Going Farther for Christ…
Faith UMC’s Social Action Committee (SAC) is charged with inviting, educating, and empowering the congregation concerning community, national and global outreach and mission opportunities. The primary goal of the Social Action Committee is to provide an array of opportunities for each member of our congregation and every Ministry of our Church to respond to their individual calls to service. Social Action Committee provides serving opportunities in 4 distinct service categories.
Advocacy
Social Justice and Advocacy projects: This year, SAC is sponsoring a Darfur Awareness Program to educate and inform our congregation about this humanitarian crisis in the country of Sudan. The program includes a petition-signing and letter-writing campaign; to date, we have gathered more than 300 signatures to encourage our legislative leaders to take action to assist our brothers and sisters in Darfur. We plan to continue our efforts with a conference on Darfur in Fall 2009.
Missions
Faith UMC sponsors Mission Trip opportunities for adults and families, including week-long mission trips to Mexico to work at a children’s orphanage and 14-day mission trips to Canada to work on a First Nations reserve.
Local Outreach
SAC organizes volunteer teams to extend our hands of service to programs in our community. Currently, we participate in the Shared Bread meal service at First UMC of Redondo Beach by preparing and serving hot meals on the 4th Wednesday of every month. This year, SAC is also hoping to participate in a Habitat for Humanity building project and to volunteer for at a Skid Row mission for the homeless.
Donations:
SAC has sponsored collections of health supplies for UMCOR and a holiday food and toy drive to benefit Toberman Neighborhood Center in San Pedro. This fall, we are planning to sponsor a Back-To-School drive to collect backpacks and school supplies for children and organizations in need.
Peace With Justice:
Faith United Methodist Church, designated a Peace with Justice Covenant Congregation in the Long Beach District, believes that Christ’s ministry is not meant to be something that resides solely within the confines of a building itself, but that Christ calls his followers to a ministry that is global in scope and outreach. Faith UMC seeks to be faithful to its calling through our support of programs in our United Methodist denomination as well as for those programs and causes that we have taken on through our Church: such as providing relief for victims of natural disasters in the US and around the world; giving in support or social service agencies; college scholarships and United Methodist-related college, universities and hospitals; support of struggling church ministries and the building of new ministries around the world; support of missionaries that bring Christ to people around the world; and medical missionaries that bring treatment and health education to the infirm, to name just a few. We are providing monetary and material assistance to global concerns caused by natural disasters through UMCOR, the United Methodist Committee on Relief. As a church, we continually seek to expand this ministry of global outreach as a means of being faithful to Christ’s calling upon us
Faith UMC’s Social Action Committee meets on the 3rd Monday of each month at 7 p.m. The committee is open to anyone who desires to serve and to inspire service in others. For more information, please contact the church office at (310) 217-7000.
