Enjoy dessert, games, and live music while talking to our EngageMI Ministry Partners at the Annual Conference Mission Festival, set for Thursday, May 30, from 7 to 9 pm.
JAMES DEATON
Content Editor
Join the fun on Thursday, May 30, from 7 to 9 pm, during the Annual Conference Mission Festival, sponsored by the Board of Global Ministries. Much like a community fair, the festival will feature exhibits for local, national, and international mission opportunities available through our EngageMI mission engagement program.
Conference attendees will find this meet-and-greet event helpful as it provides space to interact with representatives from various missions and ministries and learn how a United Methodist church can get involved. About 40 EngageMI Mission Partners will be present, including After the Storm, Red Bird Mission, Church World Service, and our Haiti projects (Grace Children’s Hospital, Grace Rural Health Clinics, Jeremie Rising, and HAPI – Haitian Assets for Peace International).
After the Mission Festival, conversation with the Haiti Task Force and EngageMI Ministry Partners will continue from 9 to 10 pm at a fireside chat in the pavilion (yellow tent).
Live music, desserts, salty snacks, and beverages will enhance the event as attendees explore the diverse engagement opportunities. Rev. Carl Gladstone and Motor City Campus Ministry students, known as “The Little Music Combo in the Corner,” will provide music. There will also be games, giveaways, and more fun surprises.
Where will I find the event at Annual Conference? Locate the Mission Festival by exiting the Grand Traverse Resort’s main entrance and walking down to the white tent-like structure just east of the health club and spa. If it rains, the event will be held inside the Michigan Ballroom.
Nancy Arnold, Conference Events Planner, says the Mission Festival will be a great way for the 225 first-time attendees to Annual Conference to meet our vetted EngageMI partners. “This festival will be a great introduction to what Michigan United Methodists do so well — community partnership and missional outreach. We hope to showcase these missional opportunities and educate and reengage churches in these missions.”
EngageMI is the mission engagement program for the Michigan Conference that challenges congregations to comprehensive missional learning, giving, and action with the goal of encouraging congregations to shift from transactional “ministry to” models to relational “ministry with” vulnerable people and communities.
Rev. Alex Plum, chair of the Board of Global Ministries, hopes the Mission Festival will tap into the energy and enthusiasm around mission engagement and storytelling he’s witnessed at previous conference events. He also hopes people will spend time visiting with our EngageMI partners and talking to colleagues in ministry from all over Michigan.
Alex concludes, “One of the things I look forward to about Annual Conference every year is the opportunity to renew relationships with my friends and colleagues. The Mission Festival provides the same opportunity for renewal and reconnection — but with projects, ministries, and organizations bringing Christ into our communities. Come hoping to be inspired — stay for the desserts, games, and giveaways — and leave ready to “go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37) in your own setting.”
Last Updated on June 4, 2024