Ministry Within Our Community
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for AA membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. AA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy, neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.
Alcoholics Anonymous meets at Mt. Harmony Fellowship Hall on Monday and Thursday evenings at 8:00 pm. For more information on AA, call 1-800-492-0209 or visit their website at www.marylandaa.org.
ANGEL TREE
Each year we have an Angel Tree, coordinated by the UMW, as a mission to help those less fortunate by providing gifts at Christmas. Included on the tree are people who have been provided to us from Social Services, the Board of Child Care, the Calvert County Nursing Center, and local families who have been brought to our attention from members of the church. This year we will include tags on the tree for the Henderson Settlement for the purchase of gift cards.
Some gifts can be wrapped, others must be un-wrapped. The tags will note what to do with your gift. The Angel Tree usually goes up the end of October or the first of November. Gifts are due back to the church by the first of December. To learn more about this mission contact 410-257-2761.
BOARD OF CHILD CARE
We serve children and families who require physical, emotional, behavioral and social support. Through residential and community based services, the Agency will provide a safe, healthy and caring environment that seeks to preserve children and families by fostering self-esteem, respect for community, a sense of purpose and life skills needed to achieve their highest potential.
CHURCHES COMMUNITY FOOD PANTRY
The food pantry provides supplement food packages to 200 to 400 families per month and over 500 families at Thanksgiving and Christmas. They are open to anyone in the northern part of the County without regard to race, creed, ethnic background, age or religion. The food pantry is currently supported by nine churches of varying denominations in the northern area of Calvert County and is managed by a board of directors composed of representatives from these churches. Mark Kromer and Nancy Adams, with Brian Doherty providing ad hoc assistance, are serving as Mt. Harmony-Lower Marlboro UMC representatives. To learn more about this mission, or to volunteer, contact Mark Kromer at 443-964-5977 or email mnlkromer@comcast.net.
COMFORT SYMPATHY MEALS
Sometimes in this everyday life we take so many things for granted, and this can be true for our families! We don’t realize when we lose someone that’s an important part of our lives and family how truly devastating that can be. As we try to make sense of it all, it’s a good thing to know that we have such a loving and caring church family available here at Mt. Harmony/Lower Marlboro Church. Many of us know of loved ones lost over the past months and how very important our “sympathy/comfort” meals are and how they have touched the family members we have served. Please know that these families are very appreciative and comforted with this gesture. To learn more about this mission or to volunteer contact Carol Terry through the church office.
GOOD NEIGHBOR PROJECT
The Neighbor Project, a home-grown outreach ministry at Mt. Harmony/Lower Marlboro, began in 1995 as a partnership with the Department of Social Services (DSS) and the Calvert County Office on Aging. We primarily serve senior citizens who live alone, delivering nonperishable food items and making visits to them at least five times a year.
We have often included members of our congregation who found themselves temporarily or indefinitely unable to get out easily. Delivering food baskets with caring visits are the part of the Neighbor Project that most people hear about in church. But there is more that we do—and more that we can do with your help—such as calling in bad weather, helping with a special need, offering a ride to go to the grocery store or doctor. To learn more about this mission or to volunteer, contact Kirsti Uunila at 410-610-1110, or email blueheron77@comcast.net.
HARVEST FOR HUNGER
Farming4Hunger is a local Calvert County 501c3 charity started by the son of former Maryland Senator Bernie Fowler. Farming4Hunger has teamed up with the Capital Area Food Bank and the Maryland Food Bank to grow fresh produce to serve needy families in the region, including Calvert County. The son has negotiated with various farmers in the county who still farm for a living to lease portions of their farms for the benefit of the food banks and local pantries.
The farmers sow, seed, weed and fertilize the crops, including those on the leased property. There is always extensive manual labor involved in the harvesting of these crops, and this labor often comes from members of local churches. The produce from these efforts goes to the local pantries, like the Calvert Churches Community Food Pantry, which Mt. Harmony-Lower Marlboro UMC is a member. Contact Mark Kromer at 443-964-5977 for more information.
SAFE HARBOR
Safe Harbor is a residential shelter for abused women and their children. The primary objective of this facility is to provide a supportive shelter experience for the family to establish its own healthy living environment. As a Health Department Program, it provides mental health services and drug treatment, as well as prevention and parenting education. A significant aspect of the shelter experience for children includes a respite from observing violence in their own homes. The time spent in shelter can illustrate how a peaceful, non-threatening environment encourages a healthier resolution for conflict.
SEND A KID TO CAMP – DONATE CLOTHING, SHOES & MORE!!
Your used clothing, shoes, purses, belts, hats and blankets can make a difference in the life of our children at Mt. Harmony-Lower Marlboro. Through a partnership with a clothing recycling company called Mission Partners, we are now able to raise money to send our kids to one of the United Methodist Summer Camps, such as West River or Manidokan. For items collected, the church will receive a check for 50% of the current market value of the items. Where does Mission Partners send our donated clothing? Most items stay in the U.S. and are into re-useable rags, eco-friendly insulation for homes, or resold at thrift stores. A small percentage is sent abroad to companies that create local jobs in the resale of affordable clothing. The cost of camp should never deter a family from providing this life-changing experience for their kid, yet often it does. Let’s send a kid to camp while also cleaning out our closets!
STEPHEN MINISTRIES
This mission is called Stephen Ministries. Its purpose is to help congregations equip God’s people for spiritual growth through lay caring. Our caring is centered with the example of Christ caring for God’s people. Stephen Ministries is a religious and educational organization that develops and administers the Stephen Series System of lay caring, and Christ-Care Series System of small group ministry, and many other resources “to equip people for the work of ministry”.
The Stephen Series is a complete system developed to train and organize lay persons to provide ONE-TO-ONE Christian care in and around congregations, with emphasis on CONFIDENTIALITY. This Ministry is named after Stephen, the first lay person chosen by the Apostles to care for the needs of that early congregation (Acts 6:1-6). The Ministry was started by Dr. Kenneth C. Haugk, a St. Louis Pastor and Clinical Psychologist. As a parish Pastor in 1975, he realized that the need for care in his congregation exceeded what he alone could provide, so he drew on his psychological and theological background to train nine members as “Stephen Ministers” to assist him with pastoral care. Later that year he and his wife Joan founded Stephen Ministries to bring this caring ministry to other congregations. The question is: Would you like to be part of a ministry that makes a real difference to other’s lives when they need it most? If you answered yes, consider becoming a Stephen Minister.
Stephen Ministers are members of our congregation who provide one-to-one caring ministry to people experiencing grief, divorce, loneliness, job loss, hospitalization, and many other life difficulties. Stephen Minister training equips you to do an excellent job as a Stephen Minister as well as to improve the quality of all your relationships. Topics include---(a) Listening, providing Christian care, ministering to people experiencing grief, (b) Feelings, maintaining boundaries, hospitalization, learning to pray, (c) Confidentially, crisis theory and practice, illness, divorce, and more. Once equipped, Stephen Ministers are prayerfully matched with people who are going through a stressful time or life difficulty. A Stephen Minister meets with this person once a week for about an hour to listen, care, encourage, and pray. The Stephen Minister brings Christ’s presence into the person’s life and also sees Christ in that person. It is really a life-changing ministry for both the care receiver and the Stephen Minister.
If you would like to learn more about how to become a Stephen Minister, call or email the church office: MtHarmonyLMUMC@comcast.net
THANKSGIVING FEAST -- In all things we are Thankful
Thanksgiving is a special time for the Neighbor Project outreach ministry. In addition to the bags of groceries we deliver to our neighbors, we prepare a feast to take to them, and to give thanks and share with our church family and community. Thanksgiving morning starting at 8:00 am we meet in the Mt. Harmony kitchen to roast turkeys, cook and mash potatoes, fix gravy, stuffing, sauerkraut and all the rest of the traditional trimmings and pack bags of food. Around noon, we prepare attractive carryout trays with turkey dinners for our neighbors and deliver them with bags of groceries. After all the food has been delivered, we open the doors, give thanks and share our Thanksgiving bounty. Help is needed in the kitchen and getting the deliveries ready. Be assured there are plenty of tasks to do. To learn more about this mission or to volunteer, contact the church office.
STITCHERS-IN-STITCHES
Stitchers-in-Stitches was started by a group of attendees of Mt. Harmony/Lower Marlboro Church who got together to learn or teach knitting and crocheting to serve others. After the first month we were able to give each of our “Good Neighbors” a scarf for Valentine’s Day along with their food baskets. We even donated the extras to Calvert Nursing Center. That was January 2006. We make infant caps for newborns at Calvert Hospital, afghans and lap robes for Hospice House, scarves for Red Bird Mission, pink scarves for the Breast Center in Annapolis, chemo hats for the Infusion Center, prayer cloths for those in need of prayer, and prayer shawls for those in need of prayers and hugs with medical problems. We also worked on a quilt that was auctioned off in March 2007.
We meet at Mt Harmony Church Tuesdays at 1pm September to May. There are some who cannot attend on Tuesday but contribute their work that they do on their own. There is a basket at church where someone can pick up yarn, needles, hooks, and directions to help us. Also, you can put your completed work there and sign the book so we know who made them. To learn more about this mission, contact Mary Ewaski at email maryewaski@hotmail.com.
WEDNESDAY SUPPERS
Wednesday evening suppers are a long-standing tradition at Mt. Harmony-Lower Marlboro UMC. The mid-week evening was chosen because that’s when the choirs practice and having supper prepared at the church makes it easy for singers—or their families—to come out and relax without rushing to make sure everyone gets fed before rehearsal. Wednesday suppers are open to everyone. Donations are welcome but never required. Any profit goes to support outreach and nurturing activities. As you might imagine, it takes commitment to make this service available to our church family and community. The Wednesday supper team is always looking for volunteers to provide a meal—even occasionally. We have resources to give you some meal-planning ideas. We always welcome help with setup and cleanup. Please consider joining the Ministry of Meals Team by contacting Robbie McGaughran through the church office.