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Ministers Related Links
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Mission, Outreach and Service to our Neighbors... are central to First Congregational Church’s understanding of ourselves as a progressive Christian congregation. Members and friends of the church support a wide variety of programs with our time, financial contributions and prayer.
The Work of the Mission & Outreach Team The Mission & Outreach Team is one of the primary ways our church serves and reaches out to the world beyond our sanctuary. The Team informs and educates the congregation about world, national, and local needs, coordinatesseveral of the congregation’s direct service projects and oversees distribution of funds to United Church of Christ denominational programs and to a wide variety of non-profit agencies, both faith-based and secular.
Through the Board, First Congregational Church gives over $21,000 annually in such “special support.” Agencies that receive support through these discretionary funds have included Habitat for Humanity, the Maine Council of Churches, Preble Street Resource Center, Wayside Evening Soup Kitchen, the Fannie Peabody Center, the Protestant Hospital Ministry, Family Crisis Center, Center for Grieving Children, Heifer International, the Maine State Prison Pastoral Fund, Ingraham Volunteers and the Southern Maine Area Agency on Aging.
Opportunities for Service
THE MICAH PROJECT The Mission & Outreach Team provides financial support to many organizations through the Mission Fund. This year, M&O invites all members of the congregation to participate in doing justice together with more than money. Through a series of service opportunities with your church family, we hope to love kindness together. M&O hopes to provide monthly opportunities for our church family to volunteer together with area projects. If you are interested in more information about any of the Micah Projects, email mission@fccucc.org.
On the first Saturday of each month, volunteers are invited to arrive at 5:30 PM to wait on tables, including serving the meals and drinks and clearing the table once the person has departed. There are also other jobs available including serving food ‘on the line’, serving drinks, assisting in the kitchen. And clean up is always helpful! Dinner is served from 6-7 PM. If you are interested in helping with this ministry, please contact Elinor Redmond or Tracy Greenwood.
THE FOOD PANTRY Our year-round Food Pantry depends upon in-kind donations by congregation members and friends to continue to serve the dozens of local families who need these services. We encourage anyone joining us for worship on Communion Sunday (first Sunday of every month) to remember to bring a gift of food for the Pantry. Donations of food can be dropped off any time during regular church office hours. This includes four annual Emergency Food Drives due to the increasing needs of our local community.
THE CHILDREN'S CLOSET This "closet" offers free clothing obtained through donations to children who need them. Like the Food Pantry, the Children's Closet relies on the in-kind gifts received from members and friends. Donations of clothing can be dropped off any time during regular church office hours. This ministry was started by church members in 2003, and then was continued under the leadership of the the Portland Area Mothers and Fathers Club.
THE GIVING TREE At Christmas, you will find a Christmas mitten tree in the sanctuary. Warm hats, scarves, mittens and gloves decorate this tree before they are delivered to those that need them. to stay warm during the winter.
THE MISSION MALL The Mission Mall is an alternative idea for gift giving where donations can be made to one or several charities in honor of those we love – to better the lives of those in need. By choosing one or several non-profit organizations from the Mission Mall shopping list, you can make a check payable to First Congregational Church for the total amount of your giving. You will be given individual gift cards indicating the name of the charity to whom you are donating. These cards can be sent or given to your gift recipient. This annual event can be found at our HollyDaze Bazaar.
OTHER OPPORTUNITIES Members and friends can also volunteer for the “Angels Program” [contact Kathy Sahrbeck] providing direct, practical assistance, usually to elders and shut-ins and for the Lay Visitors program [contact Nancy Foran].
Opportunities for Social Action
SOCIAL WITNESS MINISTRIES The Social Witness Ministry is a structure that allows for members of our congregation to engage in justice issues through individual Witness Groups. With the support of the Mission and Outreach Team, Social Witness Minstry maintains regular communication between the Witness Groups. Focused on facilitation and oversight, Social Witness Ministry allows each Witness Group to set their own goals – whether they are long-term or short-term goals. There are many justice issues that interest us. Currently, we have four active Witness groups, including The Diversity Committee, The Green Action Group and The Fair Trade Group.
LOOKING FOR MORE INFORMATION? Sometimes our website is not as up to date as we might like. Please see the Mission & Outreach Team bulletin board in the hallway below the library and chapel for more information about the many programs and projects we support.
CLICK HERE to return to the top of this page.
Community Crisis Ministries
WHAT IS COMMUNITY CRISIS MINISTRIES? The Community Crisis Ministries Fund is a ministry of the First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, of South Portland, Maine. Its purpose is to help neighbors in South Portland and Cape Elizabeth who have nowhere else to turn. All requests for assistance come by referral through a social agency, individuals and professionals in the community such as school principals, guidance counselors, nurses, teachers, and social workers.
The Outreach Ministries Coordinator helps referred individuals explore all existing community resources. When they and their advocates have exhausted all these, the resources of the Fund are used to meet urgent and basic needs of people of all ages. There are no forms to fill out, no further criteria to meet and no religious requirements.
HOW DID COMMUNITY CRISIS MINISTRIES START? It all started with a gift to give away. In November 1999, the Church was offered an anonymous one million dollar gift to be used to help the people of South Portland and Cape Elizabeth. The only conditions were that the money had to be given away and couldn’t he given to existing charities.
In the UCC tradition of discussion and careful consideration, the 900 members of the congregation arrived at a common vision for the use of this challenging gift. It would he spent in three years and would serve their most vulnerable neighbors in South Portland and Cape Elizabeth: children, the elderly, and the poor and disadvantaged.
A Crisis Ministries Fund managed by the Crisis Ministries Committee was organized to oversee the distribution of $750,000 in direct assistance, with the remaining $250,000 dedicated to other related community services. A full-time Coordinator was hired to receive requests for financial assistance, to screen candidates, and to allocate funds.
WHAT HAS COMMUNITY CRISIS MINISTRIES BECOME? This generous gift extraordinarily heightened church members’ awareness of the difficulties families face in two southern Maine communities that are demographically among the wealthiest in Maine. As a result church members have responded generously when asked to contribute to continue the work of the Fund. During the past year 220 households have given $132,500 in addition to regular church pledges. In 2002 the Community Crisis Ministries Fund provided four times the total amount of support that the City of South Portland and the Town of Cape Elizabeth provided in general assistance altogether!
During the past four years the Fund has supported more than 430 local families with:
The Church supports within the annual budget the operating costs of the Fund. Because of this 100% of every gift provides direct assistance to those in greatest need.
While church members are asked on an annual basis to replenish the Fund, we must also look to the future. Church members can help to build an endowed fund by adding the Fund as a beneficiary in their wills. Unless otherwise stipulated these bequest gifts will be placed in an endowment that will provide permanent and stable funding for the Community Crisis Ministries Fund – a true legacy of care from one generation to another.
We're daily reminded of the critical resource this Fund provides. In many cases it has literally reversed what appeared to be an inevitable outcome for a neighbor in need.
Delcia Hutchinson, Social Worker and former Outreach Ministries Coordinator:
A neighbor whose family was helped by the Fund: When I think about it, which is often, I think I must have dreamed it.... to be able to budget and have something left for extras, like paper towels, to be able to go to sleep at night without worrying... Please express my deepest gratitude. I can’t adequately express how wonderful it feels to have this weight off my shoulders. I will pay this kindness forward whenever and wherever I can to help some else.”
LOOKING FOR MORE INFORMATION? For more information on how you can give to the Community Crisis Ministries Fund, please contact the Committee Chair, Scott Berry. For information on how the Fund is administered, please contact Kathy Sahrbeck, Outreach Ministries Coordinator, or by phone at 799-3361.
For a PDF folder of special offerings click here Don't know whom to call? Contact Elsa Peters
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THE WAYSIDE SOUP KITCHEN |
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First Congregational Church of South Portland - 301 Cottage Road - South Portland, Maine 04106 |
Phone: 207.799.3361 - Fax: 207.799.4095 |
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