Global Impact Planning
Global Impact Planning Committee
Goal #2 from Epworth’s Strategic Plan:
We will expand our service and missions not only to those in our community, but to those throughout the world by engaging in life-changing experiences with those in need of material resources, assistance with daily living, education, health care, and spiritual growth. We will bring people into the kingdom by exposing them to God. We will strive to meet spiritual needs that are not currently being met by experimenting with approaches that are unique to Epworth and our congregation.
A Global Impact Celebration weekend April 16-18 designed to bring the world to Epworth and personalize missions through hands-on interaction with local, regional, and global missionaries. Join us for a weekend of Filling Up and Overflowing with the Love of Jesus Christ.
>> Click here for the poster.
Global Impact Celebration and Faith Promise
During our preparation for and participation in the Global Impact Celebration weekend, April 16-18, we will learn about many mission and ministry opportunities in our community, surrounding counties, in the state, in the southeast of our country, and around the world. Missionaries and leaders of these ministries will share with us about their work, their missions, and their callings. In addition, this will be a time for spiritual reflection concerning our own commitment and devotion to Jesus’ instructions in Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”.
An important part of our spiritual reflection and renewal is making a Faith Promise. What is a Faith Promise? It is a promise we make to God in faith that He will enable us to fulfill. This promise includes our calling to be involved personally in missions and evangelism, and also how we will monetarily support the missions of our church.
In his book Lord of the Impossible, Lloyd Ogilvie makes this observation: “Most of us live our lives within the narrow limits of what we can do in our own strengths and talents. We keep life carefully constricted inside the boundaries of what we are sure we can handle by ourselves.” This line of thinking totally leaves God out of our lives. When we feel called by God to serve here or there, or be involved in His name in a certain ministry or mission, we immediately check our calendars and our stress levels. We do not see the possibility of God enabling us to have the time, energy, and abilities for the mission to which He is calling. We pass it by, and hope that “when we get older” we will have the time—in our time, not in God’s time. We make the same decisions with our monetary gifts.
A Faith Promise to God in both time and money is made with this belief: whatever God calls me to do in His name and to give in support of His kingdom building, HE will provide.
Be in prayer over the next few weeks about the promises God is calling you to make in faith that He will enable you through the power of the Holy Spirit in your life.
We have 6 teams for Missions Outreach:
Jerusalem Team
Jerusalem is our local mission team led by Robbie Tucker. This group will focus on identifying groups of people within Williamson, Davidson, Maury, and Rutherford counties that Epworth will serve.
Judea Team
Judea is our short term mission team and is co-led by Kathy and Clark Heard. This team will focus on identifying missions that assist others with disaster relief, home repair projects in Appalachia, and rural areas etc. Judea is defined as the UMC Southeastern Conference which includes: GA, AL, FL, MS, NC, SC KY, TN and VA.
Samaria Team
Samaria is the geographic area within our Jerusalem with populations of folks who do not look like us economically, educationally, ethnically, or even religiously. This team is led by Pete Volpitta.
End of the Earth Team
End of the Earth is the rest of the earth not included inside of our Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. This team is led by Cindy Kurzrock.
Prayer Team
This team will cover all of our efforts in prayer. We are currently in need of a chair person and team members.
The Global Impact Celebration Team
The Global Impact Celebration Team is led by Steve Fisher. The goal of this event is to mobilize the entire congregation for global outreach and bring the world to Epworth. Planning for this event should involve a minimum of 20% of the congregation.
So there you have it. We have something for everyone! Need more info? Ask one of the team leaders to share more about their teams, answer questions, and hopefully sign you up to participate!
Thank you and God Bless!