Christ is risen! We celebrate Easter this year on April 4. The good news of Easter brings joyous hope for our lives, and gives us a message of hope for others! It is for this reason that our church takes a special Easter Offering, which goes entirely for missions. We have goal of $14,000, which will support an extensive array of key ministries that are transforming lives. Our target amounts are the total amount that we expect to contribute to these particular ministries this year:
- $4000 for church camps; we provide crucial support for our east Ohio United Methodist camps in their ministry of helping young people come to faith in Christ. Our camps needed to be maintained last summer even with no campers; and this summer our camps are open again! Campers can be widely spaced outdoors – the perfect setting for Christian education to happen within this ongoing pandemic environment.
- $2000 for Ohio Campus Ministries – we provide support for numerous campus ministries across Ohio, most principally our own United Christian Ministries. In addition to these dollars, we provide free space for UCM to operate in our facility. The annual value of the building space and utilities for UCM is calculated to be $25,000.
- $2000 for Heart 4 the City – this is an exciting United Methodist mission church in Akron; we have been a prime supporter for a number of years.
- $2000 to address homelessness and hunger in our area, divided as follows:
- Haven of Rest & Freedom House homeless shelters
- Burns Residential Endowment – a campaign through the Coleman Foundation to create permanent supportive housing to end homelessness in our area
- Meal and lodging assistance – we provide immediate help for individuals in need
- Kent Social Services – undergirding the work of this important local agency
- The Lord’s Lunch program – we help provide Saturday meals
- Holy Cow! – we provide tons of frozen beef each year for food baskets
- $1100 for church development – we support other churches in east Ohio that are developing new ministries to reach out to Ohio communities.
- $2900 for training new United Methodist pastors – as many pastors retire each year, we need to support the recruitment and training of new generations of leadership for our churches.
