Outreach
One reason United Methodists are able to accomplish great things is the church’s emphasis on “connectionalism.” It is common to hear United Methodist leaders speak of the denomination as “the connection.” This concept has been central to Methodism from its beginning.
ABOUT UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
“Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me.”
Matthew 26:40
Viewed from one perspective, outreach is about carrying the love of Christ into the world—especially that part of “the world” in which Memorial is located---Poolesville and the Western Up County. Among the churches in the Poolesville area Memorial has long enjoyed the reputation of being in the forefront of community service, meaning of course that its people are caring and committed Christians who want to make a difference and are willing to put their time and talent toward community betterment. Their involvement in significant community organizations and causes includes WUMCO-Help, Poolesville Day, Relay For Life, Rebuilding Together, Hands of Love, Hospice Caring, Monocacy Lions, Odd Fellows, Thrift Shop, PTAs at the two elementary schools as well as at John Poole Middle School and Poolesville High and in boy and girl scouting at various levels.
Some of the Outreach activities at Memorial
Under the guidance and encouragement of a very active Outreach Committee the following is a listing of the some of the important programs that are occurring in 2011.
Providing monthly meals for Frederick Rescue Mission. Continuing a long-established activity, members of Memorial prepare, transport and serve a home-cooked meal to the residents of the Mission the last Saturday of each month. Residents are men participating in a Christian-oriented rehabilitation and employment program for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts.
Two Memorial members serving hot meal to residents
of the Mission earlier in the year
Leadership in local Rebuilding Together project. “RT” is the renovation of a local house owned by a deserving low-income family. Though many organizations and individuals play an important part in funding, planning and executing this annual project in 2011 Memorial members raised most of the required funding and filled many key leadership positions.
Support of WUMCO-Help. Support for this well-established social services non-profit organization that provides emergency relief to hundreds of low-income individuals and families each year takes many forms. Memorial’s budget for 2011 contains $2,000 in funds for WUMCO and members are involved in regular collections of non-perishable food, serving as volunteers and even helping a community group that conducts two “work days” each year to make repairs and otherwise enhance the WUMCO facility.
Part of work crew at WUMCO in 2010
Relay For Life. The only church in the region that has fielded a team every year since Relay For Life was first established in 2006, “Team Memorial” is almost always among the top quartile of the teams raising funds for cancer research activities of the American Cancer Society. Team Memorial was smaller at the 2011 Relay (held on June 11-12) but the enthusiasm and drive that characterized previous efforts were still in evidence. In fact, among the 18 teams that participated this year the total amount of money team members raised (over $3,000) put the team in the first four or five top fund-raising groups.
Sparking ecumenical community service. In the belief that there is strength in numbers, Memorial is teaming with another church in Poolesville in creating a new ecumenical organization that—if expectations are fulfilled—will link the six churches of Poolesville and, hopefully, ultimately others in the outlying area in addressing emergency needs of low-income and elderly residents. The multi-church organization is called Helping Hands-Poolesville.
Recent example of ecumenical cooperation was
Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper, sponsored by
five churches in Poolesville, with all proceeds from
donations going to WUMCO-Help
Fostering greater member involvement in community service. Many times people with willing hearts are not aware of the many opportunities and needs that exist in the community. The outreach committee is developing a multi-faceted program to address this vacuum: a resource center on key community organizations, their missions and how to get involved (communicating such information internally and posting on the church’s web site); monthly articles relating to outreach in the church’s monthly newsletter; and recognition, encouragement and support of members who are already active.
17821 Elgin Road, P.O. Box 358, Poolesville, MD 20837 (301) 349-2010, pmumcmail@aol.com
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When the day was over members of the volunteer crew had gathered enough throw-aways to fill a normal-sized dumpster. Items included a half dozen defective lawnmowers that were not worth repairing to discarded lumber from repairs and renovations over the years to garden hose to corroded containers of one sort or another.
A half dozen carpenters used their skills for replacements and repairs, ranging from defective window frames to unsafe cellar steps.
Scraping every single inch of the clapboard house for loose paint was by far the most time consuming task.
“Team Memorial” at the 2010 Relay
Some of the members of the 2011 Team Memorial beginning their second lap. The Relay For Life concept is that each team keeps at least one person walking the track during the entire event because “cancer never sleeps.”
