"We get to be the light to the world. We are, together, the body of Christ."
These were the words that Rev. Sam Aupperlee used to encourage the those at the Wesly Dinner Club to stay engaged with mission and connection through the United Methodist Church,
Rev. Aupperlee was one of the guests Pastor Charlie invited to speak at the latest Wesley Dinner Club. Also joining Rev. Aupperlee, were Memorial member Jim Mitts, who serves as the Disaster Response Coordinator Northeast Florida District, and Molly McEntire, Director of Connection & Mission Ministries for the Florida Conference. Together they brought their experience and insight to help us lean more about the rich connectional relationship between of our United Methodist churches, our Conference, and denomination.
Jim Mitts has been volunteering his time with disaster relief efforts through the Conference and district for 14 years. He works with area churches (including Memorial) to help them develop disaster plans and protocols to assist them should an emergency strike and also help them to assist others after an emergency. "The best way for churches to prepare for a storm (or emergency) is to have a plan in place beforehand," Jim said. "Churches need to make sure their needs are met after a disaster so that they can then have the ability to go out and help the community and district." Jim said the biggest challenge to churches in the Florida Conferences when it comes to disaster planning is their size. "Many of our churches are rural and small in size. They need extra help to put together a plan and make it happen, " Jim said. "Yet even large churches can have trouble during a storm, especially without a plan and volunteers."
Rev. Aupperlee shared her experiences not only helping others after storms but being displaced, herself, after a hurricane.
"Our church and parsonage, although structurally sound, were destroyed internally after Hurricane Ian and had to be completely rebuilt," she said. "United Methodist response teams from North Carolina came down and brought a trailer for me to live in. The United Methodist Church at Pine Island let me set up there for electricity and water. Cypress Lake UMC let us use their building for office space. We are not alone and the United Methodist connection allows us to be there to help our other siblings in Christ." Molly McEntire echoed the importance of connection in her work in missional engagement though the Conference both around the world and also in Florida. She said that the connection thought our resources and apportionment dollars have made a real impact and provided life-saving care across the globe.
"The Conference gives grants to help local program in our state, but it also helps fund programs around the world. One great example is in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the fasted growing United Methodist areas and lives are being saved by medical research that is funded by the United Methodist Church," she said. "Your apportionment dollars go all over the world!"
Molly spoke about the impact the Florida Conference has had on missions like Zoe Empowers in Rwanda. Zoe is a program many churches in the Florida Conference have supported and the transformation there is done through a model of empowerment. Instead of missionaries simply providing aid for the orphans and young people in the area, they change their opportunities from the ground up through education, connection, and health programs so that the youth in the villages can become the leaders.
"The empowerment model gives dignity and hope," she said. "Youth enroll in a program and are taught how to clean food properly, how to start and run a business, better hygiene processes. They take that back to the younger siblings, both boys and girls."
Molly said that when the younger people can start early to create new businesses and new programs, they can change a whole village and help generations. 150,000 kids through Zoe Empowers are learning about climate change, creation care, and mental health and young people who were once orphans and vulnerable children are now the ones taking care of the village and helping to create sustainable paths forward. And she said that she has seen how this model has helped give confidence to the young people in Rwanda. "These programs are fully run by local people who know the culture. The youth decide for themselves how to move forward," she said.
Molly brought it all back to the message of connection by reiterating that this work is made possible by our gifts and by mission volunteers from the Florida Conference. "Your apportionment dollars go all over the world!"
Connection is truly one of the most unique and important attributes of the United Methodist Church. Through that connection we can care for each other, share with each other, and grow the Kingdom of God together.
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To learn more about the Disaster Relief Efforts of the Florida Conference, visit: FLUMC - Disaster Recovery - About Us
To read more about Zoe Empowers, click here.
There is also a "virtual mission trip" to Zoe coming up in May. You can learn more about that and the 2027 mission trip here.
