news article

Ministry by Mail at Endicott Central United Methodist Church

March 31, 2020 / By Laurel O’Conner, Director of Christian Education Central United Methodist Church

Responding to the Coronavirus outbreak has been like being put into a blender and trying to figure out what comes out. I know of clergy colleagues who have been stretched to the limit and beyond. I've spent time talking to colleagues about how we can possibly emerge from this time with even greater capacity to do good in the world, and have also spent time talking to colleagues about the very real possibility that their church might not make it through this time with its doors open.

But I do have a success story to share: at Central United Methodist Church in Endicott, where I am Director of Christian Education, we pulled together an emergency "Ministry by Mail" program for our Sunday School kids and sent it via postal mail on Saturday.

Each package includes:

1. A letter to the parents with well wishes and guidance during this time

2. A self-addressed envelope if they need to send anything to the church (we mentioned it could be for anything from the kids wanting Pastor Michelle as a pen pal to their Easter offering or a few dollars to offset the cost of the Mail Ministry)

3. A semi-personalized letter to each child/youth, based on age level

4. Information about the Psalms - a way that ancient Hebrews used to tell God about all sorts of feelings, from anger and sadness to joy and peacefulness.

5. A tiny journal they could put their own poetry into, as prayers to God during this uncertain time

6. Psalms coloring pages, with advice about how to do meditative coloring to help calm yourself down

7. A Psalm how-to handout with different boxes to fill in

8. Two pages for younger kids with a maze and coloring page from Psalm 23

9. Craft supplies including a glue stick, construction paper, a few blank CDs, paper bags, clothespins, and pencils. We're coordinating with a volunteer to do remote craft time each week (details pending) so we know what materials each kid has to work with.

It all (miraculously) fit in a priority mail envelope that we sent to each household, with enough materials for each child or youth. We figure that glue sticks and popsicle sticks are good for your soul no matter what age you are, so we even sent them along to the high schoolers. 

We're hopeful that the children and youth of our church feel connected and loved in this uncertain time, and we plan to keep sending out mail (albeit smaller packages now that they have craft supplies taken care of) weekly or every other week to keep them connected. I mean, who doesn't love mail?!

We don't have a ton of extra funds for ministries like this, but we believe that this is the ultimate time to stretch ourselves and invest in innovative ministries. That's really the only way we'll emerge

We're still building new programming to use the Zoom video conferencing (that we were able to purchase with the Conference’s matching grants), and who knows where those opportunities will take us. There really are opportunities for growth all around us, if we're not afraid to invest a little in both our people and our churches. 

If anyone has any questions about starting a similar ministry, feel free to contact me at education@centralumcendicott.org.

We're praying for you all as Conference leadership as well as for churches around the Conference. What a time to be in ministry - this is not something we trained for in Seminary, that's for sure.