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Small Conference Makes Large Contribution to Mission |
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Coalgood, KY, June 2, 2008--The 27 congregations of the United Methodist Red Bird Missionary Conference gave $19,300 for mission in Cambodia at their 2008 annual conference meeting. That is an average of more than $13 each for the 1,465 members of the conference set in southeastern Kentucky, one of the poorest areas in the United States. The Red Bird Conference, which had a membership increase of 10 percent this past year, also paid 100 percent of its apportionments. Annual conference delegates brought to conference their congregations' special mission offerings for the "Light at the Dumpsite" ministry in Phnom Penh. Red Bird has a partnership with the work started by missionary Clara Biswas. The focus is on the care of women and children forced by poverty to live in or near a huge dumpsite in the Cambodian capital city. The people of Red Bird became excited about “Light at the Dumpsite” as a result of a presentation some months ago by the Rev. Mike Collins, who served as a United Methodist missionary in Cambodia from 2000 to 2003. Collins, now based in North Carolina, was also missionary night preacher at the 2008 annual conference. Red Bird Conference is consistently serious about mission through the United Methodist connection. Last year, 29 people from Red Bird roofed a church in Talihina, Oklahoma, and did painting and landscaping for further improvements. Another work team went to Alabama to improve housing damaged by Hurricane Katrina. A trip to assist tornado victims in nearby areas was being planned for June 2008, and the conference also donated $1,000 to Chad’s Hope, a new drug-rehabilitation facility in Manchester, Kentucky. The ministry of Ms. Biswas at the dump is also featured in an internet slideshow describing the Louisiana Conference's mission partnership with the Methodist Church in Cambodia. It can be found online at http://media.umcom.org/umns/flash/cambodia.swf . Contributions to support Missionary Clara Biswas can be made through The Advance, #13952Z, or to the Cambodia Initiative, #00230A. Donations can be made:
Indicate The Advance number in the check memo line. Advance gifts may also be placed in the offering plate of any United Methodist church. The Advance is the designated mission giving program of The United Methodist Church.
Date posted: Jun 02, 2008 |
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