| Vacation
Bible School Needs – This year’s vacation
bible school theme is “Beach Party – Surfin’
Through the Scriptures”. To make this a memorable experience
for all of the kids and those involved, some props would add
wonderfully to this theme. The props that are needed are:
crab baskets, surf boards, boogie boards, life preservers
and fishing nets. If you would be able to loan any of these
items to the church during the week of June 16th, please contact
David Ballard.
Living WaterVBS – Can you help? Our
daughter church in Gilbert would like to offer VBS for that
community June 2nd – 5th (only four days) from 9:30
– Noon on those days. Katharine Keller is looking for
anyone interested in helping in ANY aspect of Vacation Bible
School. If you can help, please contact her as soon as possible
at 888-5411. Thank you!
Communion for the Homebound,
Hospital and Care Facility Patients
By Grover Wallace
We successfully started our new ministry of providing communion
for persons in our congregation who are homebound or in local
hospitals and care facilities on Communion Sunday, May 3rd.
On June 1st, we will again have a group of volunteers available
to deliver communion to those that are unable to attend regular
services. This service will usually involve two volunteers
who will deliver communion between 11 am and 1 pm on Communion
Sunday.
If you have a family member or know of any person in our congregation
who is homebound, confined to a local hospital or care facility
and would desire this service, please fill out the “Request
for Communion for the Homebound” form and drop it off
at the church office by Wednesday afternoon preceding Communion
Sunday.
We have 14 couples and 9 other willing volunteers trained
and ready to deliver this service. For further information,
please contact the church office or Grover Wallace at 982-8755.
International Missions
The International Missions Committee was formed earlier this
year with the goal of determining ways Gold Canyon UMC can
extend our outreach into the global community. The committee
members, Ruthmary Anderson, Jim Dinkel, Adelyne Douglass,
Kent Douglass, Nona Larson, Kathy Serrine, Jerry Thacker,
and Jackie Douglass, have met twice to begin outlining a plan
to meet this goal.
We have currently identified two projects wherein we will
concentrate our efforts, one in Chile, and one in Thailand.
So that you may become familiar with these endeavors, we will
highlight these projects in subsequent newsletters.
Our approach for gaining congregation involvement will be
multifaceted; we will contribute items in the newsletter to
bring information to you about various mission opportunities;
we will share information before worship services to highlight
specific projects; and we are planning an “International
Missions Fair” to take place in the fall of this year.
Stay tuned for more information and to learn more about how
you can become involved in International Missions!
An Update on the Ministry of Rev. Rosemary
Anderson
It was two years ago that I was saying my farewells to you
of the Gold Canyon Church. As you will remember, I felt a
strong calling to be in ministry with the unchurched and disenfranchised
of society, the poor and oppressed. It was a true step out
in faith because, at the time, I had no sense of where I would
be or exactly what I would be doing. Many of you expressed
concern for me, worried for my safety as I was headed into
what I was calling “a street ministry”.
By the end of 2006, I was working at Wesley Community Center
with the children and families of Barrio Nuestro, and the
Bishop had appointed me to a church less than a mile from
Wesley Center called Primera Iglesia Metodista Unida or First
United Methodist Church. This is, indeed, the first Methodist
church, established in Phoenix in 1894.
The past years have been quite a journey as I have learned
much from these people who live in substandard housing, some
with no electricity or water! Some of their homes have dirt
floors. Often families of a dozen people live in one of these
homes, and if they are lucky, they may have a two-bedroom
house. The children in these situations do the best they can
to get by day to day. Most parents are working in service
jobs receiving minimum wage, drugs are a big issue, and there
is one major gang establishing territory in the square mile
in which I do ministry as a Community Pastor.
When I began my ministry at Primera Iglesia, there were 10
or so people who attended fairly regularly. They drove in
from Glendale, and West Phoenix as most had moved from the
neighborhood to better homes, jobs, and schools years ago.
Going door to door in the neighborhood of the church, I learned
that most people believed the church to have been closed for
years. It has been one of our greatest challenges to overcome
that notion of being closed!
Through much prayer, the Rev. Donald Taylor, on leave of
absence from the West Ohio Conference, and I have seen some
amazing things happen at Primera Iglesia. We have new people
from the surrounding neighborhoods coming to church now. These
people are passionate about helping their neighbors! With
very little to give, they give what they have and have begun
a Sidewalk Sunday School in an area known as Marcos de Niza
Housing Projects. This has been quite successful in its first
months of operation and we have touched the lives of over
60 children. Entire families come to this Sidewalk Sunday
School so we look at this as a new faith community. Our Sidewalk
SS can last two hours, as we eat together after the lesson
and games are done. If we have clothing that has been donated,
we give it out, and any extra food we have goes home with
these families. The food that you donated to our food pantry
has been a true blessing for so many of our Sidewalk families.
With all the changes occurring at Primer Iglesia, I felt
a strong need to have the church opened more during the week.
The new people who are becoming a part of the congregation
are unchurched and “seekers” in the truest sense
of the word. With not much education, formal or religious,
they are searching for answers to their many faith-filled
questions. Tragic and random shootings have claimed lives
of several youth of these families. These are young families
with many children who need good programming, both for fellowship
and for education. The Bishop has agreed to appoint me at
Primera Iglesia three-quarter time. I will no longer work
at Wesley Community Center after the end of May, although
I will be in relationship with the children and families there
as a Pastor and will continue Sidewalk SS there, in addition
to the new site begun at the Projects.
In addition to this endeavor, I am actively engaged in bringing
Communities of Shalom to our DSWC. The Communities of Shalom
Program is an initiative of The United Methodist Church, administered
by the Theological School of Drew University in consultation
with the National Shalom Committee. Communities of Shalom
engage congregations and communities in working together to
experience wholeness and well being among all people in their
neighborhoods with these goals in mind:
Revealing the spirit of God in congregations and communities
Developing the shared prosperity and economies of communities
Strengthening relationships among diverse neighbors
Improving community healthcare and delivery of community of
services
The nature of a community is determined by the one who summons
and organizes it. Today, many communities are in a state of
confusion, despair, and decline. The Communities of Shalom
Program is an opportunity for congregations to reclaim their
heritage and empower themselves to be catalysts who organize
their communities for SHALOM. Congregations and Communities
working together create economically and ecologically sustainable
communities in which all God’s people experience shalom
in all its fullness.
As we work to bring peace and wholeness to South-Central
Phoenix, I ask you for your prayers. There are countless ways
we at Primera Iglesia could benefit from your knowledge and
ideas, so please consider sharing and working with us in this
way. Contact me at 480-688-4664 or 701 S. 1st St., on the
corner of 1st St. and Grant, just a few blocks south of Chase
Field
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