| "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them...." Matt 28:19-20 |
| Focusing on “ministering to all people in need at home, in our local community and through outreach to the world” (part of our church Mission Statement). Bethlehem members are enthusiastic in their commitment to missions. |
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We sent a 12-member mission team to Nashville, Tennessee in Dec 2010 to repair two homes damaged from a flood which occurred this spring. The team was joined by two workers from Bozeman, Montana. Pictured from left to right: Billie Ranard (Bozeman, MT); Bucky Moyer; Rick Carroll, team leader; Larry Broomall; Donna Broomall; Bart Frankena; Terry Broadwater; Larry Maguire; Gina Hawkins; Spencer Tinsley; Nelson Cline; John O’Neil; Bill Linn and Bill Ranard (Bozeman, MT).
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| Through prayer, correspondence and financial assistance we support missionaries in the field in Africa, Tonga, Russia and other countries, as well as global aid provided by the United Methodist Committee on Relief. |
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| The Early Response Team from Bethlehem United Methodist Church traveled to the Nashville, Tennessee, area to offer help to families whose homes were damaged by recent floods. Here, team member Sandra Burris surveys flood damage to the home of Andy and Ann Plank of Centerville, Tennessee. Other team members were Rick Carroll and Pastor David Lord. |
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The Henry Fork Service Center, a church-sponsored community outreach program for children is a local mission program we support throughout the year. The Center provides Bible stories, healthy snacks, preschool studies and more for children in low-income families.
We actively participate in the Society of St. Andrews program “Feeding the Hungry”, gleaning food from local farms and distributing it to shelters and food kitchens.
Financial support is provided for Heart Haven, a District project of the United Methodist Church which provides a home for persons with disabilities who no longer have family to care for them.
Scholarships for Ferrum College, Bedford Ride and the Ronald McDonald House in Roanoke are a few of the other mission programs we support regularly.
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Through donations and volunteers we support Lake Christian Ministries, a multi-service organization that provides food, clothing, household goods and emergency financial aid to local low-income families in need. We also help provide school supplies and Christmas gifts for the children registered at LCM.
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Our Disaster Response team is trained and ready to participate in responding to local disasters. Our team of volunteer builders assist Habitat for Humanity in building homes for low-income families, and Christmas-in-Action, a local ministry which provides home repairs for the aged and needy.
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| Our church is active in participating in the Operation Christmas Child's Shoe Box Ministry. Each July shoe boxes are collected, wrapped and stuffed with goodies for underprivileged children throughout the world. |
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| Church members and friends helped pack 10,000 small packet meals for Stop Hunger Now that will be sent to African school children. This Raleigh-based international hunger relief agency established in 1998 with a vision to end world hunger in our lifetime, teaches volunteers how to assemble meal packets. Each meal cost only 25 cents each, stores easily, has a shelf-life of five years, transports quickly and is distributed by Stop Hunger Now most often to destitute schools and orphanages around the world. |
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We support the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) with financial support, prayers and volunteer work teams (Volunteers in Mission). We have sent teams to Mississippi to provide help to those who suffered damage during Hurricane Katrina. We will be sending our fifth team to Biloxi to help in October, 2008. We also sent a team to help in the relief effort resulting from floods in Franklin, Virginia. As is true of the Emergency Response Teams, we have teams trained and ready to help as Volunteers in Mission.
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| Many mission teams from Bethlehem UMC have traveled to Biloxi, Miss area to work on properties damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Of primary focus in 2008 and 2009 was Jeannie Lowery, whose home was destroyed three years ago. Bethlehem UMC, in partnership with United Methodist Committee on Relief and Heritage UMC in D'Iberville, Miss and other Churches in the Moneta, VA area are building Jeannie Lowery a new home. Since the devastation of her home, Jeannie Lowery has lived in a FEMA cottage, which she will lose in April 2009. Fifty-two years old and disabled, Lowery lives on a small disability pay. Rick Carroll, the project manager and a member of Bethlehem UMC said: "She is looking forward to a new beginning in the house that we, as a congregation, with help from the (Lynchburg) District, are building for her". The story was written up in the local Smith Mountain Eagle. Below are some pictures of the Lowery Home. |
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| UMCOR assists many people in need. Below is another heart warming story that resulted from the hardworking volunteers and donations provided by UMCOR. |
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Chelsea is nine years old, the big sister to an eight-year-old brother. Chelsea and her brother have been sharing a 7' x 12' room all their lives, sleeping in bunk beds. Through the work of people before us, an addition has been added to the side of their house creating two small bedrooms for Chelsea and her brother. One of our jobs at Chelsea's house was to hang the dry-wall in the children's bedrooms. For whatever reason, her brother's was done first. But Chelsea didn't say a word.
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| Please visit the United Methodist Volunteers in Missions (UMVIM) web site If you are interested in volunteering or making donations. Below is a story shared by one of the many volunteers from UMVIM. |
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The Bethlehem Good Samaritans provide assistance to local home owners who, for whatever reason, cannot accomplish routine maintenance on their homes. We provide carpentry, plumbing, electrical and wall repair; install smoke alarms and light bulbs; and perform other routine repairs or upkeep. There are many other repairs that we can accomplish and we can help with yard work. This outreach program is available to the members of our congregation as well as our neighbors.
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