Bishop Kiesey calls for special offering on Nov. 11 to benefit UMCOR

A message from Michigan Area Bishop Deborah Kiesey: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. … If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.”  (I Corinthians 12:12, 26)   We have all watched the news reports of the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy.  To see such destruction – to hear the...

Certified chainsaw operators needed for Dexter recovery

  Eric Miller, the disaster response coordinator for the Detroit Conference, is compiling a list of certified chainsaw operators to aide in the recovery efforts in the community of Dexter, Mich.   Certified chainsaw operators willing to help are asked to provide their name, skills, and availability to Bob McCormick (mccormickrj@hotmail.com) or Miller (emiller629@woway.com). In addition, Miller stated that a list is being compiled of those willing to haul brush for the chainsaw...

Detroit Conference responding to Dexter tornado damage

  UPDATE (March 20): Eric Miller, the conference's disaster response coordinator, is looking for names of certified chainsaw operators willing to volunteer in the recovery effort. Click here for details.   UPDATE (4:30 p.m., March 17):  In consultation with on-site personnel, led by Jeremy Wick, the disaster response coordinator for the West Michigan Conference, and Michigan Area Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton, the Detroit Conference has applied for and received an emergency...

10-Fold Launches October 10

  The General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church (GBGM), along with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) will be offering a 10-day online event called "10-Fold" that allows individuals to be counted, get involved, and raise funds for United Methodist projects around the world. 10-Fold will take place from October 10-19 at www.10-fold.org.  By visiting and spreading the word, you can raise up to $10,000 for each project During each day of...

Detroit Conference Honored For Haiti Relief Efforts

  The Detroit Conference has been recently honored by the General Board of Global Ministries for its efforts in the relief efforts in Haiti. Below is a letter received by Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton offering gratitude to the conference for its generosity:   Dear Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton,   Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  As the presidents of the General Board of Global Ministries, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and The...

VIM Festival of Opportunities Scheduled for April 10

The Michigan Area Volunteers in Mission Festival of Opportunities, an event to celebrate all those who serve and to offer opportunities to learn ways to serve, will take place from 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 10, at Brighton: First UMC. The event, sponsored by the VIM coordinators of the Detroit and West Michigan Conferences, will offer three tracks for participants – VIM Leader Training, Early Response Training, or Breakout Sessions.   VIM Leader Training is a...

Conference Health Kit Collection Drop-Off Sites, Dates Established

Drop-off sites will open beginning Monday, Feb. 15, in each of the seven districts of the Detroit Conference for local churches to deliver their UMCOR Health Kits.   Detroit Conference churches have been asked to aide the relief effort in Haiti by collecting as many UMCOR Health Kits as they can by Sunday, Feb. 14. UMCOR Health Kits provide basic necessities to people who have been forced to leave their homes because of human conflict or natural disaster. Health kits are also used as...

Local Churches Encouraged to Collect UMCOR Health Kits

The Detroit Conference is asking all local churches to aide in the Haiti relief effort by collecting UMCOR Health Kits to be shipped to the region. Churches are being asked to collect as many UMCOR Health Kits as then can by Sunday, Feb. 14. At that time, they will be delivered to predetermined drop-off sites in the conference and then shipped to the Midwest Mission Distribution Center in Chatham, Ill.   The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is on the ground in Haiti and has...

Detroit Conference VIM Team Safely Airlifted from Haiti

A United Methodist Volunteers-In-Mission team from the Detroit Conference has landed in the Bahamas after being safely airlifted from Jeremie, Haiti, this afternoon (Monday, Jan. 18). The 17-member team, led by the Rev. Don Gotham, pastor of St. Clair: First United Methodist Church, has been in Haiti since January 1 and was stranded in Jeremie following the earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince and its surrounding areas. “We are grateful that we got our team safely out of Haiti,...

Letter from Haiti Methodist Church President Provides Update on Haiti

Dear Friends of Haiti & of the Methodist Church in Haiti,   We thank God who has spared our lives!   We wish to thank you for your concern and prayers expressed on the occasion of this big shock that has struck our country on Tuesday, January 12, 2010, in the afternoon.   We thank God that all our Haitian Ministers are in good condition with their immediate family members. Broadly speaking, the manses where they live have resisted well though in many cases things inside...

Detroit Conference VIM Team Safe in Haiti Following Earthquake

(for updates to this story and the conference response to the Haiti earthquake, please visit www.detroitconference.org/haiti) A Detroit Conference Volunteers in Mission team in Haiti led by the Rev. Don Gotham, pastor at Saint Clair: First UMC, has reported in safe following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that was centered 10 miles to the west of Port au Prince, the capital city of Haiti. The 17-member VIM team was working in Jeremie, Haiti, which is approximately 120 miles west of the...