It is hard for dedicated church people to understand how someone could burn a
place of worship.
Thank God the burning church pictured here is more a victim of love than of hate.
This is the old Andrew United Methodist Church at Kathleen, GA that has been replaced by a
much larger facility.
United Methodist Churches have not been immune to the burnings and share their grief with
brothers and sisters of other denominations and faith groups that have had their places of
worship destroyed.
This article has
little more than pictures of churches and VIM teams that have assisted in the rebuilding
of burned churches. Links to other web sites with very good burned church articles
are listed below.
Pictured at left is one of the ground breaking photographs from the Gay's Hill Baptist
church near Millen, GA, one of the first churches rebuilt with volunteer help from a
number of faith groups and funding from the National Council of Churches.
We continue to reach out as a church and encourage VIM teams to seek out
projects and help in the rebuilding process.
This VIM team is from the Macon District of the South Georgia Conference. Eight
different churches from the conference were united in this short term effort to help
rebuild the Gay's Hill Baptist church.
Members of VIM teams that have worked with burned churches report that it is
somewhat different than other volunteer work as they are given a real chance to see love
rebuild what hate has tried to destroy.
Gay's Hill Baptist church was completed and dedicated to the glory of God in July 1997. Work continues on other churches and volunteers are still needed.
For general information about burned churches and the United Methodist response to this crisis, see the Rebuilding Burned Churches Resource Guide.
For current information relating specifically to UMVIM efforts and project details, see the UMVIM Response to Burned Churches.
The Volunteer Visions section of this web site contains multi-media presentations about Burned Churches.
Indiana UMVIMs help rebuild burned Arkansas Baptist Church (March 16, 2001)
* * *
For information on UMVIM opportunities:
please click here on the Where We Go section or
contact your UMVIM Jurisdictional or Annual Conference Coordinator or
the Mission Volunteers Program Area, General Board of Global Ministries, UMC
475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, NY 10115
Tel 800 / 554-8583 or 212 / 870-3825
Email: voluntrs@gbgm-umc.org* * *
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