Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10 NIV
St. Matthias uses a variety of local, regional, national and world wide mission outreaches to demonstrate the presence of the living God among us and to build up our members and others in their faith and its outward expression of mission service to others. The diversity of our mission projects seek to enable each individual to apply their gifts for service throughout the year. We are always seeking to sustain our traditional missions and also continue to grow in our faith and service by adding new mission opportunities.
Local Community
St. Matthias UMC continues to be an active member of the local community in reaching out to our closest neighbors with genuine Christian love and service.
Click each mission to show it's highlights.
St. Matthias through the various groups within the church sponsors the God & Country program once a year. There are four different programs based on grade level. These programs are open to all and run from 4 weeks to several months based on level. These programs meet the religious award program requirements of youth serving civic agencies such as the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Campfire, and 4-H, although membership in those organizations is not required to participate.
The God and Me (grades 1-3) curriculum is designed to help children become best friends with Jesus and tell their story of “God and Me” together. Children will tell their story of “God and Me” by starting with the creation story. Children will learn that God is their Creator and that God calls them by name, and they will give praise to God. Their story will continue as they learn of God’s love through Jesus. As they tell parallel stories of their own birth and the birth of Jesus, they will proclaim that Jesus was born to be their Savior. Their story will grow as children learn that God wants them to pray. Children will be encouraged to talk and listen to God as they share from their heart. Their story of “God and Me” will wrap up with the parable of the lost sheep. As children learn to lean on God as their Good Shepherd, they will be challenged to reach out and be “good shepherds” to those around them.
The God and Family (grades 4-5) curriculum is designed to help youth understand the importance of family and God’s role in a healthy family. The God and Family Program provide an opportunity for young people and their families to explore their faith together. Children will read about different families in the Bible, which can teach them about God’s plan for strengthening families. To remember these lessons, children will compare families and “pizza.” The six steps for making pizza will give students a concrete, “hands-on” model on which to build their understanding of God’s love for their families. They will make a pizza as they study how families can grow together in God’s love, and they will choose “family projects” to be done with their family at home.
The God and Church (grades 6-8) program will lead young people on a journey. It will be a faith journey with three parts: meeting Jesus, worshiping God, and witnessing and ministering for Christ. Participants will create either a video or a photo album to share what they have learned on their faith journeys. Young people will have the opportunity to work with their pastor or other Christian adult as they study the church's structures and objectives and participate in service projects that will give them a better understanding of the mission of the church.
The God and Life (grades 9-12) curriculum is the final program in the God and Country series. After being introduced to Jesus as their best friend (God and Me), learning how the family is to grow strong in God’s love (God and Family), and studying the church as the body of Christ (God and Church), students in the God and Life program will seek to understand their call to a life of discipleship. The God and Life curriculum will focus on the life of the Apostle Paul as recorded in Acts 9:1-31. This is a brief account that describes how Paul encountered Christ and was changed forever. Five chronological "events" out of this story will be highlighted and used as the focus for the five different sections in this program. Each section will illustrate a key element in learning how to live one's life for Christ:
For more information see: http://www.praypub.org
Regional Community
The members of St. Matthias UMC recognize that we are not alone in our mission needs here in the local area.
We seek to reach-out to our neighbors within our region. Click each activity to show a regional activity highlight.
Red Bird Mission, a non-profit agency under the Red Bird Missionary Conference of the United Methodist Church is located in Beverly Kentucky in the Appalachian mountains. Red Bird empowers individuals and advocates justice by providing educational, health, and community outreach ministries to area low-income residents. The Red Bird Conference provides education to the local area through the Red Bird School (K-12), Medical and Dental Clinics, Vocational and employment opportunities and attends to the spiritual needs of the community through local churches.
The Red Bird Missionary Conference provides a wide a multitude of volunteer opportunities for individuals and groups year-round. St. Matthias provides regularly support to Red Bird including financial donations, and an annual School Bag project every Spring. From late February through April we collect materials to assemble school bags for the graduates of the early childhood development program as graduation gifts for the children as them move up to Kindergarten in the fall. We also collect Campbell’s product labels year round that are used to purchase equipment and vehicles to support the mission. You may bring labels at any time and drop them in the collection box in the Narthex. For more information see: http://www.rbmission.org
National Community
St. Matthias stands along side our neighbors across the nation to support those in need with our prayers, presence, gifts and service.
Click each mission to show it's activity highlights.
The Mississippi United Methodist Disaster Response Center exists to aid Katrina Recovery efforts through the healing of hearts and homes along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, destroyed or damaged numerous houses. With the gift of labor from volunteers from around the country and donations from countless others we are able to help qualifying people move from temporary housing into Safe, Sanitary, and Secure homes. In November 2007, 2008 and 2009 St. Matthias sponsored and sent teams to Mississippi to continue rebuilding lives and hope through the Mississippi Conference in the Van Cleave and Gulfport Areas. Team members typically drive down or fly in and all meals and support are provided through the Conference Disaster Relief center in Van Cleave. The 2009 team was sent the week of 15-21 November 2009.
United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) is a fellowship of believers, lay and clergy, men and women, adults and youth, who have stepped out in faith to serve the needs of communities around the world.
The common characteristic of volunteers is a desire to serve and a willingness to share the gospel as part of a work team, medical team, or as individual volunteers. Participants testify to lives transformed and congregations renewed as they become involved in “service with others” mission outreach. New relationships are developed with persons from other cultures, and traditional walls of division are torn away as they participate in hands-on involvement. If you are interested in leading an UMVIM team or joining a team to serve on mission projects abroad or here in the United States see the Conference UMVIM web-site at: http://www.vaumc.org
World Community
The members of St. Matthias recognize that Jesus calls us to reach out to those in need world wide.
Click each mission to show how St. Matthias used the mission to affect life transforming world change.
A Victory Box is a box of goods needed by the Iraqi/Afghanistan people to help them toward their fight for freedom. These boxes help the people get on their feet as they train their men to defend their country, get their economy going, their people clothed, and the children educated.
Victory Boxes are distributed by selected service members (typically civil affairs and chaplains) who work directly with the people. They can use everything BUT meat products, religious items and anything involving sexually explicit literature. That means they need clothes, shoes, school products, etc. All money and items donated are tax deductible. In 2008 St. Matthias collected and shipped 92 Victory Boxes to support children in Afghanistan. For more information see: http://www.victoryboxes.com
The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is the not-for-profit global humanitarian aid organization of the United Methodist Church. UMCOR is working in more than 80 countries worldwide, including the United States. Our mission, grounded in the teachings of Jesus, is to alleviate human suffering—whether caused by war, conflict or natural disaster, with open hearts and minds to all people.
UMCOR responds to natural or civil disasters that are interruptions of such magnitude that they overwhelm a community's ability to recover on its own.
UMCOR partners with local partner organizations and survivors to rebuild their livelihoods, health and homes. In times of acute crisis we mobilize emergency supplies, fresh water, and temporary shelter to stricken areas, and then stay as long as it takes to implement long-term recovery. Our workers are known all over the globe for their compassion, leadership, expertise and guidance in recovery efforts.
UMCOR works through programs that address hunger, poverty, sustainable agriculture, international and domestic emergencies, refugee and immigrant concerns, global health issues, and transitional development. United Methodist hearts and hands are part of every program implemented; school kit, seed, health kit, fresh water and tool distributed in the US and throughout the world; and every new house, well, clinic and school rebuilt after catastrophes of conflict or nature.
Most importantly, UMCOR connects us in a global network of generous donors and equally generous beneficiaries. For more information see: http://new.gbgm-umc.org You may make a designated offering for UMCOR at any time by writing the advance number on the memo line of your check and placing it in the offering plate.
For the past two years the UMYF has support World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine. In 2009 the Youth collected over $11,000 towards this project. World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
Motivated by our faith in Jesus Christ, World Vision serves alongside the poor and oppressed as a demonstration of God's unconditional love for all people. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender. 30 Hour Famine is an international youth movement to fight hunger. It will bring your group closer together and to God, feed hungry children, and change our world forever. Students fast for thirty hours and raise funds to help feed and care for children around the world. By sacrificing and serving others, they are learning to think outside themselves and see the world as Christ sees it. For more information see: http://www.30hourfamine.org.
The Advance is an official program of The United Methodist Church for voluntary, designated, second-mile giving. Through The Advance, United Methodist annual conferences, districts, local churches, and organizations - and individuals and families - may choose to support particular, approved mission programs or mission personnel with their financial gifts. One hundred percent of all Advance giving goes to the chosen mission project or ministry.
Since the founding of The Advance in 1948, The Advance has helped channel over three million gifts totaling over one billion dollars to thousands of projects and ministries around the world to help them grow and improve their capacity to serve their communities.
The Advance strives to be the leading conduit for United Methodist designated giving. We offer the church an integrated package to channel designated giving to connectional projects and mission personnel, working with church leaders around the world to ensure that approved projects are aligned with the goals of The United Methodist Church in the local area, help develop partnerships that are mutually advantageous, tell the story of projects and missionaries, and report how giving is making an impact.
You may make a designated offering to the advance at any time by writing the advance number on the memo line of your check and dropping it in the offering plate. For more information see: http://new.gbgm-umc.org
Missions Fund-Raising
Primary support for mission activities at St. Matthias comes from the generous giving of money, time and materials from our members and friends.
Click each mission to show the highlights of an activity that St. Matthias conducts throughtout the year to generate funds for our missions.
