News

In Mission Together is looking forward to reading, celebrating, and sharing your In Mission stories of 2022. As you compile your mission accomplishments for the past year for the In Mission Together Reporting (due February 15), consider a simple write-up of your In Mission activity (along with photos if available) or video for posting and submit to Sue Hattel, Conference Mission Education Chair (shattel220@aol.com). Your stories may be submitted throughout the year!                              ...

In Mission Together (IMT) encourages United Methodist Churches to prayerfully support the United Methodist Church's mission on a local, conference, national, and international level through giving, and sharing in a relationship, to fulfill Matthew 25, “Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me” and Matthew 28, “Go into all the world and make disciples.” In Mission Together involves building relationships in shared ministries with people, programs, and/or projects. Partnering may ...

MISSION NEWS FROM BRUNA FARAT KAKALE Dear Partners in Mission,  Arriving at my United Methodist Missionary assignment on October 24, 2021 in Costa Rica, the song To God be the Glory comes to mind as I share this article with you. My presence in the land of tourism, pineapples, bananas and coffee, with my husband Nouhou and daughter, Hadassa, is indeed a reason to praise God.   Challenges have been many in this year as we work with the Methodist Church of the Caribbean and Americas (MCCA) in ...

The 44th Iowa United Methodist Conference Ingathering for Mission will certainly make an impact! At five sites on November 5, we received 11,500+ school bags filled with supplies, 6,450 personal dignity kits (health supplies), layettes, and other kits that will be sent via Midwest Mission all around the globe. Cash donations for Church World Service blankets and other mission programs like Heifer Project and Self-Help also were received. Over $500,000 total value received in just one day — ...

Serving as a United Methodist missionary in Nepal, Katherine Parker is supported by several Iowa churches. Parker serves as a Health Advisor with the United Mission to Nepal with a focus on water, sanitation, and hygiene-WASH, maternal and child health, and adolescent sexual reproductive health and rights. These assignments require her to trek into many isolated, rural villages where she meets with local groups to discuss plans for addressing these various concerns.  Katherine has been approved...

July 26, 2022 | ATLANTA For release: IMMEDIATE  Media Contact: Dan Curran for Global Ministries/UMCOR 770-658-9586 dancurran@curranpr.com  The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and Church World Service (CWS) today launched a new joint menstrual hygiene kit initiative to provide essential health and dignity products to vulnerable communities across the U.S. The kits will be purchased and assembled by volunteers and supporters, and then distributed by UMCOR and CWS programs. The joint ...

About 24 pallets of turnout gear, helmets, hoses, air packs, masks and more were donated to Midwest Mission Distribution Center by fire departments across the state. Conference Disaster Response Coordinator Pastor Catie Newman reached out to Rev. Keith Pitts when she heard about the need to send equipment to El Salvador and Guatemala. Pitts, who pastors Delhi and Buck Creek United Methodist Churches, is also an EMT, rescue diver and firefighter for the Delhi Fire Department.  "The equipment ...

Submitted by Beverly Nolte, UMVIM Co-Chairperson  The Iowa United Methodist Volunteer in Mission Committee (UMVIM) has been restarted to offer assistance in making your mission work journey successful!. The Iowa United Methodist Volunteer in Mission Committee has all the information you need to successfully prepare, plan and pursue any mission experience. With a vote pending, Sandy Ashley and Beverly Nolte will serve as co-chairpersons through July 1, 2023. ​Phil Rogers is a liaison with ...

Palo UMC The food pantry in the Palo United Methodist Church was set up by Mike and Laura Wood the fall of 2020 with assistance from HACAP.  When Mike died unexpectedly in the spring of 2021, volunteers from the church took over the managing of the food pantry. HACAP was instrumental in assisting us to continue the food pantry. We met with HACAP staff to learn how to order food items from HACAP, how to pick up ordered items and the various regulations associated with running a food pantry. ...

Written by Sarah Adams, Communications & Office Coordinator — Iowa United Methodist Foundation Union Park UMC has a vision of providing manna as God does in the book of Exodus; they want to alleviate hunger in their community and beyond. One way they do this is through a manna meal, a dinner provided once per month to anyone who comes to the church and requests it. The project started small in the beginning of 2020, but at its height reached over 340 meals, and now averages around 150 meals each...

New Hope UMC — Des Moines New Hope partnered with the Filipino American Society in Iowa to provide the facility and volunteer support for free COVID vaccinations for the Asian and Immigrant Communities in Polk County.  Interpreters were available from the Asian Coalition to explain, answer questions and provide emotional support to participants. Vaccinations were given by a group of volunteer pharmacists. Organized by the Mission Committee, church volunteers staffed the intake table, the ...

The Mission Committee at Algona First United Methodist Church planned, coordinated, and hosted a Food Packaging event that took place on November 14, 2021. Approximately 200 volunteers came together to help package meals during two shifts. To offset the cost of the food needed to hold the event, Algona First held fundraisers, including cupcake sales from Scratch cupcakery, peach sales from a produce company in Colorado called Palisade Produce, and sales from a pork supper. They feel blessed as...

Submitted by Linda Rowe After two years of not being able to travel due to the pandemic, it was a real blessing for Clayton Eakins and fellow Davis County missionaries to renew their relationships in Honduras in January. They were welcomed by children of the church in El Negrito with signs that said “Never stop coming to see us." Great relationships have been formed by going to the same communities seven times now. In the past there were some large construction projects, but this year they ...

By: Liz Winders, Director of Communications What started as delivering a few sacks of fresh garden potatoes has now expanded into Ruthven United Methodist Church’s (RUMC) Smile Sack Mission Project by providing food to over thirty-five households in their community.   The city of Ruthven has a low-lying piece of property donated years ago by a generous family. RUMC church workers have turned a couple of plots of this Iowa “north edge of the town” field into potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, ...

The In Mission Together team shares the following examples of how building relationships in shared ministries with people, programs, and projects continues throughout Iowa United Methodist Churches. In 2021, St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Williamsburg, IA packaged over 16,000 servings for Take Away Hunger. Being limited by the worldwide pandemic, St. Paul's continued to support a mission they are passionate about that feeds the hungry throughout the world. Take Away Hunger is a food ...

In Mission Together (IMT) is a ministry of the Iowa Annual Conference that encourages United Methodist churches to give prayerfully and partner with United Methodist missions on the local, conference, national, and international levels. IMT partnerships fulfill Matthew 25 and Matthew 28 and involves building relationships in shared ministries with people, programs, or projects that may last a few days or many years.  Every February 15, IMT asks churches to report and give thanks for their ...

Submitted by Debra Goerndt, In Mission Together, and John Walsh, Chapter President Sleep in Heavenly Peace Union County Sleep In Heavenly Peace is a registered non-profit organization providing beds for children ages 3 - 17 who are sleeping on the floor, couch, or other uncomfortable situations. The Union County Chapter of SHP was organized in March of 2021. To date, the chapter has built 50 beds and delivered 10. A list of 20 children are waiting for the chapter to receive delivery of ...

This story is brought to you by the In Mission Together team who encourages United Methodist Churches to prayerfully support United Methodist mission on the local, conference, national, and international levels, through giving, and shared relationships, to fulfill Matthew 25 (“Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me.”) and Matthew 28 (“Go into all the world and make disciples.”) Waverly’s Trinity United Methodist Church has been partnering for several years with the Bremer ...

In Mission Together (IMT) is the new Iowa Conference mission focus, taking the place of the Rainbow Covenant. IMT celebrates building relationships with people/programs/projects while prayerfully doing mission together at the local, conference, national and international levels. Partnering and volunteering helps us to better understand each other as we share time, talent and presence together in missions. By being faithful givers of financial resources and in-kind giving, we continue to provide...

In the fall of 2017, a store in Floyd, Iowa, closed that had been a local gathering spot for people to have coffee, refreshments, do puzzles, play cards, and just socialize. Members of Floyd, Grace United Methodist Church realized that many of those people who came to coffee would miss the socialization time it had provided.   “They were elderly people, recently widowed, those who couldn’t drive out of town or had experienced the loss of family. They enjoy these times together,” said Wynona ...