June 23rd, 2012
9:30 am - 2:30 pm

Who can be a UMVIM LEADER???

This class is for people who want to learn how to lead a mission trip. UMVIM teams will have an UMVIM trained leader who provides training for the team, insures completion of proper forms and insurance coverage and is in communication with annual conference and jurisdictional UMVIM leadership.

UMVIM LEADER partners with others.

An UMVIM team is one that serves locally, nationally, or internationally where it is invited, works in a ministry endorsed by the host Methodist church, partner church or agency, or Non-Government Organization (NGO) i.e. American Red Cross, and serves in cooperation with the local host group.

Following guidelines gives credibility and joint cooperation.

The intent of these guidelines is to insure that the presence of the team will not interfere with the authority and integrity of the church leadership, hereby strengthening and upholding the local church.

The training consists of three basic parts:

Part 1: Means & Ends

This section covers the means of doing short-term mission, such as budgeting, how to find a project site, how to recruit a team, and how to organize your trip. However, we also cover the ends. This means we discuss the bigger picture of everyone's agenda involved, as well as the values and philosophies of ministry that undergird the decisions we are making as team leaders.

Part 2: Team Dynamics

This section will address issues that arise when a group of people who don't know each other very well travel together to a strange destination to do physically challenging labor on a schedule that someone else chose. What do you do when someone doesn't want to cooperate? Are challenging you as a leader? Constantly complains? Has the wrong attitude? How do you instill the proper attitude and values into the team in order to avoid all this?

Part 3: International Teams

This section covers material specific to international teams, such as passports, visas, airfare, communicating with your hosts, and more.

Deadline for registration is May 16.

Training will be held at the North Texas Conference Ministry Center
500 Maplelawn Drive
Plano, TX 75075

Cost: $20.00 Includes lunch and all materials.

Register here

Here is an example of how the UMC works in cooperation with other faith communities during disasters.

New! Mission Teams wanted in Bastrop, TX.

Long Term Recovery Organizations (LTROs) have been organized in both Bastrop and Spicewood and are moving forward to assist families as they try to gain a new sense of normal. The task continues to be overwhelming but progress is being made.

Overnight teams may stay at the ecumenical Faith Village Volunteer Accommodation Center. Faith Village is a joint venture of the Baptist, Episcopal, United Methodist and Presbyterian churches in the Bastrop area. They have a maximum occupancy for 40 volunteers. Should you have a group with over 40 volunteers, alternative sites, operated by other agencies may be available. Faith Village has a $20 charge per person per night should be paid on arrival. This fee includes three meals per day and covers the cost of maintaining the facility. Faith Village is a cooperative living arrangement. Food will be purchased by the village host but residents will be expected to do all cooking and cleaning.

Adult sponsors of youth under 18 must be in a ratio of eight to one. Youth sponsors must be age 21 or older and the ratio of male to female sponsors must be approximately the same as the gender ratio of the youth.

Volunteers may schedule work Monday through Saturday.

Faith Village Volunteer Center is located in Smithville, TX. Smithville is 12 miles southeast of Bastrop and 42 miles southeast of Austin. For more details and how to register your team: www.umcswtx.org/faith-village-registration.

Day teams, who do not need housing, do need to register online at www.umcswtx.org/umvim-registration.

To answer any questions you might have about the about Bastrop and Spicewood recovery contact: Margery Marshall - disasterresponse@umcad.org or 775-848-0766 during business hours.

PLEASE HELP US GET THE WORD OUT

Dear friends in disaster ministry:

UMCOR has received a number of communications from eager volunteers, many of whom are trained and ready to respond to the recent disasters to help. UMCOR is requesting your help – Conference Disaster Response Coordinators and UMVIM Coordinators in particular – to help to get the word out as a reminder to all these dedicated servants about one of UMCOR’s basic principles for disaster response.

UMCOR’s disaster response training is based on the principle that the disaster response is “owned” by local community.

If and when the Annual Conferences are overwhelmed, they will reach out to their neighbors for help.

Early Response Team members know that they must be invited into another annual conference, and this is true of all volunteers.

The Annual Conferences affected by these recent tornadoes are managing the response and taking a measured approach to assessment and planning for next steps. The Conferences have reported that they have sufficient human resources and are able to respond; there is no need to extend an invitation for help from outside of the local area.

Tom Hazelwood, Assistant General Secretary for UMCOR U.S. Disaster Response reports the following:

“At this time, all of the areas of IL, KY, and IN are over-run with local volunteers. Every site that I have visited this week has more volunteers than can be managed. Some of the communities are dealing with pre-existing environmental issues, and the Conferences are working with emergency managers who are managing the clean up in these communities.”

It is great to know that United Methodists are deeply committed and ready to respond! The offer of assistance is appreciated, and there may be opportunities for volunteers to assist in the future. In the meantime, please graciously respect the direction of the affected conferences. Visit the conference web sites for updates regarding volunteer opportunities.

Thank all for caring so deeply, and for affirming our shared values and priorities in disaster ministry!

from J. Rollins
Director of Marketing and Communications, UMCOR

UMCOR has been in contact with conference Disaster Response personnel in hard-hit areas, including Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and received initial early assessments of the damages caused by the severe weather that struck 12 states.

We are posting updates to the website and to the Facebook page on a regular basis. Tom Hazelwood is also reporting from the field on Twitter.

UMCOR requests prayers for all who have been affected by these tornadoes and storms. Donations to US Disaster Response, UMCOR Advance #901670 will be used for the response. There is also an allowance for a sub-designation to Tornadoes 2012 (it is a drop down on the giving page).

Since May we have partnered with Witness to Innocence to encourage the voices of death-row exonerees — those wrongly sentenced to death — to be heard in United Methodist churches across the country. In communities like Austin, TX; Chico, CA; Ithaca, NY; Lenexa, KS; and Little Rock, AR; among others, United Methodists have helped bring in exonerees who have powerful stories to educate and mobilize people to abolish the death penalty once and for all.

The speakers, all professionally trained storytellers, will share their journeys from death row to freedom and their take on the current state of the American criminal justice system. This will be an unforgettable experience for congregants and community supporters.

You can host an exonerated death-row survivor at your church, and GBCS will partially underwrite your costs for doing so. Because the exonerees depend on speaking events for their income, the events cost $600 plus travel expenses. For a limited number of events, GBCS will cover half the cost of the speaking fee. Your congregation, plus any other congregations you bring together to host this event, only pay $300 for the speaking fee. In addition, at the event, you will take a love offering to go towards the speaker. All your church is responsible for is $300, travel expenses — and many of the speakers might already be in your area or close to it — and a love offering (this offering goes toward the speaker).

This is a limited-time offer available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please contact Kathy Spillman for more information on arranging this truly special event.

Together we can educate and mobilize our churches and communities to abolish the death penalty!

Click here to read more about this power partnership and how it has had an impact on local churches and communities.

Bill Mefford Director,
United Methodists Against the Death Penalty

As you start looking for the perfect Christmas presents this year, think about giving gifts that will make a difference and be treasured long after the holiday passes.

Choose a project from the Global Ministries gift catalog as an alternative to a traditional gift. Help vulnerable populations and support vital United Methodist mission projects all around the world while honoring someone special in your life. And remember, with a gift through The Advance, 100% of your donation reaches its intended mission and ministry.

Give a meaningful gift to a loved one and bring the hope of Christ to the world.

Here are just a few examples of gifts that you can give that will honor someone and change lives:

$25 will feed a child under age of 5 nutritious meal for 15 days in Somalia
$55 will purchase one cleaning bucket for an American family whose home needs mucking out after a flood or severe storm
$75 will cover the purchase of books for a year for a theology student in Estonia
$300 supports a young adult working in mission with marginalized communities throughout the world
$500 will support a Covenant Relationship with a missionary who is offering hope and faith to God's people around the world

And there are many more ways you can help. Once you've made your donation, tell the honoree about your gift by using The Advance Alternative Giving cards that you can print from the webpage.

This year give the special people in your life gifts of hope that will make a difference long after Christmas is over.

On December 1 of each year, people around the world remember those who have lost their lives to HIV/AIDS and renew their commitment to creating an AIDS-free world.

Your church can participate in this important day by using the many resources available through the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund for a worship service on or near December 1.

To honor the day, give to support the efforts of the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund, UMCOR Advance #982345

Thursday, November 10, at 12 noon.
Creekwood United Methodist Church
Corner of Stacy Rd. and Country Club in Allen, TX

 

Come Join us for lunch with Rev. Nkemba Ndjunga, Missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries  of The United Methodist Church. Nkemba serves in Cameroon as Mission Superintendent of the Cameroon Mission.

 

Lunch will cost $10. Your donation is appreciated.

 

RSVP to Holly Bandel at hbandel@creekwood.org.

 

NEW YORK (UMNS) — The United Methodist Committee on Relief continues to provide assistance in the Horn of Africa, which is facing its worst drought in more than 60 years. To date, the agency has received $470,000 for the crisis, “which is very, very small compared to the magnitude of this disaster,” said Melissa Crutchfield, who leads UMCOR’s international disaster response. 

UMCOR is working with Church World Service and Muslim Aid to help relieve the severe hunger crisis in Kenya and Somalia. Muslim Aid is establishing three therapeutic feeding centers in the refugee camps to improve the health of 900 small children. Muslim Aid also has been working on the ground in rebel-controlled areas of Somalia, where few aid agencies have access.

For more information, visit The Advance website. The Advance is a part of the General Board of Global Ministries.