Human Relations Day is one of the opportunities for United Methodist Churches to celebrate our connectional work. This day of social action and raising awareness aims to heal social ills at the national level. It supports
Community Developers,
United Methodist Voluntary Service (UMVS), and the
Youth Offender Rehabilitation Program. The first two programs are administered through the General Board of Global Ministries.
In The United Methodist Church calendar, Human Relations Day happens the Sunday immediately following the observance of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. However, you can observe Human Relations Day at anytime of the year. To give online click here. The juxtaposition of these two very special days is not a coincidence. The United Methodist Book of Discipline describes the purpose of Human Relations Day as a call to "the Church to recognize the right of all God's children in realizing their potential as human beings in relationship with each other."
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Community Developers
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The
Community Developers program is one of the most exciting opportunities through which United Methodist churches assist ministries in racial-ethnic United Methodist Churches and communities throughout the United States. Local congregations initiate the work of a community developer, create effective responses to specific community needs, create a network of community developers that resource each other, and provide training and resources for them. The result is that these congregations make
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United Methodist Voluntary Service
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systemic changes that allow them to provide services in their communities, ranging from education and substance abuse to employment training, affordable housing, at-risk youth programs, HIV/AIDS testing and counseling, and much, much more. To Learn More click
here.
Through the United Methodist Voluntary Service, Global Ministries seeks to be in supportive relationship with grass-roots organizations that work through youth and young adult volunteers to challenge oppression and injustice and to improve the lives and fulfill the potential of those whom Jesus called the "least of these." To Learn More click here.
Lighthouse awarded 131,000 in Human Relations Day grants
5 restorative justice programs for youths in Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Africa receive support through United Methodist Special Sunday.
Directors of the United Methodist General Board of Church & Society (GBCS) approved $131,422 in Human Relations Day grants at its 2010 Spring meeting.
The grants went to five programs: two in the South Central Jurisdiction, one in the Southeastern and two in Africa. Grant funding comes through Human Relations Day, one of the six Special Sundays with offerings of The United Methodist Church. Human Relations Day strengthens United Methodist outreach to communities, encouraging social justice and work with at-risk youth.
Twenty thousand dollars will go to a Kentucky United Methodist community center, Lighthouse Promise. Its Boys 2 Men and Government Education Program/Partner in Learning is an outreach to the Newburg neighborhood in Louisville. Children in the neighborhood are at high risk because of poverty, lack of education, single-parent homes and significant crime rates.
Boys 2 Men builds on existing Lighthouse ministries. It focuses on outings, meetings with state representatives, judges, police and government workshops. Human Relations Day funding will support general field trips and a reading program.
--adapted from Kentucky Annual Conf website
Community Developers Program: National Policy Committee Roster
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Your Generous Gifts assists:
- Community Developers Program, related to the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM);
- United Methodist Voluntary Services Program, GBGM; and
- Youth Offender Rehabilitation Program, General Board of Church and Society.
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"If--everyday--just one
person comes through
our doors and says he
or she can see Jesus
in us, our work is not in vain."
Click here to hear Maudine Holloway talk about how the Human Relations Day offering is improving the lives of the people she serves.
To read more about Maudine click here.
To read additional stories of lives changed by Human Relations Day click here.
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