Outreach

June and July Mission Offerings   Mujilla Falls, Zambia. In June, our mission offering will go to a mission in Africa that should be familiar to Wisconsin Methodists. The Mujilla Falls Agriculture Research and Training Center in Zambia is led partly by Wisconsin native Paul Webster. The Center addresses hunger and poverty by fostering sustainable agriculture and training leaders. Paul Webster’s salary is paid by our apportionment giving, so all our gifts to the Center are used 100% for the work itself. You may designate gifts to Mujilla Falls beyond this month by marking a gift: Advance # 15016A

Mission Guatemala. Two years ago a team from our circuit, including many of our own members went to the Guatemala highlands and built a kitchen for families to use for school lunches. While several of our members had been on international mission trips on their own, that was the first international trip that we had been a part of planning for many years. And, as so often happens, those who went on that trip not only want to go back themselves, but they want others to have the same experience. Our Mission Team is looking toward their next trip. Until then, we continue to support the work of Mission Guatemala, and our July mission offering will go to support their continuing educational, nutritional, and medical ministry among the Mayan people there.

 

 

 

Fair Trade - Equal Exchange Coffee. This is a small gesture you can make to provide fair wages to coffee, tea, and cocoa producers throughout the world. It can be your personal mission project!
 
Tanzanian Jubilee Coffee and Café’ Salvador are regular drip grind coffeeand are the most popular. Decaf, drip grind, organic whole bean and flavored coffees are available also, as are organic hot cocoa mix and herbal/organic tea. Supplies are in the cupboard next to the fireplace in the parlor.

Regular ground - $8
Whole bean - $8
Ground flavored - $9
All decaf - $9
All teas - $4
Hot Chocolate - $6
Organic very dark Chocolate bars - $3
 
To purchase take your product, place the money (check or cash) in a brown envelope (in the cupboard) and put the envelope in the drop slot near the church office.

 

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"Point in Time Count" and breakfast for the homeless in Wausau

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It is an education to visit some of the churches in the downtown area and witness all that they’ve had to do to make their buildings wheelchair accessible. Some of those buildings originally had five or six levels, all of them requiring at least half a flight of stairs to access. It is amazing how many two-sided elevators and ramps have been necessary to remedy the original designs.

You can’t help wondering: What were those original architects thinking? Did it not even occur to them that people in wheelchairs might want to attend church? But we can hardly point fingers. Our building was built more recently, had fewer levels, and was far easier to make accessible; but even we didn’t have an elevator until 2005 or a real handicap accessible restroom and an automatic door on our main entrance until 2013. Whether we meant it or not, we were sending the message: Open Hearts, Open Minds, and Open Doors (unless you can’t manage steps or need rails).

So let’s talk about another way to be welcoming. For whatever reason - and scientists still aren’t sure - the incidence of food related sensitivities has exploded in recent years. Gluten intolerance, lactose intolerance, peanut allergies, diabetes, and any of a number of less common sensitivities are making every meal away from home a trial for thousands. And if we continue to serve our meals and coffee hours and potlucks and picnics without acknowledging those people’s needs, we are not that different from the architects who, without meaning to, built fortresses against wheelchairs in the early 20th century.

What can we do, though? How can we possibly keep track of every food sensitivity? We don’t have to. What we can do is, wherever possible, provide a list of ingredients with our food offerings. It’s a small thing to do, but it allows people to decide for themselves what they can eat.
This actually matters. Making our building and our activities accessible is a prerequisite for ministry to everyone. If we had not added the handicap accessible restroom in 2013, we could not have begun the Downtown Memory Café in 2014. We have a couple of meals coming up in the next month (see p. 4). Let’s start building a new habit.

 

 

As most of you know, our church is part of the ecumenical Community Meal program hosted by First Presbyterian every Sunday evening. We prepare, serve, and clean up for this meal on the 5th Sunday of every month that has a 5th Sunday. For years now, Gwen and Denny Carey have led the team, doing the planning and cooking. But the Careys are retiring from this role at the end of 2017.

Is this a ministry that might speak to you - organizing, cooking, planning, or all of the above? Now would be a good time to explore the idea, while you can shadow Gwen and Denny. Our next meal is Sunday, July 30.

 

 

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Our Church Volunteering Beyond Our Walls

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Make a Difference Day