The purpose of Community Ministries is to help people serve.
We help churches fulfill the dream God has for them as they bear fruit as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, reaching out to the least, the last and the lost in risk-taking service and radical hospitality. Our goal is that every congregation becomes involved in life-changing, risk-taking service for the transformation of the world, starting with our own local communities. To that end we offer training, hand-on opportunities, and Local Outreach Grants and Partnership facilitation.
The mission of United Methodist Community Ministries is to assist congregations in doing ministry with and in the community where God has called them.We serve nine counties of central Ohio,including Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Licking, Logan, Madison, Marion, Pickaway, and Union county.
Our office is located at:
2929 Kenny Rd., Suite 100
Columbus, Ohio 43221
Phone numbers:
Toll free: 1-877-228-0521 - or - Local: 614-228-1010
Director: Rev. Beth Weisbrod
Financial Secretary: Charlotte Proctor
Rev. Beth Weisbrod served as a missionary (Church and Community Worker) in Botswana and Mozambique, Africa for 11 years. She had also served on the Cherokee Indian Reservation for two summers, in Washington DC (urban ministry) for one year and served as the director of the Mission Society in Dayton for two years. Since 2006 she has served as the Director of UM Community Ministries of the Capitol Area Districts. Her husband, Ben, is pastor of Oakland Park UMC and they have two children, Sam who is 25 and Sara who is 22. Sam was born in Botswana and Sara was born in England. She has degrees from Otterbein College and Duke Divinity School. Beth was ordained in June 2008 as a deacon.
Building Bridges Sept 21!
Click here to print out the mail in reservation form.
Building Bridges/Ministry with the Poor is the theme for both our Annual Conference at Lakeside this year and for our Community Ministry Festival on September 21st. Recently I attended Day 2 of the Bridges Out of Poverty training co-led by Rev. Lou Seipel, a United Methodist Pastor in our district and Phil DeVol who is the author of the book Bridges Out of Poverty. It was great to meet Phil; he is going to be the main speaker at our September 21st event. The Bridges Out of Poverty book and workshop teaches participants about the culture of poverty and about the “hidden rules” of poverty and the middle class. This is a great workshop for anyone who serves in an outreach ministry and/or seeks to build relationships with persons struggling with poverty.
To help us all serve more effectively, Community Ministries is offering the Bridges out ofPoverty workshop around the district in 2010 :
1)Saturday, Aug 21, 9am-4pm at Community UMC in Circleville, Pickaway County
2)Tuesday, Sept 21, 2-5pm at Columbia Heights UMC- training only- before the Community Ministry Festival (5:30-8pm)
3)Saturday, Oct 9, 9am-4pm at Marysville First UMC in Union County
4) Saturday, Oct 30, 9am-4pm at Broad St UMC in Columbus
5)Saturday, Nov 6, 9am-4pm at Powell UMC in Delaware County
Here are a few of the benefits:
·The hidden rules of economic class will begin to make sense to you
·You’ll have better skills to understand the very complex issues of low income families
·You will be more effective communicating with low income persons
·Your organization will be more effective in delivering your services
·You can reduce the stress level of your frontline staff who work directly with your customers
·You can begin to reduce the turnover within your company of entry level staff
. On Sept 21st it will have the 3 hour Bridges Out of Poverty Training which can be attended before the Community Ministry Festival. Jesus calls all of us to build bridges with those we serve- to do ministry with the poor, not just to the poor.
Sep 21: Community Ministry Festival and Annual Meeting
time: 5:30-8pm- includes mission fair, dinner and guast speaker
place: Columbia Heights UMC, Galloway, Ohio (near 270 and West Broad)
Saturday October 16, 10am-2pm: Grant Writing Workshop at North Broadway UMC in Columbus
Presenter: Sara Neikerk
Purpose of UM Community Ministries Liaisons:
The purpose of the Community Ministries Liaison is to be a link between the Community Ministries Board and the local church to:
bring information
empower networking
encourage every person to be in ministry
Job description for Liaison:
Be a Big-picture thinker who will:
Promote Community Ministries
Share about apportionments/connectional structure (with local mission emphasis)
Serve for a 3 year term
Attend the Community Ministry Festival/Annual meeting each year (Sept) and invite others to attend
Serve as a liaison to your church's leadership team, etc
Put UMCM announcements in the bulletin/newsletter/website etc (this can be weekly, focusing on one outreach ministry each week)
Add Community Ministry events to your church calendar so everyone knows about it
Make oral announcements at least once a month (or ask someone else to do it)
Join a liaison cluster in your geographical area to share ideas/information
Establish a two way communication -receiving information but also sharing about needs and what is happening in your local community (we will then share this with the other liaisons)
Have a willingness to learn and share
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. We are a team together!
Liaison Team
Community Ministries: We help people serve!
Our outreach ministries range from food pantries to free clothing stores, after school programs to serving community meals. Explore the ministries of our district below.
