District Mission Projects

The local mission project is raising funding for our new Youth and Young Adult Ministries on the district. We’ve already seen a successful youth rally on November 8^th with 100 youth plus 30-40 adults. The Young Adult retreat is planned for January 2-3. We’d like to raise $10,000 to fund twice yearly youth rallies for the entire district, an annual young adult retreat and an annual youth leader training, bringing in a nationally known speaker to equip those who work with young people. 

   

The United Methodist church in the Democratic Republic of Congo sponsors three hospitals and twenty-four health clinics.  These clinics provide medical care both to local residents and to thousands of refugees who have fled to the Congo to escape violence in their own countries.  We will be working with the UM church in the DR Congo to provide solar panels for the hospital at the Mpasa Health Center. This hospital, located in a suburb of Kinshasa, serves not only local residents but thousands of people living in abject poverty as a result of fleeing the conflict in their native Sudan. The population of the area has doubled due to the influx of refuges. In the Congo, 80% of the people currently live below the poverty level. In desperation, many have turned to prostitution and sex trafficking.   This has led to 1 and ½ million people estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS. The Mpasa Health Center provides HIV/AIDS education as well as conducting all the normal business of a hospital in an impoverished area – ALL WITHOUT ELECTRICITY! Our goal of $10,000 will be enough to provide solar panels for the hospital and equip it with electricity for the first time. And when the solar panels are ready for installation, we have the opportunity to send a representative of the district along to help with the installation and report back to the district.

Churches are invited to consider making one of the district projects the recipient of a special offering or a seasonal offering such as a Lenten project. Our goal is $20,000 in 2010, or $10,000 per project. If every church contributed $1 per person in average Sunday morning worship, we would raise $8,111 (based on 2008 statistics for the district). Our hope is that a few churches may be willing to support one or both of these projects at a higher level. If you or your church plan to be part of the district mission project, you are invited to send your gift to the district office, indicating for which project your gift is intended. Please make checks payable to the Eastern Pa. Conference. By sending it through the district, we can monitor the funds to be sure your gift is used as intended.