UMCOR's birthday is coming up

“...That this Conference create a Methodist Committee on Overseas Relief...We urge our Methodist people to participate fully, heartily and sacrificially...”

These words, excerpted from the proceedings of the First General Conference in Atlantic City, N.J., in 1940, represent the start of the journey of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)—a journey that has helped millions of people across the world. 
 

Seventy-five years later—on March 15, 2015—up to 500 people are expected to gather to celebrate the creation of UMCOR during a service at Asbury United Methodist Church—formerly Central Methodist Church, the location in Atlantic City where UMCOR first came into existence.

Congregations from Asbury, Venice Park and Hamilton United Methodist churches, as well as friends from across the country, will gather with a sense of historical appreciation and future vision.

March 15 is One Great Hour of Sharing Sunday, during which churches across the globe collect an offering that enables UMCOR to continue its 75-year legacy of responding to those in need. 

Donations to One Great Hour of Sharing fund UMCOR’s administrative costs, and allow 100 percent of all other donations to be spent on programs specified by the donor.

Welcoming UMCOR Back Home 

“...to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness...” Isaiah 42:7

At the service of celebration, the Rev. Denise Honeycutt, UMCOR deputy general secretary, will preach a sermon entitled “Now That's Worth Celebrating.” She will focus on Isaiah 42:5-9.

Brian Roberts, district superintendent for the Cape Atlantic district in the Greater New Jersey Conference, said Atlantic City will be blessed by a sense of celebration and love brought about by One Great Hour of Sharing.

“We're trying to welcome UMCOR back home to where they started,” said Roberts, “and we will offer this welcome with celebration and with great energy.”

Bishop John Schol of the Greater New Jersey Conference and Bishop Hee-Soo Jung, who currently heads UMCOR’s board of directors, will attend the service, along with United Methodist missionaries, both current and retired, from New Jersey and elsewhere.

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Susan Kim is a journalist and a regular contributor to www.umcor.org.