news article
Philadelphia UMC embraces creative fundraising
November 29, 2016 / By Beth Johnston, Philadelphia UMC
Editor’s Note: In 2015, Philadelphia UMC (located in the Northern Flow District) increased their Ministry Shares by 45 percent. In 2016, Philadelphia UMC has paid 100 percent of their Ministry Shares.
The Philadelphia UMC is a small church composed mainly of people over 50 years young. Our local area is impoverished with no industry and few if any employment opportunities available locally. Our younger families have moved from the area to seek employment while others with pre-teens and teenagers do not attend due to school obligations. These factors have had a devastating effect on our abilities to meet our Shared Ministry giving as well as our weekly expenses.
At first we relied on the generosity of our church trustees in loaning the general fund what was needed to meet our Shared Ministries. From there, we paid only the very basic essentials and then through prayer, we were reminded that, as United Methodists, we are a part of the connectional system that encompasses the world and that we made a promise “As members of the Philadelphia United Methodist Church, we would faithfully participate in its ministries by our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness.”
We raised our Ministry Shares over the past couple of years through a combination of increased sacrificial giving and specific fundraisers. We placed our trust in God to guide us in our attempts to make our shared giving a current reality. Our regular members have stepped up to the plate through increased sacrificial giving. In the summer, we have Chicken B-B-Qs in the month of July and an End of Summer Social at the end of August. Proceeds from these events go directly to the church 
trustees to aid in the payment of our Ministry Shares. We also have held monthly All-You-Can Eat Roast Beef Dinners that have given us monies to supplement our regular offerings and enabled us to make regular monthly payments on our past owed shared ministries as well as make regular monthly payments on our current year’s Shared Ministries. Fundraisers can be truly effective in raising Ministry Shares and fulfilling our promise to be actively involved in the UMC Connection.