Learn

ENGAGING IN MISSION IN THE TIME OF PANDEMIC

Even during the current uncertainty, God’s presence and call to mission remain steadfast. Now is not the time to withdraw; now is the time to review, re-imagine,and pray our way to new approaches for engagement in mission.

Given current restrictions on in-person gatherings, Engage^mi encourages congregations to use Learn-Give-Act steps as Spirit-led catalysts for prayerful, playful, creative conversations and ministries that are unique to your faith community.

Suggestions to get started:

• Gather a diverse group – not only the Missions Team - for a conversation about Engage^mi (be sure to include youth)
• Prior to the conversation, ask participants to read at least pages 1-10 of the Engage^mi program book
• During the meeting, pray, imagine and talk about what their 'Learn-Give-Act Goals' might be.

Learn examples:

• Ask for youth volunteers to visit the umcmission.org General Board of Global Ministries website and report back with what inspires them
• Invite anyone to attend “Still In Mission” Event to connect with UM missionaries around the world with a brief report to the congregation
• Invite all to visit umcjustice.org and to attend General Board of Church and Society resources, Bible studies and tool kits that they might like to use
• Have a young person or adult send an email with a few meaningful questions (pen pal style) to a General Board of Global Ministries Missionary https://www.umcmission.org/serve-with-us/missionaries or Mission Intern https://michiganumc.org/young-adult-ministries-toolbox/ 
• Invite anyone to read a book, write a brief review, and send to 10 people in the congregation and 3 outside it. https://uwfaith.org/resources/2022-reading-program/
• Form a pop-up book group to read a book and discuss. Report to the congregation what the experience was like and invite others to form more groups

Be creative, be joyful in Christ, stay connected, and become an Engage MI congregation! 

LEARN RESOURCES

EVENTS

• Keep Making Peace (contact Eric Stone, [email protected])
• United Women in Faith Mission U (formerly known as United Methodist Women Mission U, https://www.umwmichiganconference.org/)
• Volunteer in Mission & Emergency Response Team Trainings (Contact VIM & Disaster Response Coordinators)

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

Children’s Hunger https://michiganumc.org/missions/childhungerresources/

Resources for learning, acting, and advocating; including a list of children’s books, some with video recordings. Highlights include:

• Maddi’s Fridge by Lois Brandt
• Lulu and the Hunger Monster by Erik Talkin and Sheryl Murray
• Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena and Christian Robinson
• Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen by Dyanne Disalvo-Ryan

To learn more, contact the Michigan Conference Children’s Ministry Coordinator.

MULTICULTURAL VIBRANCY

• Bishop Bard’s Anti-Bias/Anti-Racism Challenge (https://michiganumc.org/bishopschallenge/)
• Courageous Conversations About Race (https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/courageous-conversations-about-race)
• Intercultural Development Inventory
• Michigan Conference’s Anti-Bias/Anti-Racism Education & Training (Online Courses to be launched July 2022)

To learn more, contact the Michigan Conference Associate Director for Multicultural Vibrancy.

HOST A SPEAKER

• Mission Personnel who are itinerating or who can tune in virtually from location (contact the Conference Secretary of Global Ministries)
• Global Mission Fellow or Mission Intern, young adults serving in Michigan (contact the Young Adult Initiatives Coordinator)
• Leader from a Conference Christ Centered Mission and Ministry Project, (for contact information https://michiganumc.org/step-2-michigan/)

UNITED METHODIST RESOURCES

• General Board of Global Ministries, https://umcmission.org/, learn more about national and international ministry projects, mission personnel, and UMCOR, including disaster responses
• General Board of Church and Society, https://www.umcjustice.org/, learn about United Methodist Social Principles and what we believe regarding Civil and Human Rights, immigration justice, economic justice, environmental justice, health and wholeness, peace with justice, and women and children. Find toolkits for advocacy, tips on community organizing and educational opportunities.
• United Women in Faith, https://uwfaith.org/what-we-do/educate/, for justice-oriented and biblically centered resources including the reading program, webinars, Mission u, and more.
• UM mission and justice related educational resources are also available online through: UMC Giving, Resource UMC, UMNews,General Commission on the Committee on Status and Role of Women (COSROW), General Commission on Religion and Race, Disability Ministries Committee, The Connectional Table, Discipleship Ministries and more.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

WEBSITES

• The Lewis Center for Church Leadership, resources to help congregations engage their community and reach new people and more diverse people; and resources on stewardship and leadership excellence.
• The Lupton Center, resources for deeper understanding and impact in empowering community transformation.
• SojoAction: Resources & Training, including a curriculum to help congregations have difficult conversations across political divides, and on important topics such as immigration, voting rights, and creation care.

BOOKS

Ways to Raise Your Poverty IQ by Circles Grand Rapids

Suggested experiences, curriculum, books, and websites to increase you and your congregation’s factual understanding of the complexity of poverty.

Discovering The Other: Asset-Based Approaches for Building Community Together by Cameron Harder

Cameron Harder is professor of systematic theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary and founder of the Centre for Rural Community Leadership and Ministry. Discovering the Other integrates Appreciative Inquiry and Asset Mapping on a foundation of theological reflection to a provide a life giving, gospel way for congregation to be agents of transformation in their communities.

Doing Justice: Congregations and Community Organizing by Dennis A. Jacobsen

Dennis A Jacobsen is pastor of Incarnation Lutheran Church in Milwaukee. Doing Justice is and introductory theology of congregation-based community organizing rooted in the day-to-day struggles and hopes of urban ministry.

Friendship at the Margins: Discovering Mutuality in Service and Mission by Christopher L. Heuretz and Christine D. Pohl

Christopher L. Heuretz is international director of Word Made Flesh and Christine D. Pohl is professor of social ethics at Asbury Theological Seminary. Friendship at the Margins contends that unlikely friendships are at the center of an alternative paradigm for mission, where people are not objectified as potential converts but encountered in relationships of mutuality and reciprocity.

Grace Under Pressure: Negotiating the Heart of the Methodist Traditions by Joerg Rieger

Joerg Rieger is professor of theology at Vanderbilt University. Grace Under Pressure explores the theology of grace in situations of human pressure. Following John Wesley in his move to consider the 'works of mercy' as part of the means of grace, the author proposes to us a relational concept of grace that will prosper in dialogue and solidarity with those in distress, the oppressed 'other' who make present the gracious 'Other.'

Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle

For twenty years, Gregory Boyle has run Homeboy Industries, a gang-intervention program located in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. These essays about kinship and redemption are moving examples of the power of unconditional love and the importance of fighting despair.

Walking with Nehemiah: Your Community Is Your Congregation by Joseph W. Daniels, Jr.

Joseph W Daniel Jr. is lead pastor at Emory United Methodist Church in Washington, DC, where he has helped a once dying congregation become a model for church and community transformation. Walking with Nehemiah gives inspiration, practical tools, and a pathway toward wholeness for your congregation and community.

When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor by Steve Corbet and Brian Fikkert

With millions living on $2.00 a day, American Christians are answering God's call to serve the poor. But are we doing more harm than good? Corbett and Fikkert discuss why all poverty isn't created equal; expose the problem of cultural bias; and show how to do short-term missions without doing long-term damage.

VIDEO CURRICULUM

Doing Good Well

Vital congregations are increasingly committed to serving others through mission. And congregations are asking whether their good intentions always yield good results. Through engaging videos, presentations, and supplemental materials, Doing Good Well, from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership, explores the fruitfulness of mission efforts and provides practical strategies to help ensure your mission hits the mark.

Engaging Local Schools  

Through videos, presentations, and supplemental materials, Engaging Local Schools, from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership, guides your congregation in considering questions that are critical to the success of a school-focused service initiative.

 Seeking Shalom 

A six-part video series from the Lupton Center that challenges us to take a more holistic view of poverty, equipping teams to create real and lasting change. Hear from movement leaders in community development as you or your team are guided through core principles that go beyond meeting material needs and to finding “shalom.”

Taking Church to the Community

Through engaging videos, presentations, and supplemental materials, Taking Church to the Community, from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership, explores strategies your congregation can use to reach beyond its walls with worship, community events, ministries, and service — meeting community members where they are and moving them toward discipleship.

HOST MISSION PERSONNEL VISITING MICHIGAN

Throughout the year Mission Personnel visit, or “itinerate,” Michigan to share about their ministry and to build partnerships with Michigan United Methodists. Consider hosting visiting mission personnel at your congregation.

Contact Rev. Audra Hudson-Stone, Conference Secretary of Global Ministries, for more information.