NEWS

Your Shared Ministry Apportionment Dollars at Work

The Conference Council on Ministries wishes to thank you for your support of the conference Shared Ministry Apportionments and specifically for your support of Fund I which supports Ministries and Missions throughout the conference. 

An example of your giving at work comes from Rev. Lauren Odell-Scott, campus minister at Kent State University.

Odell-Scott writes in a recent letter: “As the fall semester began, a student appeared in my UCM office so I offered her a comfy seat and we began to talk.  She shared that as a freshman, she had been part of another Christian group on campus.  This other group is nationally known, highly funded, para-church, non-denominational with a large staff of adult lay leaders. 

The student explained that she had been highly involved, but toward the end of the year in her own words, ‘I began to feel very judged.  I was supposed to do everything with them and couldn't have friends outside of that group.  I was even made to feel guilty about doing things with my family.  I was accused of doing bad things that I certainly had not done.  I decided to get out.’  Wisely, this student consulted with her own UMC pastor who directed her to the United Campus Ministries.”  

This young woman has come to find her church away from home at the United Campus Ministries.  This same story is true for so many students attending United Methodist Colleges and state colleges with Campus Ministries that offer the same kind of trustworthy pastoral care, guidance, educational and overall healthy spiritual support that your church offers. 

Thank you for making a difference in the lives of college students, young and old alike, who need faith development while attending school. 

Thank you for continual support in giving your Shared Ministry Apportionments!