This past Sunday, we observed and celebrated UMCOR Sunday. UMCOR is the United Methodist Committee on Relief that responds to the suffering in our world as a result of human-made and natural disasters. They have been a significant part of our denomination for many years, originally founded in 1940 to assist those vulnerable and displaced in WWII. UMCOR continues to offer that same love, care, and compassion to anyone in need, no matter who they are, stating, “our goal is to assist the most vulnerable people affected by crisis or chronic need without regard to their race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. We believe all people have God-given worth and dignity.”
UMCOR is part of the General Board of Global Ministries, one of our denominational agencies. UMCOR works primarily with partner churches, agencies, and organizations to provide training, technical support and grants for U.S. disaster response, International disaster response, and global migration needs. We support their work through our prayers, building awareness of their work, our donations, and by volunteering our time.
For those feeling a deeper tug to volunteer for humanitarian relief service work, there are four main ways to get involved through the General Board of Global Ministries.
UMCOR Disaster Relief Kits
UMCOR encourages congregations to put together disaster relief kits that are organized and shipped by UMCOR to people and places experiencing a disaster in the United States. Pastor Jeremy mentioned these in his sermon on Sunday and as a congregation we have put many of these kits together. UMCOR currently collects hygiene kits, cleaning kits, and menstrual kits.
UMCOR also hosts short-term mission trips at their Sager Brown Depot Warehouse in Baldwin, LA. Every year, more than 2,000 volunteers help organize and prepare these kits supplied by congregations that together hold approximately $5 million in relief supplies.
UMCOR Early Response Teams (ERT)
This a program sponsored by UMCOR but run at the conference level with UMCOR certified trainers. ERT’s are tasked with providing a caring Christian presence in the aftermath of a disaster. They go into disaster zones shortly after the disasters have occurred, but only after they have been invited. They receive special training not only for the tasks they do, but with a particular focus on serving the people that are often still grieving the losses they have just experienced. I previously participated in an ERT trip to Minot, North Dakota to help families clean out their homes that had just been flooded by the Souris River. The experience of being in a disaster zone shortly after the event is quite different than other longer-term recovery and rebuilding settings I’ve seen.
UMVIM
UMVIM is United Methodist Volunteers in Mission and is considered the grassroots movement within the denomination to help organize volunteers. Often, short-term mission trips developed by United Methodist congregations work within the UMVIM framework to help plan and prepare a service trip, typically working with partner churches and organizations. The work may include disaster recovery work, community development, global health, microenterprise, agriculture, and/or general construction work. We work with partner organizations to develop lasting relationships, to build on the work of each other, and to provide assistance to priority areas our partners have identified. First Church has previously organized an UMVIM trip to Guatemala through our partner, Salud Y Paz. During the pandemic, when travel was unrealistic, our Global Missions committee took virtual trips to Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Arizona, and Denver. This Sunday, we will be consecrating a team taking a short-term UMVIM trip to the U.S./Mexico Border in Nogales, AZ, working with partner churches in their immigration and refugee ministries.
Mission Volunteers
The Mission Volunteers program is primarily for individuals or couples that are looking to spend a longer time in a mission setting, typically anywhere from 3 months to three years. Mission Volunteers are responsible for raising their own funds and they receive mission and intercultural competency training, especially for those serving in an international context. My service work in Haiti for 13 months doing earthquake recovery work with UMVIM, UMCOR, and the Methodist Church of Haiti was as an Individual Mission Volunteer.
Each of these programs has had a particular significance for myself, and I hope they can have that for you as well. When we offer our hand to those in need, we are doing the work of Christ. This hand shared through love and compassion may be a way for a person suffering in grief and despair to connect with the comfort and hope of who the Divine is to them. But, this work we do in mission not only helps others, it also transforms ourselves as we build deeper connections with all of God’s creation.
As Christians we are called towards advocacy and action to change our systems that cause injustice. We are called to challenge those in political power to turn towards peace. And we are called to respond to our climate in crisis that is crying out as disasters increase in intensity and frequency, many times affecting the most vulnerable. However, while we work to make those changes, we also walk alongside those in their grief that have faced war, hurricanes, earthquakes, monsoons, flooding, volcanic eruptions, cyclones, wildfires and so much more.
If you have an interest in future mission trip opportunities, or any of these service ideas, send me an email and let’s chat!
Jackie Celin
Student Pastor of Missions
jackie@firstchurchseattle.org