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Dear Partners in Ministry,
♦ THE EARTHQUAKE IN HAITI has captured the attention and hearts of us all. Monday and Tuesday, I was in New York at our General Board of Global Ministries leading a meeting concerning the funding of our missions in over 100 nations around the world. On Tuesday morning I heard, in passing, that Sam Dixon, the head of our United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), and two of his key staff were in Haiti for a special consultation on our work there. I was particularly interested because, as you may recall from my Partners in Ministry written after Thanksgiving, Linda and I had helped prepare 6,000 food packets for Haiti on Thanksgiving morning at a United Methodist Church. It was part of Stop Hunger Now which is led by a United Methodist minister. Also, one of our son-in-laws, who works for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, had recently spent time in Haiti focusing on the urgent health concerns there. Not long before, I had been in a conversation about our United Methodist Haitian Ministry in Boston and its needs. The third largest concentration of Haitians in the USA is in Massachusetts (about 80,000).
In all of these conversations, words like extreme need, crisis, or disaster were used long before Tuesday evening when the earthquake hit. Words like incredibly faithful, generous with so little, and deeply compassionate were also used to describe the Haitian people!
Yet, as one of our closest neighbors in the global village, most Americans seemed ignorant of the disasters of poverty, education, health care, hunger and daily life that were a part of regular existence in this poorest country of the Western Hemisphere. And probably, most United Methodists were unaware of our missionaries and resources that have been devoted to our work there in collaboration with the Methodist Church of the Caribbean.
After the Tuesday night earthquake, I went back and checked a report that had been handed out that morning that showed that $626,492.98 of our mission dollars had gone to ministries in Haiti in 2009. As of this morning, (Thursday), we have not heard from Sam Dixon and his colleagues who are in Haiti. We know that at least seven United Methodist Volunteer-in-Mission teams were in Haiti some we have not heard from. Michelle Pierre, Pastor of the Boston Haitian congregation has heard from one of her brothers who has lost three children in the carnage. And we know that UMCOR is already sending others, and money to help.
And I know that our United Methodist congregations across New England will be gathering for worship and prayer on Sunday. Here are some suggestions I would make:
- PRAY, PRAY, PRAY. We believe in the power of prayerfor the earthquake victims and their families, the aid workers, the Haitian missionaries and churches, the governments of Haiti and the world. Not only pray during your service, but post a sign-up sheet/prayer calendar for the next four weeks with the goal of having at least one person sign up for each day who will inform themselves (via news and UMCOR website) of the particular needs in Haiti that day and lift those specific needs up in prayer on behalf of the whole congregation. In doing so, over a period of time you develop a core of missionally sensitive members who become more deeply informed and committed to Haiti and mission.
- DO THEOLOGY. For followers of Christ, this is not just a humanitarian concern, but at the heart of loving our neighbors as ourselves. Who is my neighbor? Why do most of us know so little about our neighbors (in Haiti, Africa, or down the street)let alone love them as ourselves? Does God see us as sisters and brothers in the human family, without borders? What is the sin (personal and systemic) that we must confess as the haves in a world of have nots. This is a fertile time for us to reflect theologically, prophetically, missionally, and in terms of our life styles as American Christians. Do so in preaching, form a short term study group/Sunday School class on learning about Haiti and who we are called to be by the Gospel have the study in someones home and invite your neighbor and the larger community.
- INVITE PEOPLE TO DO SPECIFIC THINGS such as:
A) Contribute to UMCOR Remember 100% will go to help in Haiti because the overhead of UMCOR has already been provided by our MISSION SHARES. The Haiti Emergency Advance # is 418325. Take a special offering this Sunday, and plan how your church can also contribute over future months.
B) Get a team together to start to assemble Health Kits. The flow of Health Kits is already starting from the store of those already made, but many more will be needed.
C) Volunteer-in-Mission teams will not be going yet because resources are needed for those on the ground already. But think about being a part of teams that will probably start to go from New England around March.
D) Form a study/prayer group mentioned in Item #2. You may want to do so with other United Methodist Churches or ecumenically. Invite your community.
There are already a number of resources available at www.neumc.org/haiti to help your congregation plan and communicate about some of these efforts, and we are continuing to add to these resources.
- RELATE TO HAITIANS IN YOUR AREA. Take time to listen to their stories, offer to help, build solidarity. If you do not know Haitians in your area, remember that Roman Catholic churches in our region often have Haitian membersan opportunity also for building ecumenical relationships.
- EMMANUAL: GOD IS WITH US. Trust God to be with us as God guides us in this time. Be open to the Holy Spirit to give you creative ideas and direction. Reach out to be partners in ministry with each other in new and deeper ways.
Grace and Peace.
Pete
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