United Methodist Retirement Communities celebrates their EAGLE accreditation.
LISA FRENCH
United Methodist Retirement Communities
Led by the principles of our Methodist founders and guided by the teachings of our Christian heritage, United Methodist Retirement Communities (UMRC) has upheld its faith-filled mission of care and service to older adults and their families for over 110 years. UMRC is inclusive and welcoming of all as part of our Guiding Beliefs.
Still, when it came time to begin the EAGLE accreditation process through the United Methodist Association of Health and Welfare Ministries (UMA), there was work to do to strengthen our ties with the Detroit Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.
UMRC was blessed to have the assistance of the Rev. Dr. Jerome (Jerry) DeVine, Director of Connectional Ministries with the Detroit Conference, as we began our EAGLE journey. We knew God’s hand was in this process. When we contacted Rev. DeVine for the first time, he replied that renewing our church relationship statement was also a goal of his. We invited him to come for his first ever visit to our historic Chelsea campus to meet, take a tour, and discuss first steps.
From that point, our relationship grew stronger with Jerry and the Detroit Conference staff. Our residents even enjoyed a hymn sing with (then) Bishop Deborah Lieder Kiesey and her husband, Brad.
After a year of drafts and edits by UMRC and the Detroit Conference, our Covenant Statement of Relationship was finalized.
UMRC is grateful to Rev. DeVine for his thoughtful feedback and shepherding of this process. The relationship we built became especially evident during our EAGLE peer-review Site Visit in October 2016. They had a significant conversation with Jerry, now a knowledgeable champion for UMRC and our work with older adults. We are proud that one of UMRC’s nine commendations by the EAGLE Site Visit Team included our connection and two-way relationship with our United Methodist conference.
Thanks to EAGLE, UMRC has more closely embraced its Methodist roots and reaffirmed its Christian mission of service to older adults and their families.
Read more about EAGLE (Educational Assessment Guidelines Leading Toward Excellence).
Last Updated on April 17, 2017