Pastor’s Letter February, 2010

 

Dear Westhampton Church,

     I hope you are as thankful as I am to be a part of the United Methodist Church. One of the things I love most about our denomination is that it is a world-wide, connectional system. Connectionalism is actually a Methodist term which means that ALL United Methodist congregations, all over the world, are joined together in mission and ministry.  In other words, because we are connected, we can do more together than we could as individual churches. Recently I have witnessed multiple examples of this far-reaching

approach to ministry.

     In December, some dear friends and former parishioners, received the call that everyone dreads. “Your son has had a stroke. It doesn’t look good. Please come immediately.”

It took one phone call from their pastor in Richmond to the pastor of the local UMC in West Palm Beach, FL, and upon their arrival at the hospital in West Palm Beach, that local pastor was there to visit and offer support as my friends made the difficult decision to donate their son’s organs and remove him from life-support. What an incredible sign of how the church, the UMC, is the presence of God in

our midst, never leaving our side, no matter how far away we may be.

     Last month, when we went to visit David’s family, we were so pleased that our boys could go with their cousin to his preschool at First UMC, in Florence, AL. Certainly not all preschool’s are the same, but when we walked in, we immediately felt welcomed and at home. It was a quality school, and one of the reasons we felt so comfortable leaving our children there was because it was a UMC, which we know operates under the same mission and ministry which we do here at Westhampton UMC.

     As we were leaving the preschool one day, I picked up one of their church newsletters and noticed that they are encouraging similar opportunities to assist in Haiti emergency relief efforts. They too were assembling and collecting Health Kits for Haiti through UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief). They too encouraged financial donations to be made through the UMCOR Haiti Emergency Advance #418325. It is good to know that 100% of any donation we make through UMCOR goes directly to relief effort, rather than a percentage held back for administrative costs. This is possible because UMCOR administrative costs are covered by the annual apportionments paid through local congregations around the world, (ours included). 

     In difficult times, locally and globally, I am proud to be a part of the United Methodist Church. It is nice to know that Westhampton UMC is able to be in significant ministry with other UM congregations in Virginia, and in Alabama, and around the world. Together, we are reaching out with hands of Christ to make a difference in the lives of those who suffer.

 

See you in church,

Christy