UMCOR AND ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING

Today's post is for UMCOR and One Great Hour, which is March 15. As usual, copy the text, format it for narrow margins and two columns. Using two copies, copy back-to-back, then half vertically.

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One Great Hour of Sharing

Sunday, March 15, 2015

When disaster strikes around the globe, the United Methodist Committee on Relief, UMCOR, is prepared to act. So don’t be fooled by the word “committee.”

Since 1940, when UMCOR’s forerunner was established to meet the needs of those suffering overseas at the onset of World War II, we’ve continued to respond to those in desperate need—today throughout more than eighty countries around the world.

The response of UMCOR isn’t something “they” do, it’s something “we” do.

When You Give, You Equip Christ’s Body to Serve in His Name. That’s because your generous giving to One Great Hour of Sharing is what allows UMCOR to act as the arms and legs of Christ’s church, moving toward the most vulnerable in their darkest days. Convinced that all people have God-given worth and dignity—without regard to race, religion or gender—together we are assisting those impacted by crisis or chronic need.

Because you give, the United Methodist Church’s compassionate response to human suffering continues today:

• When tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma, we responded;
• When children in Zimbabwe lost parents to AIDS, we responded;
• When a massive tsunami devastated lives in Japan, we responded;
• And when the next mass crisis occurs, we will be prepared to respond…

UMCOR will be able to offer aid in Jesus’ name to those who suffer because United Methodists give through One Great Hour of Sharing.  In fact, it’s your generous giving that allows us to respond when disaster strikes.

Not “they.”

WE.

Ensure the United Methodist Church

Can Keep Helping

Will you continue to give to One Great Hour of Sharing? Will you continue to meet the needs of the children, families and communities who’ve experienced devastation in the wake of disaster?

When we meet the needs of those who suffer we actually minister to Jesus, who said:

“I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me.  I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.” (Mt. 25:35-36, CEB)

As we respond, we recognize Jesus in those who are reeling in the wake of disaster. 

In September 1940, just a few months after General Conference approved the formation of the Methodist Committee for Overseas Relief (MCOR), the forerunner of the present-day UMCOR, Bishop Herbert Welch, who is credited with its founding, made the public case for faith-based relief agencies. While holding up the good work of secular agencies for war relief, he said, “There is, in this critical time, [a] need for church agencies of relief, to bear their part and make their distinctively Christian contribution to a suffering world.” That contribution was one of “mercy and reconstruction” among the affected civilian population, Welch wrote. It could make no distinction “of race, creed, or color” among those it sought to assist, and would “bear witness to Christ by serving all in the name of Christ.”  

See more at: http://www.umcmission.org/Learn-About-Us/News-and-Stories/2015/January/0113amustardseed#sthash.IuZokB3T.dpuf