GIFTS THAT CHANGE OUR WORLD

Gifts That Change Our World: Belmont Wesley Fellowship

Each year, our little half-mile slice of Nashville welcomes over 20,000 college and graduate students who attend either Belmont or Vanderbilt. Our United Methodist Wesley Foundations do the important work of partnering with these college students to help them find community, faith, and church homes away from home in their college years. This year, we are one of a few churches jumping into an exciting new model for our Wesley Foundations that partner local churches with nearby universities to form stronger connections within our Methodist family. We are so excited to welcome Hunter Wade to our staff. She will be serving Belmont University students as Wesley Foundation Director. We pray that as we deepen our connection to these neighboring campuses, we will continue our mission of growing in love of God and neighbor and welcome them into our community with open arms. Please prayerfully consider how you may be a part of this ministry partnership, whether through your generous gifts, hosting a small group at your house, or leading a new college-aged Sunday school class!

The Belmont Wesley Foundation is a tight knit community of students who have found meaningful connection to each other and to God through the ministry. This year, the student leaders are excited to partner with Hunter to increase their impact on campus by engaging more students who are new to Wesley. Though Belmont University has many faith-based organizations, the Belmont Wesley Foundation (BWF) is the only LGBTQIA+ affirming faith-based group that meets on campus. This creates potential for BWF to be a very meaningful and necessary community for students who need it.

Each week, BWF has a worship service led by students. It also hosts many community events outside of that weekly time. Financial gifts would go towards supporting this work of cultivating community and celebrating inclusion by way of providing students with food, programming, events, and retreats through which the ministry works. We would be honored if you would consider partnering with the work BWF is doing to impact college students right in our same neighborhood.

You can give online, text BELMONT CHANGE to 73256 using your text messaging (standard text message rates do apply), or simply drop your gift (make checks payable to Belmont UMC with GTCOW in the memo line) in the offering plate. Thank you for your generosity!

From the August 20 newsletter:

Gifts That Change Our World: A worldwide connection

The United Methodist Church is a worldwide connection of more than 12 million members in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the United States. We are the person next door, the church on the other side of the country, and the worshiping community across the globe. Together, we share a legacy of living as disciples of Jesus Christ, sharing God's love both in what we say and how we serve our neighbors.

As the humanitarian relief and development arm of The United Methodist Church, the United Methodist Committee on Relief – UMCOR – assists United Methodists and churches to become involved globally in direct ministry to persons in need. UMCOR comes alongside those who suffer from natural or human-caused disasters – famine, hurricane, war, flood, fire or other events—to alleviate suffering and serve as a source of help and hope for the vulnerable. UMCOR provides relief, response and long-term recovery grants when events overwhelm a community’s ability to recover on their own. UMCOR also provides technical support and training for partners to address emerging and ongoing issues related to disaster relief, recovery, and long-term health and development.

Our gifts support mission work in over 115 countries. This includes everything from providing food and shelter to refugees to training pastors and teachers, as we saw recently when our Belmont UMC teams visited the Give Ye Them to Eat ministry in Mexico and our sister churches in Malawi.

From the August 13 newsletter:

Gifts That Change Our World: Cedar Crest Camp

As we think about how our gifts can change the world, sometimes the changes happen pretty close to home - maybe in Lyles, Tennessee. This past summer, your generous giving, combined with gifts from across the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference, provided beautiful camping experiences for young people from Belmont UMC and across the Conference. Cedar Crest Camp intentionally designs programming to assure young people understand that they are beloved and uses its 500 acres as a sanctuary to teach about God’s creation. Cedar Crest offers canoeing, creek stomping, worship, ropes course, dancing, singing, mountain biking, swimming, talent shows, and the two best camp meals our senior pastor has ever eaten. Cedar Crest is fully accredited by the American Camp Association. Most Wednesdays end in the camp’s beautiful garden, where teams of campers compete to create dishes from the garden. This past summer, Pastor Paul’s son Caleb served as Waterfront Director (his eighth year at camp as camper or staff) and Pastor Heather’s daughter Emma Anne Stephens served as a counselor. Our United Methodist newsfeeds often speak of disaffiliation and division, but God is doing great things in places like Cedar Crest Camp. Give to our Gifts That Change Our World campaign to support Cedar Crest and other denominational ministries.

Over the next three weeks, you will be hearing more about these ABC’s, and we invite you to join us in financially supporting these ministries. You can give online, text BELMONT CHANGE to 73256 using your text messaging (standard text message rates do apply), or simply drop your gift (make checks payable to Belmont UMC with GTCOW in the memo line) in the offering plate. Thank you for your generosity!

From the August 6 newsletter

Gifts That Change Our World (GTCOW) is all about people coming alive through our United Methodist connections. August 6-27, we ask you to support the ABC’s of our connection by giving a gift above your regular giving or pledge to support our church’s connectional commitments. During August, we will pause and remember that Belmont UMC is connected to a larger United Methodist connection that, despite what you might read in your newsfeed, is on the ground all over the world, everyday doing good work. Belmont UMC includes connectional giving in our budget, but our pledges don't cover our full connectional commitment. We hope your second mile giving will help to do all that God is calling us to do. Help us reach our $30,000 goal.

As we begin our second mile giving campaign, Gifts That Change Our World, we want to talk about the ABC's of our connectional giving. These are three areas where your gifts make a difference in the lives of people around the world:

All Around the World: Through our partnership with the United Methodist Church, your gifts support mission work in over 115 countries. This includes everything from providing food and shelter to refugees to training pastors and teachers. We were so encouraged to hear back from Belmont teams that visited with our Methodist partners: Give Ye Them to Eat ministry in Mexico and our sister churches in Malawi. Indeed, Stephen Bryant and Heather Harriss worshiped in a church that your previous generosity built!

Belmont University Partnership: Our partnership with Belmont University helps prepare students for ministry and leadership. Your gifts support the salary and program expenses for the Belmont Wesley Foundation, as well as other college ministries in the Tennessee-Western Kentucky conference.

Children, Church Camp, and Creation: Our children's ministry, church camp, and creation care programs help children learn about God's love and care for the world. This past summer several of Belmont’s children and youth joined with Waterfront Director Caleb Purdue and counselors like Emma Anne Stephens at our Methodist church camp Cedar Crest, one of the few church camps in the southeast accredited by the American Camp Association. Your gifts support these ministries by investing in the lives of our young people and the care of our planet.

Prayer for the ABC's of Connectional Giving

God, we thank you for the opportunity to give back to you and to your kingdom. We pray that our gifts would be used to make a difference in the lives of people around the world. We pray for the All Around the World ministries, that they would be effective in sharing the gospel and bringing hope to those in need. We pray for the Belmont University Partnership, that it would continue to prepare students for ministry and leadership. We pray for the Children, Church Camp, and Creation programs, that they would help children learn about God's love and care for the world. Amen.

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