Metro's Anniversary Celebration Highlights

What a wonderful afternoon of fellowship, food, music and laughter! It was so good to see so many folks back together in person. We shared stories of impact of amazing things that folks did in response to the pandemic, like Shirley-Wilkinson UMC's lunch program, North Salem UMC's food pantry and Chapel Hill UMC's Chapel Hill Cyclers.

We heard about how STRIVE Worldwide had to completely rethink their planned program after a year and half delay, resulting in the Community Impact Academy, a collaboration between Danville Middle School, Indianapolis Center for Inquiry School 27 and National School of Plaine de L'Arbre in Haiti; we heard how Shonna Major's first year has gone as Executive Director of Brightwood Communtiy Center, where she has jumped in with both feet into the work of serving children and youth; and we heard how Rick Hutson with Shirley-Wilkinson UMC not only launched a summer STEM BMX Bike program, but has established relationships with three programs in Indianapolis to provide them with refurbished bikes on an ongoing basis. We celebrated these programs and how Metro has been blessed to play a part in this work and the work of many other churches and organizations this year and during the pandemic.

We listened to the amazing sounds of Simply United, with the band's Kristie Williams and Metro's board member and master of ceremonies for the day Craig Guhl singing a couple of duets. We enjoyed delicious food by Gloria's Event Planning. We recognized the folks honored and memorialized through gifts to Metro Ministries this year, and we celebrated this year's Missioners of the Year award recipients. And we celebrated just being together. 

Thank you to Unviersity UMC for their gracious hospitality as our hosts and to each of Metro's faithful board members for all that they did to bring the program together. Now, we turn our eyes toward 2023, Metro's 100th year of making connections, building relationships and building bridges. We cannot wait to see what we can all accomplish, together!

We have shared just a few photos of the afternoon here. Visit us on  Facebook to view more photos and to view a video of Rev. Dr. Aleze Fulbright's message on This Little Light of Mine.

Individual Missioners of the Year 2022

During the Anniversary Celebration, we were pleased to announce this year's Individual and Organization Missioners of the Year.

We had a tie for the Individual award, with Mary Ann Schubert and Brenda Myers from Castleton UMC and Bill & Laura Tincher of Bethel UMC receiving the most votes.

Mary Ann & Brenda:

Mary Ann Schubert & Brenda Myers have been long time leaders of CUMC's Family Promise mission outreach.  Both have served on the Indianapolis Family Promise Board and Mary Ann volunteers regularly at the Family Promise office. Both Mary Ann and Brenda contribute significant hours to the annual Family Promise fundraiser by soliciting donations for the cake raffle and silent auction. Mary Ann also serves on the CUMC mission team and helps with the annual Pick-a-Star program that supports families needing assistance at Christmas.  Brenda serves on the CUMC Governance Board.

Mary Ann and Brenda both oversee the annual Book Nook, part of CUMC's Fish Fry.  They collect books, puzzles, etc., that are sold with all the proceeds supporting the CUMC Family Promise program.  Both "rally the congregation" to support Family Promise's "Night Without A Bed" campaign, now in its third year, that raises money to house families in apartments rather than rotating the families through partner churches.  The CUMC family has underwritten the cost of one or more apartments for a full year for the last three years, primarily because the consistent work of Mary Ann and Brenda.  They also oversee the collection of household goods to furnish these apartments with CUMC fully furnishing at least two apartments in the last two years. 

In 2020 when coins were difficult to find, Mary Ann convinced church members to raid their piggy banks to provide quarters so families could do their laundry. CUMC provided enough quarters to cover the full year's need.  These are just a few of the ways the Mary Ann and Brenda have led CUMC in partnering with Family Promise.

Laura & Bill Tincher:

Laura and Bill Tincher are devoted to transforming lives for Christ.  Every Sunday, they staff the Commission Team table which highlights Bethel’s Mission of the Month that also serves as a point of engagement for new visitors to get them plugged into ministries within the church.  While acting as Bethel UMC’s Chair of the Commission Team, Laura and the team became concerned that although they were helping to meet many physical and emotional needs through Bethel’s Mission of the Month projects, they were struggling to address spiritual needs and were missing opportunities to relate to those encountered on a deeper level.

Through the leading of the Holy Spirit, Laura & Bill started the "Planting Seeds of Faith" ministry where they created, hand selected, and donated a collection of faith-based materials. These faith materials are used to make spiritual connections with individuals to let them know about God’s unending love and the hope we have in Jesus.  This ministry started out small, but Bethel’s entire congregation has gotten behind supporting it. Over 1800 devotions, bookmarks, children’s faith books, Bibles, etc. will be shared this year alone. 

Laura & Bill make sure there is a scripture verse or encouraging note attached to reflect God’s goodness and grace when baby blankets are given out, in appreciation baskets for firefighters, food baskets for the hunger, sock collections for Veterans and schools supplies for needy families. At a Diaper Pantry event shortly before Easter, Laura was manning the Seeds of Faith table, talking to children and giving out Christian books.  She tries to get to know each family and discern their needs and hopes, seeking ways that the Bethel church body may be able to nurture and serve them.  As a little boy and his mom left the pantry, with a big smile on his face, the little boy proudly told the door greeter that he had gotten a book about Jesus. 

Laura and Bill were unable to attend Saturday's celebration. Tina will arrange a time in the coming weeks to present their awards during a Sunday service at Bethel. 

Join us in congratulating Mary Ann and Brenda and Laura and Bill Tincher for their tireless and dedicated work in serving their churches and their communities.

Organization Missioner of the Year

Many folks in the room were familiar with You Feed Them Missional Food Pantry and were pleased to hear them announced as this year's Missioner Organization of the Year.

Receiving multiple nominations, You Feed Them Missional Food Pantry was described  as being “missional” and “devoted”, a “phenomenal contributor”,  and “a blessing”. 

This organization does so much for the community – in addition to the monthly food pantry, they provide meals to the hungry, blessing bags for the homeless,  transportation for those who are unable to return home from the pantry, sponsor the annual Community Resource Day every August and recently have launched the Financial Literacy program for children and youth.

The folks who make this all happen have faithfully and sacrificially served for over 5 years. This group, led by Min. Lydia L. Davis, is made up of individuals from various congregations and denominations, consistently displaying what the body of Christ looks like when we die to self for the good of others. One of the nominators said that You Feed Them Missional Food Pantry has become a staple in the community, providing not only food for the body but for the spirit as well.

Well done, You Feed Them Missional Food Pantry!

Metro's Spring 2023 Grant Cycle

The grant writing workshops for the Spring 2023 grant cycle completed earlier this week with a final make-up session for folks who reached out that they could not attend in October. This year, fourteen individuals attended one of the three workshop sessions, representing ten churches and organizations. We appreciate all of you who took the time to listen and learn, and we hope the workshop experience was helpful to you.

The next step is to plan and prepare for Draft Submissions, which are due December 1, 2022 at 11:59 pm. Folks who attended the workshop have received the link to the online submission form. If anyone wishes to brainstorm program ideas, please reach out to Tina McAninch in a timely manner to allow enough time for your proposal submission. The Request for Proposals is available on Metro's website.

After draft submissions are received, Metro's grants team will be reviewing and evaluating all draft submissions and will be providing objective evaluations to all submitters by December 15. At that time, we will also connect submitters with mentoring resources, to provide support during January and February, leading up to the final submission deadline of February 28, 2023.

We are excited to learn about the proposals for Metro's Spring 2023 grants!

Employment Opportunities

Please see these employment opportunities that have been shared with Metro Ministries.

Outreach Coordinator at Grace United Methodist Church, Franklin

Grace United Methodist Church in Franklin is seeking a part-time Outreach Coordinator. The person selected will work with the staff and Outreach Team to organize and coordinate the many outreach ministries of the church as well as relate to the many community partners. Persons who are lay leaders or lay speakers who are looking for experience in a local church might find this position helpful. Hours are flexible during the week. For more information, please contact Pastor Andy Kinsey at andykinsey@franklingrace.org.

Children & Youth Ministry Director/Coordinator at Lawrence United Methodist Church

Lawrence UMC is seeking a full-time children and youth ministry director who will encourage all children in the congregation and in the community to grow in faith as Christian disciples. This person will work with other church and community leaders to address the needs of children so that all God's children are strong and wise. Other than set service times on Sunday mornings and planned children/youth gatherings and events, this is a flexible schedule position. Starting salary is $15/hour. The full job description is available HERE. To express interest in this position, contact Lisa Egler-Kellems at lisae93@comcast.net with subject line: SPRC-Children and Youth Director Search, or via mail at the address provided in the job description.

INUMC Job Board

The Indiana Conference of United Methodist Churches Job Board is available HERE.  

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Saturday, November 19, 8:30am - 2:30pm:

Growing in Faith Retreat Day at St. Andrew UMC

Saturday, November 19: 

World Community Day Celebration

1947 E. Southport Road, Indianapolis

Church Women United are sponsoring World Community Day Celebration at Southport UMC on Saturday, November 19th. Registration begins at 9:30 am, with the program beginning at 10:00. Guest speaker is Cecelia Whitfield with Use What You've Got Prison Ministry.

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Thursday, December 1, East Tenth United Methodist Children and Youth Center Annual Celebration

The 17th Annual Dinner and Silent auction is less than a month away and all are eager to be BACK TOGETHER AGAIN!

The registration page is HERE, to reserve seats for a wonderful evening or donate to help support the Center.Sponsor opportunities are also available.  Please include any special dietary needs in the comment section so that needs are appropriately accommodated.. 

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Have Something to Share?

Do you have an event, volunteer need or job posting you would like included in Metro's weekly e-newsletter? Send us an email at metrodirector1923@gmail.com with the details. We will need to receive by Tuesday morning for inclusion in the current week's newsletter.