Missions Committee
As part of the community of the new covenant with Jesus Christ, we reach out with Christian love and compassion to meet human needs locally, nationally and globally.
Central United Methodist Church reaches out in Christian love and compassion to meet the needs of people in the United States and around the world by:
- Providing financial support and volunteer assistance for numerous local agencies and national projects.
- Sending work teams and ongoing financial support around the world to places like Casa de Esperanza in Bolivia.
Casa de Esperanza
Casa de Esperanza is an orphanage which approximately 80 children call home. As servants at Casa de Esperanza we work to help with the infrastructure of the orphanage but also work with the children. There is always a need for those who have special skills in the fields of medicine, construction, art, ministry, etc. to serve. For more information, go to:
https://www.facebook.com/HogarCDEBolivia/.
If you are interested in serving at Casa de Esperanza please contact Lisa Klepper.
https://www.facebook.com/HogarCDEBolivia/.
If you are interested in serving at Casa de Esperanza please contact Lisa Klepper.
Our Missionary
Meet our missionary, Ellyn Dubberly.
Ellyn Benson Dubberly is a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church serving as a leadership development coordinator in Central America. She was commissioned in June 2013. Ellyn is serving in El Salvador. Central is proud to support the work of Christ in Central America through Ellyn.
Give Ye Them to Eat
Nan McCurdy & Miguel Mairena
Missionaries Nan McCurdy and Miguel Mairena, and “Give Ye Them to Eat,” are an impressive community development project near Puebla, Mexico–a United Methodist Global Ministries Advance Special in part supported by Central.
"Give Ye Them To Eat" (GYTTE) was founded in 1977 as a social outreach project of the Methodist Church of Mexico to combat hunger and poverty in the rural sector. The purpose of the "Give Ye Them to Eat" program (GYTTE) is to strengthen the capabilities of marginalized people and communities to meet their basic needs, and to determine and sustain a just and integrated development process. Participatory methods and development tools are used to create conditions in which change can take place from within the communities. GYTTE uses people-centered approaches to development.
GYTTE consists of: a life training center offering workshops on construction skills and appropriate technologies; the raising of goats, turkeys and chickens; irrigation for a garden for vegetables, bananas, and papaya; and more recently repair of roads and water pipes from storm damage.
"Give Ye Them To Eat" (GYTTE) was founded in 1977 as a social outreach project of the Methodist Church of Mexico to combat hunger and poverty in the rural sector. The purpose of the "Give Ye Them to Eat" program (GYTTE) is to strengthen the capabilities of marginalized people and communities to meet their basic needs, and to determine and sustain a just and integrated development process. Participatory methods and development tools are used to create conditions in which change can take place from within the communities. GYTTE uses people-centered approaches to development.
GYTTE consists of: a life training center offering workshops on construction skills and appropriate technologies; the raising of goats, turkeys and chickens; irrigation for a garden for vegetables, bananas, and papaya; and more recently repair of roads and water pipes from storm damage.
CENTRAL SUPPORTING COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN MEXICO THROUGH GYTTE
Our Missions Council is providing limited funding for four “Advance Special” projects this year. Advance Specials are a long-standing mission outreach of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, by which congregations or individuals may contribute funds through the Board directly to projects they choose or have a personal knowledge of. We have chosen four this year–Give Ye Them to Eat (GYTTE) in Mexico, Grace Children’s Hospital in Haiti, Mission for Migrant Workers in Hong Kong, and Justice for Our Neighbors, a migrant ministry here in the United States. We will be sharing news from each of these from time to time.
First UMC Moheto, Kenya
Central UMC Equips Clinic in Kenya
In a collaborative effort between the Missions Council and our Reconciling Ministries Group, Central has recently provided funding to equip a medical clinic operated by the Moheto UMC in Kenya. Moheto, pastored by Rev. Kennedy Mwita–the first Reconciling Congregation in all of Africa (there is now a second, also in Kenya)–has an extensive community development program serving the people in its vicinity. The church displays a large sign in front, similar to Central’s ad, proclaiming its welcome of all persons.
Their clinic needed lab equipment to be able to test patients for flu and malaria (they have not yet received Covid test kits from the government). So, once our funds were received, they began providing this service. Our grant qualified them to receive government funds to pay medical personnel to staff the clinic. Not only has this provided a much-needed service in the name of Jesus, but it has also attracted many new persons to the church so that they are now building a much larger sanctuary to accommodate up to 800 worshippers.
This project originated with the visit to Central more than a year ago of Ms. Leah Wandera from Kenya, here for deaconess training at Brooks-Howell Home (Leah is now an MDiv candidate at Drew Theological Seminary). Ms. Wandera told our Reconciling group about the Moheto church, and later put us in touch with Rev. Mwita.
This developed into a series of monthly Zoom meetings (which are continuing), during which he shared by Power Point their impressive community development efforts. We expressed our support of their inclusive witness in the face of predictable opposition, and we became quite well acquainted. Ms. Wandera then connected us with the treasurer of the Kenya-Ethiopia Annual Conference, who facilitated the electronic transfer of funds, which represented a grant from the Missions Council augmented by individual contributions. We expect the relationship to continue, as it has been a blessing and learning experience both ways. “God works in mysterious ways God’s wonders to perform!”
Their clinic needed lab equipment to be able to test patients for flu and malaria (they have not yet received Covid test kits from the government). So, once our funds were received, they began providing this service. Our grant qualified them to receive government funds to pay medical personnel to staff the clinic. Not only has this provided a much-needed service in the name of Jesus, but it has also attracted many new persons to the church so that they are now building a much larger sanctuary to accommodate up to 800 worshippers.
This project originated with the visit to Central more than a year ago of Ms. Leah Wandera from Kenya, here for deaconess training at Brooks-Howell Home (Leah is now an MDiv candidate at Drew Theological Seminary). Ms. Wandera told our Reconciling group about the Moheto church, and later put us in touch with Rev. Mwita.
This developed into a series of monthly Zoom meetings (which are continuing), during which he shared by Power Point their impressive community development efforts. We expressed our support of their inclusive witness in the face of predictable opposition, and we became quite well acquainted. Ms. Wandera then connected us with the treasurer of the Kenya-Ethiopia Annual Conference, who facilitated the electronic transfer of funds, which represented a grant from the Missions Council augmented by individual contributions. We expect the relationship to continue, as it has been a blessing and learning experience both ways. “God works in mysterious ways God’s wonders to perform!”
Central United Methodist Church reaches out in Christian love and compassion to meet the needs of people in the United States and around the world by:
- Providing financial support and volunteer assistance for numerous local agencies and national projects.
- Sending work teams and ongoing financial support around the world to places like Casa de Esperanza in Bolivia.
Local Missions
Congregations for Children
C4C is a partnership of people and projects dedicated to transforming the lives of children and their families through nutrition, education, provisions, and opportunity.
C4C’s Current Projects Include:
C4C’s Current Projects Include:
- Angel Tree—Christmas gifts are provided to children and youth at Black Mountain Children’s Home and Eliada Home to match their Christmas Wish Lists.
- Dorm Room Sponsors—College dorm room supplies are provided to graduating seniors preparing to attend college but whose budgets do not include housing extras.
- Emma Community Market Partnership—CUMC and community volunteers gather at Emma United Methodist Church on the 1st Monday of each month to support the Emma Community Market partners by assisting with the assembly and distribution of food boxes for families.
- Food Supply Drive—Food and grocery store gift cards are collected in November and early December for distribution in mid-December to local families in the Emma community through the Emma Resource Center.
- Reading Buddies and the Book Barns—The Reading Buddies Program is a partnership between volunteers, Emma Elementary School students, teachers and an on-site reading specialist. Students are matched with a volunteer in a supervised coaching collaboration that provides support to young readers in grade levels K-4. The Book Barns are “drive by” small libraries in two locations on the Emma campus and provide bilingual reading materials for any Emma student to select a book.
- School Supply Drive—School supplies are purchased, collected and provided in a resource cupboard at Emma Elementary School for students throughout the school year.
- Summer Food Service Program—A Federally funded Summer lunch program in which volunteers feed children weekly from mid-June to mid-August at specified sites across the Asheville area.
- Teacher Appreciation—CUMC volunteers put on special Thank You events for Emma Elementary School teachers whose dedication and service to their students inspire us all.
- Winter Coats and Accessories—Winter coats, hats, scarves and gloves are purchased, gathered and distributed to Emma Elementary School students.
Haywood St. Congregation
In November 2006, Central United Methodist Church and Haywood Street United Methodist Church merged, creating two campuses under the name of Central United Methodist Church. CUMC made the commitment to maintain the historic Haywood Street Church building and use the Haywood Street Campus for mission-oriented activity.
In 2009, Rev. Brian Combs came to Asheville. Understanding his call to be in ministry with folks on the margins, Rev. Combs spent his first four months here in the soup line and under the bridge, staying overnight at the shelter, loitering downtown with an ear bent towards the cracks of poverty, always listening for the voice of Jesus among the disinherited. And what he heard was, “Offer me a congregation of absurd grace, a meal of scandalous abundance, a kingdom glance of heaven on earth.”
And so began the Haywood Street Congregation.
CUMC offered space for the new ministry on its Haywood Street Campus, and many CUMC members lent time and talent toward developing it. Haywood Street Congregation was formally established as a UMC mission congregation in Spring 2010. CUMC continues to be its most significant ministry partner.
There are many opportunities for involvement at Haywood Street Congregation, with the church’s core programs:
In 2009, Rev. Brian Combs came to Asheville. Understanding his call to be in ministry with folks on the margins, Rev. Combs spent his first four months here in the soup line and under the bridge, staying overnight at the shelter, loitering downtown with an ear bent towards the cracks of poverty, always listening for the voice of Jesus among the disinherited. And what he heard was, “Offer me a congregation of absurd grace, a meal of scandalous abundance, a kingdom glance of heaven on earth.”
And so began the Haywood Street Congregation.
CUMC offered space for the new ministry on its Haywood Street Campus, and many CUMC members lent time and talent toward developing it. Haywood Street Congregation was formally established as a UMC mission congregation in Spring 2010. CUMC continues to be its most significant ministry partner.
There are many opportunities for involvement at Haywood Street Congregation, with the church’s core programs:
Downtown Welcome Table
DOWNTOWN WELCOME TABLE
Never intending to be a soup kitchen or feeding line, we want our meal to be a crossroads of diverse community, a gathering of disparate folks, a fork and spoon invitation to prince and pauper alike.
Never intending to be a soup kitchen or feeding line, we want our meal to be a crossroads of diverse community, a gathering of disparate folks, a fork and spoon invitation to prince and pauper alike.
Respite
RESPITE
A safe place for unhoused adults to rest, get three meals a day, and be helped in other ways to “get back on their feet” following hospital discharge. It is short-term care in a home-like setting for those who are too ill or frail to recover on the streets after surgery or acute illness.
A safe place for unhoused adults to rest, get three meals a day, and be helped in other ways to “get back on their feet” following hospital discharge. It is short-term care in a home-like setting for those who are too ill or frail to recover on the streets after surgery or acute illness.
Companion Ministry
COMPANION MINISTRY
Haywood Street’s core programs provide a platform for the ministry of relationship. We define this simply as the act of “being with,” which speaks to our deepest identity.
Haywood Street’s core programs provide a platform for the ministry of relationship. We define this simply as the act of “being with,” which speaks to our deepest identity.
Haywood Street Fresco
FRESCO
Fresco Viewing Hours:
Monday – Thursday, 10 am – 2 pm (with the exception of during our worship service, which is 12:30 pm every Wednesday).
Fresco Viewing Hours:
Monday – Thursday, 10 am – 2 pm (with the exception of during our worship service, which is 12:30 pm every Wednesday).
Worship
WORSHIP
Worship with communion takes place in the sanctuary on the Haywood Street Campus each Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. all are welcome!
Worship with communion takes place in the sanctuary on the Haywood Street Campus each Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. all are welcome!
For more information, visit www.haywoodstreet.org or attend an orientation on the first Monday of any month at 5 p.m. We are located at 297 Haywood St. in downtown Asheville, on the corner of Patton Ave. and Haywood St.
Other Community Partners
