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Resources available online for Pentecost offering
 Offering taken June 1 and 8
by Hope Partnership for Missional Transformation staff
Your church was new once! Do you remember when your church held its first service? Disciples congregations are invited to reflect and celebrate their church's beginning when this year's Pentecost Offering is collected on Sundays, June 1 and June 8.
For your convenience, a variety of Pentecost Offering resources are available at www.hopepmt.org and the Disciples Mission Fund page (same materials). The resources include a professional video highlighting Disciples new church pastors; a Spanish sermon by Rev. William Almodovar, pastor of Iglesia Cristiana Casa del Alfarero; an English sermon by Rev. Tony Woodard, pastor of Living Purpose Christian Church; bulletin inserts in English and Spanish; talking points; press release; banner ad; digital media assets and more.
The Pentecost Offering supports the New Church movement and makes it possible for the Church to recruit, assess, train and coach new church planters. One half of the Pentecost Offering collected stays in the respective Region and the other half goes to Hope Partnership for Missional Transformation to support its new church ministry. Since the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) launched the 2020 vision to start 1,000 new churches by the year 2020, Disciples have started 830 new faith communities throughout the United States and Canada. Disciples new churches worship in at least 19 different languages and have reached more than 50,000 individuals who may not have had a relationship with God. For more information about the Pentecost Offering, please visit www.hopepmt.org or contact Charlie Wallace at 800.274.1883.
The Landscape for Mission studies
Beginning today the initial video in a four-part series on our context and landscape for mission will be available on the Resources page of disciples.org. Each video is approximately four minutes long and includes discussion questions. Consider using these as either a lead-in to the Pentecost offering or a short-term summer study. The remaining videos are near completion and will be posted over the next week or two.
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Do this, don't do that
 Advice for disaster preparedness
by Brandon Gilvin, Week of Compassion
If a disaster struck your community, what would you do to help? Does your church have a plan for addressing the needs of its members, of its community? If your church or community were lost in a major disaster, what resources would you use? How would you even begin?
Drawing upon their own work and the skills of a number of pastors and disaster response practitioners, Rev. Amy Gopp and Rev. Brandon Gilvin have edited Help and Hope: Disaster Preparedness and Response Tools for Congregations, a practical guide for preparing for and responding to disasters.
From Preparedness lists and advice on forming Long Term Recovery groups to guides on psychosocial care and preparing post-disaster worship materials, Help and Hope offers a number of tools for congregations, including the following Disaster DOs and DON'Ts list.
Collected from Faith-Based Disaster Response Organizations, Volunteer Agency Liaisons from FEMA, and the amazing volunteers who make up community-based Long-Term Recovery Committees, the DOs and DON'Ts are great to keep on hand in the event of a disaster affecting your community. They make a good resource to copy and hand out, post or project in your fellowship hall, or share on social media:
- DO: Check on your members, neighbors, and especially those who are elderly, disabled, or vulnerable in other ways.
- DON'T: Self-deploy as a volunteer, especially during the search and rescue phase. You will only get in the way or put yourself in danger.
- DO: If there are needs in your congregation and you belong to a national denomination, please contact your Regional Office, District Superintendent, or appropriate middle judicatory office, so they can coordinate ways to provide support through available disaster funds and organizations.
- DO: Check with your local VOAD (Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster) about needs of survivors before collecting any material donations.
- DON'T: Collect material donations without arranging an appropriate destination (local social service agency, etc.).
- DO: Know that money is the most flexible donation you can make. Denominational and other disaster response funds often have really low overhead and are efficient, effective ways to turn your generosity into assistance.
- DO: If eligible, encourage all affected folks in your congregation and community to apply to FEMA for Federal Disaster Assistance. Please be aware that this is a long process, and be sure to read all documents carefully. An initial rejection does not mean one cannot appeal; an applicant may also be eligible for low-interest loans to replace damaged property.
- DON'T: Get discouraged by how long the process takes.
- DO: Become familiar with FEMA's sequence of delivery.
- DON'T: Organize material good distributions that might compromise an affected person's eligibility for aid. (Let the sequence of delivery be your guide.)
- DO: Encourage leaders in your congregations to become involved in the formation of a long- term recovery committee and to put their skills to work.
- DO: Stay hopeful. Recovery takes a long time, even among well supported, well-organized communities.
For more practical tools to help your church plan for the unexpected, check out Help and Hope, now available for pre-order from Chalice Press. Royalties benefit the work of Week of Compassion and Church World Service.
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