Racial Ethnic News
Garfield
Heights UMC- Simbang Gabi Celebration
(December 16, 2006) The second annual Filipino-American "Simbang
Gabi" celebration was held at Garfield Heights UMC , Sunday evening, Dec. 17. Translated,
Simbang Gabi means
"Night Mass." It is an adaptation of the Filipino Catholic
traditional pre-Christmas devotion. In the United States today,
Filipinos carry on Simbang Gami traditions by adapting them to their
new communities and religious structure.
In the photo above, Rev.
Armando C. Arellano, of Garfield Memorial and native of the
Philippines, shares the story of one of the most cherished
traditions of the celebration - the gathering of the children. It is
Filipino tradition where, at Christmas, the children receive their
presents from their Godmother and Godfather. To honor the Godparents
the children bow, take each Godparent's right hand, draw it to and
touch the hand to their foreheads. In turn the Godparents present
the child with a gift. As many as 40 children came forward to honor
Godfather and Godmother - Ninong Chito and Ninang Jenny.
The
celebration was held in English and the Filipino language of Tagalo
including the hymns, special music and the sermon. Garfield
Memorial is fortunate to have many Filipino members and as in the
previous year, opened it's doors to all Filipinos in the community
to celebrate Christmas in their native tradition.
It was an evening to
remember the birth of Christ in a way that was most familiar to the
Filipino people - with celebration.
View many more photos from the celebration.
Racial-Ethnic News: Werner United
Methodist Church Receives Grant
By Gloria Brown,
Director Racial-Ethnic Ministries
The members of
Werner United Methodist Church, where the Rev. Dogba Bass serves as
pastor, are proud recipients of a grant in the amount of $20,000.
The grantor was the Racial Ethnic Local Church Concerns Office of
the General Board of Discipleship, The United Methodist Church. The
grant proposal was written in response to seven identified areas of
need within the Werner community. The following initiatives will be
implemented under the heading, “The Werner Community Outreach
Initiative.” They are:
1. Super
Saturday
2. "I
Have a Dream” Oratory Contest
3. Summer
Program, 2007
4.
Ministerial Recruitment Institute
5. Hershey
Track and Field Meet
6. Werner
Educational Enrichment Program
7. Werner’s
Sports Program
One of the
requirements of the grant proposal application was that an
explanation be provided on how these seven initiatives, under one
umbrella, would address issues or needs of the group requesting the
funds. An excerpt from the executive summary reads:
These grant
funds will allow the Werner United Methodist Church to make
significant inroads into a community suffering from the lack of
adequate educational, social, cultural, and recreational
opportunities for its residents, especially young children. Just
as our Lord attracted persons to his message by first meeting
their temporal needs, we seek to impact this community by first
offering something to meet the needs that the residents care
about most and that impacts their lives daily (Bass, 2006, p.
1).
Bass was strongly
urged by Gloria Brown, director of Racial Ethnic Ministries, to
pursue funding from Racial Ethnic Local Church Concerns. Because
Bass was already in the process of developing a RELCC grant proposal
and was familiar with requirements, he shared his skills as
facilitator at the recent grant proposal writing workshop held at
Cory UMC.
Bass thanked
Brown for encouraging him to “put pen to paper” and asked that she
serve as a member of an accountability group at Werner which is
being formulated and will meet quarterly for validation and feedback
purposes. Brown accepted and looks forward to working with the
Werner team.
For more
information or general tips on grant proposal writing for RELCC,
contact: Rev. Dogba Bass at 216-791-2645.
Bass, D.
(2006). Werner community outreach initiative: Executive summary.
Nashville, TN: General Board of Discipleship. The United
Methodist Church.
Grant Proposal Writing Workshop a Success
On October
14, 2006, a grant proposal writing workshop was held at Cory
United Methodist Church in Cleveland where Rev. Henry F. Curtis,
IV is pastor and the Rev. Ada M. Jones is associate pastor.
The workshop
was “born” out of a survey conducted among racial-ethnic
churches by Gloria Brown, associate director of Racial Ethnic
Ministries in April, 2006. The return rate was 8.5%. Eighty
percent of pastors and lay leaders who responded indicated that
securing funds for churches and ministries was a priority; thus
the scheduling of the workshop. In attendance were 63 pastors
and lay individuals from Canfield, North Coast, Mid Ohio,
Firelands, Ohio Valley, and Mahoning Valley Districts. Non
United Methodist groups also took advantage of information
shared at the workshop.
Brown
especially thanks Rev. Dr. Yvonne Conner, of Broadway
United Methodist Church, Rev. Dogba Bass, of Werner
United Methodist Church, Beverly Holland, North Coast District
Office manager and East Ohio Conference statistician, and the
entire Cory UMC Planning Team for the sharing of their
leadership skills in order to ensure the success of the
workshop.
Comments by
Participants:
-
Would
like another workshop for more information and more
strategies
-
Excellent
workshop in all areas
-
Communion
was beautiful. It brought a beautiful close to our hard work
and fellowshipping.
-
The
presentation by Ms. Brown was excellent. I learned how
important teamwork is in writing a proposal and how we
should show appreciation to one another while we work to
seek funds for our ministries. Please do this again!
-
Very well
done.
-
… warmth
from those in attendance/Cory Church families contributed to
the success of this workshop.
-
I learned
a lot. Thank you.
-
We were
blessed to be here.
-
Good
info. There could easily be another to build on this. Great
networking ideas and sharing opportunity. The food was
great. Many thanks to Cory UMC.
-
We need
more of these.
