Below are some frequently asked questions about One Great Hour of Sharing. If you have additional questions, please contact us and we will try to answer your question.
What is One Great Hour of Sharing?
When is One Great Hour of Sharing celebrated?
Can our church celebrate One Great Hour of Sharing at a different time?
Are One Great Hour of Sharing-funded ministries limited to the United States? To other countries?
What is UMCOR? What types of outreach are included in the OGHS offering?
Does any of our offering pay for administrative costs?
What exactly will One Great Hour of Sharing offering go to?
Can I give online to One Great Hour of Sharing?
Where can I order One Great Hour of Sharing resources?
How much was given to One Great Hour of Sharing in the last 3 years?
What is One Great Hour of Sharing?
One Great Hour of Sharing is one of the six churchwide Special Sundays with offerings of The United Methodist Church. One Great Hour of Sharing enables the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to live out its mission to alleviate human suffering. UMCOR responds to natural or human made disasters - those interruptions of such magnitude that they overwhelm a community's ability to recover on its own.
When is One Great Hour of Sharing celebrated?
One Great Hour of Sharing is celebrated on the fourth Sunday in Lent. This is also the third Sunday before Easter.
Here are the dates in the coming years:
March 22, 2009 (Easter – April 12)
March 14, 2010 (Easter – April 4)
April 3, 2011 (Easter – April 24)
March 18, 2012 (Easter – April 8)
Can our church celebrate One Great Hour of Sharing at a different time?
Yes! If your local church needs to celebrate One Great Hour of Sharing on a different, date, that is fine! Don’t let the given dates prohibit your local church from celebrating One Great Hour of Sharing if there is a time conflict.
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Are One Great Hour of Sharing-funded ministries limited to the United States? To other countries?
The One Great Hour of Sharing offering makes ministries available in the United State and across the globe. The need for food, shelter, health and peace knows no continental boundaries.
What is UMCOR? What types of outreach are included in the OGHS offering?
UMCOR is humanitarian arm of The United Methodist Church. OGHS gifts underwrite UMCOR’s “costs of doing business.” That means every penny of every gift you make to a specific UMCOR project will be spent on that project—not on home office administrative costs.
Offering gifts over and above those used to cover administrative costs are channeled where they’re most needed. UMCOR’s specialized ministries—responding in disaster, fighting hunger, alleviating poverty, providing relief supplies around the world, and offering hospitality to immigrants and refugees—assist the most vulnerable people whose need is greatest.
UMCOR receives no World Service funds or any other apportionments. Your gifts mean we’re right there with hardworking families, people affected by storms or war, disaster or disease. Self-sufficiency is the goal.
Through OGHS, we share the goodness of life with those who hurt:
• On the Gulf Coast of the United States, where Hurricane Katrina and other storms devastated families from Florida to Texas;
• In Sudan, where hardworking families persist despite war and displacement;
• In Sierra Leone, where we’re fighting the spread of malaria; and
• In Georgia, Eastern Europe, where a cold winter tests endurance.
In 81 countries in all, you assure your church is in the lead to alleviate suffering through One Great Hour of Sharing.
Does any of our offering pay for administrative costs?
The One Great Hour of Sharing offering supports the administrative costs that underwirte the United Methodist Committee on Relief. This means that by giving faithfully to the One Great Hour of Sharing offering, all contributions to UMCOR go to the specific project and not administrative costs.
What exactly will One Great Hour of Sharing offering go to?
One Great Hour of Sharing makes all of the other United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) programs possible. The One Great Hour of Sharing offering funds the cost of doing business for UMCOR. Any gifts that are over and above UMCOR’s administrative costs go to where they are most needed. Often they support under-funded programs.
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Can I give online to One Great Hour of Sharing?
Yes! Follow this link to give to One Great Hour of Sharing, or any other Special Sunday.
Where can I order One Great Hour of Sharing resources?
Follow this link to order resources for your church to celebrate One Great Hour of Sharing.
How much was given to One Great Hour of Sharing in the last 3 years?
In 2007, $3,372,268 was given to the One Great Hour of Sharing offering. In 2006, $3,597,350 was given and $3,277,107 in 2005.
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