By Wendy Riddle
UM Volunteers in Mission Team Leader/Team Member Training
October 28 (Pasco: Riverview UMC)
November 18 (Tumwater UMC)
9:00 am – 3:30 pm | $20.00
REGISTER HERE
I remember my first UMVIM trip: I was a fairly new pastor and Hurricane Katrina had just hit. I wasn’t experienced, but I knew how to read directions and where to get my questions answered. I knew getting insurance through UMVIM was imperative (too many things can go wrong) and that being an officially sanctioned UMVIM team would make our lives safer, more organized, and give us better support, should we need it.
Something I didn’t know: there are things called “best practices.” I learned about them as I asked my questions, and we had all the needed paperwork and background work completed before we left. And I learned the most important lesson of all. When I am in mission, I am always in mission “with others”, rather than in mission “to others”. Those we serve bring their own gifts, their own skills, just as surely as we do – and many of them reflect Christ to us in powerful, life-changing ways.
We are training team leaders for UMVIM teams this October and November – but anyone is welcome to attend the training, even if you don’t plan to become a team leader. Do you want to help respond to Hurricane Harvey, or the Rebuild Projects in Okanogan County, or in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as I helped in Mississippi, then in Texas, then in White Swan? Come be trained. Learn the “best practices” and how to implement them. And prepare for an opportunity to meet Jesus in new ways, in new people, in new locations.
ALSO:
• PNWUMC: About our Disaster Response
• PNW NEWS BLOG: Rebuild Up from the Ashes
Wendy Riddle is a UMVIM Coordinator for the PNWUMC. Have questions? Contact Riddle at wriddle56@gmail.com.
