WEST PARISH OF BARNSTABLE UCC
WEST BARNSTABLE, MA
How Mission Renewed Our Congregation
The mission – a partnership with a village church in Sri Lanka, which involved the church school, a Women’s group, the Board of Outreach, and eventually a trip by the pastor and his spouse.
How it came about: in 1999 a former missionary to the Church of South India in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, attended worship at our church when he was here in the States for a meeting related to a school in Jaffna that was founded by American missionaries almost 200 years ago. In out time of sharing prayer concerns, he told us of the decades-long civil war that raged in Jaffna, the poverty this caused, the abduction of children by the rival military forces, the problems faced by women who out-numbered men in the villages by a margin of 9-1. By the time he had finished speaking we all knew without a doubt that the Spirit was calling us to get involved, somehow.
Next steps: Informed that the bishop of the Jaffna diocese was going to be coming to the area, we invited him to worship with us, and to preach; when he did, we asked him for thoughts on how we might help. He responded by connecting us with the pastor-in-training at a village church in Jaffna. Much correspondence followed, together with funding through our Board of Outreach. Other initiatives soon followed:
Children of the Church School started a Pennies for Sri Lanka campaign, which led to the funding for three girls to attend school in the area (room, board, clothes, etc.)
Women in the Spirit, a women’s fellowship and spirituality group, hand-crafted a tapestry to send to the women of the congregation.
The Board of Outreach, along with individual members of the congregation, sent money to fund the church taking in orphans that had been living in resettlement camps.
In our capital campaign, funds were sent to the church to build a parsonage and fellowship hall, which housed a Women’s Vocational Training school, enabling women to learn skills leading to economic self-sufficiency.
On his sabbatical, our pastor and his spouse visited Sri Lanka and the church, meeting the pastor and members of the church and learning more about the issues facing them
Learnings:
This entire effort, which ended up touching many in the congregation, was not our idea – it was the Spirit’s leading which brought this mission to us, and which empowered us to move forward with it, in stages, in many different ways. It energized us, brought us together in new ways, and taught us much about our faith as we saw how the faith was lived out by our brothers and sisters in very different circumstances half the world away.
Further information: contact Pastor Reed Baer at West Parish of Barnstable, United Church of Christ
508-362-4445
