Ministries and UMCOR boards of directors, Roland Fernandes, general secretary for Global Ministries and UMCOR, said: “The response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine from donors has been phenomenal. Through the end of August, $23.2 million has been received. UMCOR’s International Disaster Response and Global Migration staff have processed a total of more than $17 million in grants in response to the suffering there. We have had good collaboration with the UMC churches in Europe, existing and new partners and other UMC agencies.”

UMCOR’s partnerships and ecumenical work are summarized below into five broad categories – emergency relief, health care, shelter and housing, safety and security and refugees – ministries that are taking place both inside Ukraine and in neighboring countries.

I’m staggered by the network of United Methodist churches and how they are working together and mobilizing resources. In the Ukraine Annual Conference, District Superintendent Oleg Starodubets and his wife Yuliya coordinate shelters in three locations in Uzhhorod for people who would prefer to remain in Western Ukraine rather than emigrate.

Katie Hills Uzoka, UMCOR director of International Disaster Response

Emergency relief includes whatever affected households and displaced families need the most at any given time. Food, household goods, water, cash programs, emergency sanitation measures, hygiene, and work with internally displaced populations are all examples of emergency relief in times of war.

UMCOR supported the UMC in Ukraine earlier in the year with several grants, including funds to assist with the purchase of a van to transport people and supplies. UMCOR continues to work closely with Oleg and Yuliya Starodubets to scale up their emergency operations and improve their shelter capabilities for people displaced inside Ukraine.

City Aid Center in Zaporizhzhia maintains a drop-in center there and one in Mukachevo and a delivery for home-bound people in Donetsk Oblast. People displaced by the war find food, hygiene items, cooking utensils and other household goods in these centers. A recent UMCOR grant of nearly $100,000 has helped City Aid Center keep its shelves stocked to meet the needs of those who come for help.

In Odessa Oblast and Mikolayiv Oblast, areas close to Crimea, UMCOR supports the emergency food and medical supplies distribution of International Blue Crescent (IBC), a Turkish Muslim aid organization. Adept at emergency response in areas of conflict that displace large numbers of people, IBC has partnered previously with UMCOR. Recent grants totaling nearly $1.25 million have supported IBC efforts to distribute substantial food rations in Odessa, Mikolayiv and Bolgrad, with a plan to establish a mobile bakery in Bolgrad to feed an additional 9,000 people a day. The latest grant also supported deliveries of medical supplies to hospitals in the affected areas.

In the conflict regions of Kharkiv and Donetsk, Ukraine, Rescue Now delivers food, hygiene kits and most recently, supplies to prepare for winter to more than a thousand people. An UMCOR grant of nearly $200,000 helps to renovate and equip a transit shelter in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, and assist 3,200 people in Eastern Ukraine with evacuation to safer locations.

Another shipment has arrived from our good friends and partners, the Arlene Campbell Humanitarian Foundation and UMCOR. Many thanks. All the items will serve our patients in exactly the operating room. Surgical kits and many other useful things arrived in this truck. Praise the Lord.

Dr. Vitaly Demyanchuk
Deputy Director of the Heart Institute in Kyiv, Ukraine

UMCOR has so far approved three grants in a partnership with the Arlene Campbell Humanitarian Foundation to ship desperately needed medical supplies to state hospitals across Ukraine. Since March, seven shipments have reached their intended locations, supplying hospitals with medicines, equipment and other kinds of medical necessities to keep them open and accessible to patients. Direct beneficiaries are 13 health facilities in Kharkiv, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Odessa, and in areas surrounding Kyiv, including Boryspil, Bahhoutivska, Irpin, Zhytomyr and Chernivtsi.

When the war in Ukraine began, the Methodists in Romania, through a grant from UMCOR, were able to provide free rooms to refugees and hire a Ukrainian refugee with psychologist credentials to conduct therapy circles for fellow refugees. The church also provided space for Ukrainian businesspeople with a mailing address to keep their operations running.

The Rev. Jack Amick, UMCOR director of Global Migration

A grant to the United Methodist Church in Romania has assisted the church’s efforts to house refugees from Ukraine in Hotel Hanul Fullton, which the church rents. This hotel and ministry center hosts numerous programs to help Ukrainian refugees, as well as the rest of the community.

The International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) is working with the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) on shelter needs of populations that have been displaced but also those that have remained in their homes, enduring tremendous damage. IOCC is working with Eleos-Ukraine to implement a $1.5 million grant from UMCOR that supports a broad spectrum of IOCC’s mission, including: temporary shelter; protection for women and girls in shelter; permanent shelter for families and livestock; emergency food and household items for those in transition; and psychosocial care.

Another organization in Uzhhorod, Ukraine, operates several shelters and plans to provide “tiny houses” for displaced people arriving from warzones. Longer-term housing is an urgent need as winter is approaching and thousands of people are residing in settings ill-prepared for Ukrainian winters. One Collective, a U.S. Christian nonprofit working globally, provides housing but also employs internally displaced people in construction. UMCOR is supporting a portion of this building plan.

Habitat for Humanity International (HHI) is working with refugees from Ukraine in Poland to find independent temporary and mid-term housing.

I have been in Kyiv seeing first-hand the devastating effects of the conflict. The use of heavy artillery, landmines, cluster munitions, both in rural and populated areas, has left a devastating and deadly legacy.

Darren Cormack, chief executive of Mines Advisory Group

As war zones shift in Ukraine and some territories are liberated from Russian occupation, residents return home to find their neighborhoods and farms littered with mines and unexploded cluster munitions. A $2 million grant from UMCOR to Mines Advisory Group (MAG) will help demine reclaimed ground, enable MAG teams to identify the exact location of unexploded ordnances and provide Ukrainians living in or returning to these areas with knowledge to adopt safe behaviors, reducing the risk of accidents.

In Buk, Czech Republic, Ukrainian refugees are being housed in a UMC country house. It was humbling to receive a wonderful lunch of incredible hospitality. Pastor Jana Krizova, of the Prague UMC, said, ‘It’s in the Methodist DNA to see a need and do something about it.’

Katie Hills Uzoka, UMCOR director of International Disaster Response

Response to the needs of refugees outside Ukraine also includes forms of emergency relief, health care, shelter and housing, and safety and security.

In addition to the grant for IOCC in Ukraine for shelter and care, UMCOR has partnered with IOCC for a second grant for refugee assistance in Poland and Romania. This grant, for $1.04 million, provides humanitarian aid in the form of cash distributions and vouchers, anti-trafficking training and integration services such as language classes to help refugees participate in their new communities.

UMCOR has made a significant $2.75 million contribution to ACT Alliance to provide ecumenical support for refugee services in Poland, Romania and Hungary as well as services for those displaced in Ukraine. Four different faith-based agencies are all working for access to and restoration of basic services and protection for conflict-affected people in Ukraine as well as multisector support for refugees in other countries.

Church World Service, which first joined in ministry for war relief after World War II with UMCOR’s predecessor, the Methodist Committee for Overseas Relief, is using a $2 million grant from UMCOR to welcome, house, and work through case management and asylum referrals for refugees arriving in the United States from Ukraine. Major cities to be resourced will include: Chicago, Ill.; Jersey City, N.J.; New York City, N.Y.; Orange County, Calif.; and the Bay Area of California.

UMCOR has provided $233,000 to assist UMCs in Europe with their assistance efforts to an estimated 5,000 beneficiaries. Grants were given recently for United Methodist communities working to welcome, house and settle refugees in Bulgaria, Estonia and Hungary. An additional grant to Diaconia ECCB (Center of Relief and Development, Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren) in the Czech Republic concentrates specifically on humanitarian assistance to Ukrainian Roma refugees.

A request from UNHCR for help with legal assistance for refugees in Poland has presented UMCOR with an opportunity to support European Lawyers in Lesvos (ELIL). ELIL partners with four international law firms in Poland and coordinates with key humanitarian actors on the ground, receiving case referrals from UNHCR and UNICEF.

All of this is possible because of the generosity of United Methodists and other donors who have given more than $23 million for Ukraine war relief since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. Remaining funds will make possible more grants to support a broad spectrum of relief efforts as the conflict continues, as will any additional funds given through UMCOR International Disaster Response, Advance # 982450.

Christie R. House is a consultant writer and editor with Global Ministries and UMCOR.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief International Disaster Response program (UMCOR IDR) serves as the primary channel for United Methodist assistance for disasters that strike outside the United States. Response includes food, water, hygiene and other essential nonfood supplies and shelter support for displaced people fleeing disasters. UMCOR’s Global Migration program helps refugees and migrants as well as the churches and ecumenical networks that assist them.

The post Recent UMCOR grants for Ukraine address relief, health, housing and safety appeared first on Global Ministries.

Encounter with Christ awards 14 grants to 12 partners in support of mission within marginalized communities.

October 7, 2022 | ATLANTA
For Release: IMMEDIATE

Media Contacts:
Dan Curran, Global Ministries
media@umcmission.org
Doug Ruffle, Encounter with Christ
973-896-7362
missioninterpreter@umc-encounter.org

In 2022, Encounter with Christ (a ministry partnership between the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and Americas, the Council of Evangelical Methodist Churches in Latin America and the Caribbean) awarded 14 grants to 12 mission partners from the permanent fund of Encounter with Christ in Latin America and the Caribbean. Ministries receiving these donations will impact the lives of hundreds and thousands of people in the Latin America and Caribbean region. The total amount of awards was $121,600.

Global Ministries established a permanent fund called Encounter with Christ in Latin America and the Caribbean (Encounter with Christ) more than 30 years ago. When the fund reached $1,000,000 in donations in 2005, grants began to be distributed by Global Ministries. Since then, Global Ministries has awarded more than $1,000,000 to regional mission partners.

Encounter with Christ tells the story of vibrant mission in South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. The Methodist churches in Latin America and the Caribbean work in advancing mission with some of the most marginalized populations in their communities such as women and children, immigrants, indigenous communities, and those suffering from racial and gender inequality. The Encounter with Christ permanent fund supports Global Ministries’ efforts to partner with the national and regional churches and ecumenical partners in the region by providing program funding for social justice and evangelism outreach efforts.

In the wake of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, a project was approved to support the Evangelical Methodist Church in Bolivia’s (EMCB) efforts to bring hope and joy to a population of people gripped with fear and despair from living through the last several years. The EMCB discerned that the Bolivian population seeks God and the support of the church more than ever before. Global Ministries’ $10,000 grant, using funds raised by Encounter with Christ, will strengthen local churches through the gift of music. In an area of Bolivia where there are five missionary churches and four new preaching points, the grant will expand the church’s ability to reach hundreds of new people through outdoor prayer concerts and other gatherings.

The Methodist Church of Mexico (IMM) received a $9,000 grant that brings new life and hope to people caught in the vicious cycle of drug addiction. Mexican Methodists are offering education to re-train addicts in recovery so that they can gain employment by learning a new trade.

The Methodist Church of Chile (IMECH) received a grant of $10,000 from Encounter with Christ‘s permanent fund that will teach Wesleyan thought, theology and history to laity with an aim to recover the historical identity of Methodism. The goal of this project is to bring renewal to the church.

The above three projects are samples from the 14 grants awarded to mission partners working in countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.

For a complete summary of 2021 and 2022 grants distributed by Global Ministries from the permanent fund of Encounter with Christ in Latin America and the Caribbean, click here. Encounter with Christ continues to raise funds to add to its permanent fund so that more and more support can be given for the region. To learn more about Encounter with Christ, visit its website: https://umc-encounter.org/. 

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About the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church

Global Ministries is the worldwide mission and development agency of The United Methodist Church. Founded in 1819, Global Ministries today supports more than 200 missionaries in over 60 countries, including the United States. It has personnel, projects, and partners in 115 countries. Learn more about Global Ministries by visiting www.umcmission.org or by following www.facebook.com/GlobalMinistries and www.Twitter.com/UMCmission.

The post Mission partners in Latin America and the Caribbean receive grants for ministry appeared first on Global Ministries.

Media Contact:
Dan Curran for Global Ministries and UMCOR
media@umcmission.org

For the second year, churches across the United States will be able to help refugees and migrants living in their local communities thanks to a grant program from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). Open to United Methodist churches, the Mustard Seed Migration Grants program continues the agency’s more than 80-year focus of helping refugees, immigrants and migrants seeking to build a new life. The application deadline has recently been extended to September 30, 2022.

The Mustard Seed Migration Grants, inspired by the well-known parable about growth, provide up to 50 congregations with as much as $2,000 in funding to support one-time, community-based service projects. Churches will have the opportunity to get to know and assist refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented people and migrants of all types in their own cities and towns.

“As Jesus described in his parable, small mustard seeds have the potential to grow into something pervasive that spreads throughout a field,” said Roland Fernandes, general secretary of Global Ministries, which includes UMCOR. “Our hope is that, by learning more about migrants in local communities and addressing their needs through these Mustard Seed Migration Grants, the ‘seed’ of welcoming strangers will be planted in new ways in congregations around the country.”

United Methodist churches across the country have used the grants to make meaningful impact:

• A church in Washington, D.C. provided children of migrant families with school uniforms and school supplies helping the congregation learn that “our neighbors are people from all over the world, some who have gone through terror to make it to this country and make a better life for their families.”
• A collaborative of churches in Albany, NY learned that outreach “doesn’t have to be gigantic to be meaningful” when they provided new bicycles to immigrants needing transportation to employment opportunities, reaching more than 10 families.
• A church in North Carolina had an open conversation about migrant families living in their community for the first time and, through education and programs supported by the grant, had the opportunity to experience the growth and blessing that comes from giving.

“The Mustard Seed Migration Grant program can help local churches live into a new understanding of the kingdom of God as they actively engage in caring for the most vulnerable in their midst,” said the Rev. Jack Amick, director of global migration for UMCOR.

Eligible applicants will be local United Methodist churches located in the United States. Because only 50 grants will be awarded, this is a competitive process, and not all applicants will receive grants. Completed applications are due by September 30, 2022. Grant recipients will receive an award notification within one month of submitting their application.

For more information about the Mustard Seed Migration Grants or to complete an application, visit https://umcmission.org/migration/mustardseed.  

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About UMCOR and the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church

Founded in 1940, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is the global humanitarian relief and development agency of The United Methodist Church. A part of UM Global Ministries, UMCOR works in more than 80 countries worldwide, including the United States and its territories. The agency’s mission, grounded in the teachings of Jesus, is to alleviate human suffering with open hearts and minds to all people. Working in the areas of disaster response and recovery, sustainable development, and migration, UMCOR responds to natural or civil disasters that are interruptions of such magnitude that they overwhelm a community’s ability to recover on its own. Learn more about Global Ministries by visiting www.umcmission.org or by following www.facebook.com/globalministries and twitter.com/umcmission.

The post Deadline extended for UMCOR’s Mustard Seed Migration Grant application appeared first on Global Ministries.

June 1, 2022 | ATLANTA 
For release: IMMEDIATE 

Media Contacts: 

Dan Curran for Global Ministries/UMCOR
770-658-9586
dancurran@curranpr.com 

For the second year, churches across the United States are able to help refugees and migrants living in their local communities thanks to a grant program from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). Open to United Methodist churches, the “Mustard Seed Migration Grants” continue the agency’s 80-year tradition of helping refugees, immigrants and migrants seeking to build a new life. 

The Mustard Seed Migration Grants, inspired by the well-known parable about growth, provide up to 50 congregations with as much as $2,000 in funding to support one-time, community-based service projects. Churches will have the opportunity to get to know and assist refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented persons and migrants of all types in their own cities and towns. 

“As Jesus described in his parable, small mustard seeds have the potential to grow into something pervasive that spreads throughout a field,” said Roland Fernandes, general secretary of Global Ministries and UMCOR. “Our hope is that, by learning more about migrants in local communities and addressing their needs through these Mustard Seed Migration Grants, the ‘seed’ of welcoming strangers will be planted in new ways in congregations around the country.” 

Emory Fellowship, a United Methodist church in Washington, D.C. received a grant in 2021 and says that their project to provide a local school with uniforms and supplies for migrant families was a huge success. “The congregation learned that our neighbors are people from all over the world, some who have gone through terror to make it to this country and make a better life for their families…the congregation learned it is not our place to judge the migrant situation; we must listen, build relationships, hear the stories, find the needs and do ministry with migrants in the community. We are called to be the church outside of the physical building.” 

“The Mustard Seed Migration Grant program can help local churches live into a new understanding of the kingdom of God as they actively engage in caring for the most vulnerable in their midst,” said the Rev. Jack Amick, director of global migration for UMCOR. 

Eligible applicants will be local United Methodist churches located in the United States. Because only 50 grants will be awarded, this is a competitive process, and not all applicants will receive grants. Completed applications are due by September 1, 2022. Grant recipients will receive an award notification within one month of submitting their application. 

For more information about the Mustard Seed Migration Grants or to complete an application, visit https://umcmission.org/migration/mustardseed. 

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About UMCOR and the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church 

Founded in 1940, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is the global humanitarian relief and development agency of The United Methodist Church. A part of UM Global Ministries, UMCOR works in more than 80 countries worldwide, including the United States and its territories. The agency’s mission, grounded in the teachings of Jesus, is to alleviate human suffering with open hearts and minds to all people. Working in the areas of disaster response and recovery, sustainable development, and migration, UMCOR responds to natural or civil disasters that are interruptions of such magnitude that they overwhelm a community’s ability to recover on its own. Learn more about Global Ministries by visiting www.umcmission.org or by following www.facebook.com/globalministries and twitter.com/umcmission.

The post Applications for UMCOR’s Mustard Seed Migration Grant program are open appeared first on Global Ministries.

Grants from the United Methodist Pacific Islander Ministry Plan in 2021 and 2022 helped Tongan, Samoan and Fijian congregations in the U.S. develop tools for online ministry and outreach, particularly to keep senior members engaged during COVID-19 lockdowns.

By Christie R. House
May 27, 2022 | ATLANTA

While all congregations in the United States have felt some degree of disruption and frustration from the COVID-19 pandemic, congregations that draw both spiritual and cultural strength from their church communities have had particularly difficult challenges trying to keep everyone safe and connected. During government and denominational requested lock-downs, some churches were able to embrace the switch to online worship, creating small worship teams, conducting worship, and streaming or recording services for congregations to watch and participate in online. Other congregations had never even imagined a need for this kind of worship and had neither the means nor the know-how to pull it off.

United Methodist Pacific Islander congregations in the United States draw a lot of strength from their faith communities. They have unique rituals, holidays and spiritual practices in addition to those practiced by a majority of United Methodists. Along with spiritual nurture, their churches form a hub of community life, strengthening their cultural identities and their ties to their countries of origin.

When the coronavirus pandemic prevented Pacific Islander churches from gathering, the hardship on the community was great. Fetu Ao United Methodist Church, a Samoan congregation in Torrance, California, had no wi-fi in the church, so streaming was not possible. While they were able to resume in-person services in 2021, many of their elder members feared returning, since COVID-19 variants continue to spread and cause spikes in cases.

Dr. Dana Lyles, director of Global Ministries Multiethnic Ministries, which includes the Pacific Islander Ministry Plan, could see that a little help in this case had the potential to go a long way in resourcing congregations to stay connected with all members, even those who decided they were not ready to return to inside group worship. Fetu Ao was one of 17 Pacific Islander congregation that received a grant to purchase new technological equipment and software to offer online worship. They contracted for wi-fi on the church grounds.

“This grant has allowed us to bring our worship into the 21^st century and reach many more people,” said Rose Leilua, Fetu Ao’s treasurer. “It has been a real blessing.”

In addition to the technology gains, some churches also received Covid-19 safety resources, such as masks, sanitizers and cleaning supplies.

Most Pacific Islander congregations in the U.S. have a majority of Tongan, Samoan or Fijian members, though some churches have a multicultural combination of two or all three. Methodists worship in all three island nations. Pacific Islander immigrants to the U.S. have desired to plant new churches, though they do not always have the resources to do so without the help of established churches.

Pacific Islanders petitioned General Conference for a program whose main purpose is to strengthen existing congregations and plant new faith communities as well as develop a strong network in which congregations can resource one another. The 2012 General Conference passed the Comprehensive Plan for Pacific Islander Ministry in the U.S., developed over a four-year period by a committee of Pacific Islanders and staff members of Global Ministries, which today administers the work of the plan.

Though many of the grant recipient congregations chose to outfit their churches with lap tops, screens, camcorders and tri-pods to produce better online worship, one particular church decided to outfit the congregation instead.

Medford Samoan Mission in Medford, Oregon, decided to purchase Chromebooks to deliver to members of the congregation who had no computer equipment. Not only does this give them access to worship, it also gives children and youth in these households a way to follow schoolwork and connect with their teachers and friends. As a mission outreach, the Medford Samoan Mission request did double duty.

Acquiring the grant to purchase equipment can be half the battle, as the Fetu Ao congregation discovered.

“Our greatest challenge was finding someone or a company for the installation,” notes Leilua. “This was the first time we’d done anything like this, but we ‘googled’ our way through it.”

The challenge was worth it though, increasing the knowledge and capabilities of a few members as well, who now record or live stream services. The big screens they installed have allowed the congregation to incorporate more music, particularly music from Samoa. Their attendance and participation for in-person worship have increased.

Leilua concludes: “Our project seemed like a huge task, but with the Lord’s help and slowly navigating our way, we reached our goal and completed the project. It has incredibly boosted the morale of our congregation.”

Christie R. House is a consultant editor and writer with Global Ministries and UMCOR.

The post Tech for all – Pacific Islander grants help congregations stay connected appeared first on Global Ministries.

May 19, 2022 | ATLANTA

Mounting human-made and natural disasters around the world have increased demands for relief, recovery, migrant and health ministries, which Global Ministries and the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) are working to provide. Global Ministries directors, meeting virtually May 11-12, reviewed and approved the work the mission agency and UMCOR directors approved grants for global health and humanitarian relief as part of the semiannual gathering of Global Ministries Board of Directors.

Roland Fernandes, general secretary of Global Ministries and UMCOR, urged directors and staff to depend on the grace of God in these times: “With all the uncertainties that continue to rage and the new complexities and challenges that keep emerging, we need to remain focused on our mission mandate, which does not change, but must of course adapt to evolving realities.”

Disaster response and recovery

UMCOR directors approved a total of more than $6 million for U.S. disaster ministries, including several multimillion-dollar grants for U.S. disaster recovery:

• Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference – received a $2.9 million grant for flood and storm recovery to continue and expand the conference’s disaster case management, volunteer coordination and construction projects. Flooding occurred in two counties of Tennessee in August 2021 after 20 inches of rain fell in just five hours. A total of 16 counties were affected by the tornadoes in both states last December. Through case management and direct service, the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference plans to assist at least 1,250 households in achieving their long-term recovery goals.

• The Greater New Jersey Conference’s Hurricane Ida Recovery project focuses on three of the top five most impacted counties affected by Hurricane Ida in September 2021, working with low income, senior, access- and functional-needs households in marginalized communities, and particularly, communities of color. The $1.8 million UMCOR grant will assist with case management for 200 households and home repairs for at least 50 households.

Additional grants approved for U.S. disaster recovery:

• Michigan Conference – supporting case management for households in the Metro Detroit area affected by severe flooding in June 2021.
• Mountain Sky Conference – for recovery efforts related to the Marshall Wildfire in Boulder County, Colorado, in December 2021.
• Oklahoma Conference – to continue the next phase of its recovery project with households affected by severe storms, tornadoes and flooding in 2019.

Directors also approved grants totaling more than $690,000 for international disaster response:

• North Katanga Episcopal Area – A grant for emergency food rations will help to serve the needs of people displaced by interethnic violence in the Central African Republic who currently live in camps and with host families in the DRC. Additional global migration grants were approved for the East Congo and South Congo episcopal areas to provide food and supplies to people affected by violence in their specific regions.
• Haiti – UMCOR continues to support organizations working for recovery and resiliency after the 2021 earthquake. A grant to the Methodist Church in Haiti will support food security in the 11 Methodist circuits to provide personnel for earthquake recovery activities and rebuild some of the church’s infrastructure, including a church and several schools. A grant to Project Living Hope will support the construction of an educational center for vocational skills and disaster preparedness in Camp Marie, which can also be used as an evacuation shelter when needed.

• Philippines – A grant to the Manila Episcopal Area will address basic human needs in Cavite City (Manila) communities affected by a February 2022 fire that destroyed 760 households. The grant provides supplemental food rations, WASH/hygiene kits, cash assistance for families and portable solar home systems for 100 of the poorest households. Funding for an additional 22 solar streetlights will improve security and safety.

Assisting refugees, displaced people and asylum seekers

Human migration is a global phenomenon that affects every nation. Today, stories about refugees from Ukraine fill newsfeeds and broadcasts. Many of the grants released since February by UMCOR for assistance with refugees from Ukraine were ratified by directors during committee meeting:

• United Methodist Church of Ukraine – received two UMCOR grants and more than $300,000 from the United Methodist In Mission Together Advance.
• United Methodist churches in Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Estonia and Romania – received emergency grants to provide hospitality to refugees entering their countries.
• ACT Alliance and the International Orthodox Christian Charities – grants for ecumenical organizations working across borders, were also ratified.

The situation in Ukraine is reviewed weekly and additional grants will be forthcoming and approved as needed.

New global migration grants totaling close to $1 million approved in this meeting will provide help for refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants in a variety of countries:

• Migrant centers – grants were approved for migration ministries in Germany, Hong Kong, El Salvador, Mexico and Greece.
• Human trafficking – a grant to the Manila Episcopal Area will help to welcome and reintegrate trafficked Filipino workers as they return home.
• National Justice for Our Neighbors – this grant continues the three-year program to help migrants seeking asylum in the U.S.

Global health, health infrastructure and WASH

Directors approved more than $1.7 million to improve health services and increase access to care in remote places, particularly through support of United Methodist health boards in Africa. These concentrated on improved services for mothers, newborns and children and efforts to combat malaria:

• Maternal, Newborn and Child Health – a grant to the Sierra Leone Health Board focuses on community-based primary health care and HIV and AIDS testing and treatment for pregnant mothers.
• Imagine No Malaria program – grants approved for health boards in Zimbabwe, East Angola, North Katanga (DRC), Burundi and Nigeria.
• Health System Strengthening – health boards in Sierra Leone, Burundi, Nigeria, South Congo and two facilities in Haiti were approved for grants to improve overall delivery of health services by addressing staff and education needs, procuring medicines and other medical supplies, rebuilding aging structures and filling other gaps that hinder the quality of health care.

• Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) – a grant to Engineers in Action in Bolivia will supply three Methodist churches in the altiplano with clean water sources and sanitation, which will also benefit their surrounding communities.

Program grants and scholarships

Global Ministries directors approved three grants and 46 scholarships in the mission program committee meeting:

• Community Developers Program – Two grants approved, one for the Village at Forest Chapel in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the other for Bethany UMC in New Orleans, each for $15,000.
• Native American Ministry – a $75,000 grant from the Native American Sunday offering approved repairs to Clanton Chapel in Dulac, Louisiana. The Clanton Chapel ministry serves a significant population of people of the United Houma Nation in Louisiana. This grant supports a joint partnership of Clanton Chapel, the Louisiana Conference, and the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference to rebuild portions of the facility damaged during Hurricane Ida and Tropical Storm Nicholas last year.
• Scholarships – A total of 46 students from 20 countries received scholarships through Global Ministries’ World Communion and Leadership Development scholarship programs. Academic fields range from theological and Christian leadership training to ministry certificate courses, professional degrees and agricultural studies. Ten of these scholars are studying for various degrees in health and medical fields.

Directors also received information on 50 other grants that were  approved and implemented since the Fall 2021 board meeting and needed no further action. A good number of these support ongoing program ministries, such as the four ethnic ministry plans. Other grants supported congregational development, ministry with the poor and leadership development.

The full board of directors affirmed the allocation of $9 million from Global Ministries’ undesignated reserves to support four key areas of programming. This action sets aside funds that will be used for future grants as designated:

• The Bishop John K. Yambasu Agriculture Initiative ($3.5 million) – This funding enables new grants focused on building capacity through training, allowing field visits and monitoring, and improving management efficiency.
• Global health ($2.5 million) – To support community health partnerships through annual conference and episcopal area health boards and networks of church-related health facilities. The funding will prioritize infrastructure improvement, training and service delivery.
• The Africa Central Conferences Sustainability Fund ($2 million) – established to help United Methodist churches in Africa with infrastructure needs and human resources.
• International mission gatherings ($1 million) – To bring together missionaries, Nationals in Mission, staff and mission partners in regional in-person meetings.

During the board meeting’s opening worship session, Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton, UMCOR’s chair, reminded directors and staff of their sacred duty as facilitators of the global mission of the church: “We are called to deal with the challenges in front of us…throughout the worst of times, our church has risen with ministries to do the best of things.”

Christie R. House is a consultant writer and editor with Global Ministries and UMCOR.

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February 7, 2022 | ATLANTA

Global Ministries and the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) continues its efforts to help Haitians recover from the August 14, 2021, earthquake and Tropical Storm Grace, which dumped 10 inches of rain on Haiti just two days later. According to UNICEF, more than 2,200 people died in the magnitude 7.2 earthquake and more than 12,000 were injured. The infrastructure loss, with 70% of schools damaged or destroyed and nearly 60 health facilities inoperable, is making recovery long and difficult.

UMCOR has released a series of grants since August 2021 to assist with relief and recovery efforts, working with partners inside the country.

The most recent grant, which targets food insecurity, provides emergency food rations to an estimated 5,000 or more people affected by the earthquake. Nearly six months after the quake, people are still living in tents outside their destroyed homes and 26,000 continue to live in government shelters. This grant assists the Methodist Church in Haiti (EMH “Eglise Méthodiste d’Haïti” of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas) to use its network of local and village churches in regional circuits as distribution points for food distributions in 13 of the most affected areas of the country. Methodist circuit superintendents coordinate the project.

Basic food stuffs include rice, beans and oil, procured in Port-au-Prince and then transported to churches participating in the food distribution project. Careful planning with local congregational stewards ensures that the rations are unloaded in secure places in each circuit. The circuit superintendents coordinate with local congregations and pastors for pick-up and distribution. EMH estimates this project will reach 1,140 households (about 5,000 individuals).

Another recent grant approached food security in a different way by focusing on street vendors who lost their equipment and supplies in the quake. RADIKAL, a partner in Camp-Perrín, has been working to improve food security through microenterprise. Before the quake, RADIKAL had developed a network of street vendors, which the organization trained in sanitation measures and providing quality food at affordable prices, but many lost their businesses after the quake. This grant procures clean cookstoves, tents, tables and cooking utensils to help the recovery of 100 vendors.

At this time, many Haitian households cannot afford groceries for the home, but they have enough to purchase food from street vendors to feed their families. Having street vendors up and running will help the vendors and increase food security for earthquake survivors living on little income.

Earlier grants in 2021 focused on emergency food relief, equipping health care facilities, supplying clean water and working with partners who distributed cash grants to help families with their most urgent needs.

In late 2021, a large fire swept through Port-au-Prince, affecting about 200 homes in the area of the Methodist New College Bird. An emergency grant to EMH has helped to provide food and assist a high school in the area to open a kitchen to feed survivors.

Christie R. House is a consultant writer and editor with Global Ministries and UMCOR.

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November 5, 2021 | ATLANTA                                                                                                          

Media Contact:

Dan Curran for Global Ministries/UMCOR
770-658-9586
DanCurran@CurranPR.com

Working to help Haiti recover from the August 2021 earthquake that killed more than 2,000 people and affected more than 800,000 others, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) has awarded new grants that will be used to improve access to health care through the creation of new mobile health clinics and the installation of six water purification systems. 

Haiti, which is still struggling with the aftermath of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake of 2010, was hit hard by this year’s magnitude 7.2 earthquake, followed by torrential rains from Tropical Storm Grace. The earthquake and tropical storm combination destroyed much of Haiti’s already fragile infrastructure, including damaging 59 health facilities, 27 of them severely, according to storm assessment reports (Flash Appeal OCHA, August 2021).

Thanks to a new UMCOR grant approved at the October 2021 Board of Directors meeting, the Methodist Church in Haiti, a part of the autonomous Methodist Church in the Caribbean and Americas, will be able to establish new mobile health clinics and deploy them to 28 churches in the Jeremie Circuit and 14 churches in the Leon Circuit. One medical team will be deployed one day per week for six months with locations determined by a doctor charged with organizing and evaluating visits. In addition to clinics operated by the church, Heart 2 Heart International will conduct mobile medical clinics at two remote sites one week per month for six months.

Improved access to potable water is an important part of the new UMCOR grant. A water filtration project will install units at six different locations to provide safe drinking water to the local populations. Consisting generally of a kiosk, tank and filtration system, the project will increase access to an adequate supply of potable water, which is essential for the population to break the cycle of communicable water-borne diseases such as dysentery, cholera and typhoid.

“Just a few months ago, Haiti experienced a second devastating earthquake that was almost as powerful as the horrific event of 2010,” said Roland Fernandes, general secretary of United Methodist Global Ministries and UMCOR. “UMCOR is committed to playing a role in Haiti’s recovery when, even now, some people must walk more than a day to reach medical care and millions more are still dealing with the impacts to infrastructure in their communities.” 

In August, UMCOR received a gift from First United Methodist Church of Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, to honor their former pastor and UMCOR’s former director who died of injuries caused by the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. First United Methodist Church’s donation of $25,000 and subsequent donations to UMCOR have been matched by the agency and directed toward this grant.

“Sam Dixon is one of those contemporary sisters and brothers in faith who stand with the saints and martyrs of old in blessing us after their passing,” Bishop Thomas Bickerton of New York, president of UMCOR, said in acknowledging the memorial gift. “It’s not a matter of funds but of the fact that you can’t say ‘thank you’ enough to Sam Dixon. We thank his church for their witness to his memory.” 

Support for UMCOR’s response to the present disasters in Haiti may be directed to Advance #982450, UMCOR International Disaster Response and Recovery, online at https://umcmission.org/advance-project/982450; or send checks to Global Ministries/UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068, with Advance #982450 on the memo line; toll-free phone, via credit card: 888-252-6174. 

For more information, visit www.umcmission.org. 

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About the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)

Founded in 1940, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is the global humanitarian relief and development agency of The United Methodist Church. A part of UM Global Ministries, UMCOR works in more than 80 countries worldwide, including the United States and its territories. The agency’s mission, grounded in the teachings of Jesus, is to alleviate human suffering with open hearts and minds to all people. Working in the areas of disaster response and recovery and migration, UMCOR responds to natural or civil disasters that are interruptions of such magnitude that they overwhelm a community’s ability to recover on its own. Learn more about Global Ministries by visiting www.umcmission.org or by following www.facebook.com/GlobalMinistries and Twitter.com/UMCmission. 

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