(A row of chairs is on stage and the cast of 6 is seated as if they are in the audience at the event.)
1 Wow! Wasn't that the best music we have ever had at an
annual meeting?
2 I don't know. This is my first time at an annual
meeting.
1 I remember my first time. I learned so much and took
back a lot of what I learned to my local unit. They were so excited to hear some
of what I had to say that they came with me the next year. They are always
excited to learn more about what we do as United Methodist Women.
2 Well, I came today to learn more about becoming a
Mission Today Unit. It sounds great, but I need to learn how I can help. My unit
is super and I want us to get one of those beautiful certificates they were
passing out.
3 Our unit became a Mission Today Unit. It really wasn't
hard. We were already doing many of the things that are required, and the rest
were easy to do.
2 Well, tell me, what do you have to do to become a
Mission Today Unit?
1 I make sure we use the Prayer Calendar at each general
meeting. We pray for the mission workers and projects that are honored that day.
I was already doing that every day as part of my daily devotions, and now our
unit does it at each meeting, too.
2 That sounds easy enough.
3 As Vice President of our unit, I was already using
the Program Book for United Methodist Women for programs for our meetings. If we
do just two, it meets the requirements for being a Mission Today Unit. I use
those programs all year, because they are so good .
2 We did the World Thank Offering program just this
week. It was great. That sounds easy.
4 I always attend the School of Christian Mission each year. It is a spirit filled time of learning and growing. I come back to the unit and lead the study. That takes care of two of the requirements right there. The studies are so good I try to lead all three each year so that everyone can participate in the spiritual growth study, the geographic study about some part of the world and what we are doing in mission, and an action study that always motivates me to do some kind of a project.
2. Now wait a minute. My unit can't go to Africa or Asia
or some exotic place to help teach or nurse or feed people.
3. We can't, either. Some of us collect school items for
the national mission institution in our conference. They are always needing
paper, pencils, crayons, books, and all kinds of things like that. We bring
it to the Annual Meeting and someone takes it to them. It is an easy way to help
mission work. You know they are listed in the Material Resources for Mission
Catalog, and that fulfills another Mission Today requirement.
4. But we all have an easy way to see that mission work continues. We can contribute in all five channels of undesignated giving. I personally give in all five channels each year and that way my unit meets that requirement of Mission Today. There are a lot of us that know how important it is to have the mission work continue.
5. Yes! We have a retired mission worker who joined
our unit. She makes mission
come alive when she talks about her work. And some of the people she met in
mission are now working in the United States, making it really mission from
everywhere, to everywhere.
2 You mean, when I give my pledge to my unit and they
make and meet their pledge to mission, it helps send our mission workers to
other places, and their mission workers here? That is a way to be partners in
mission.
6 Yes, and it shows us how much we are all part of
God's family. We also implement the Charter for Racial Justice Policies. That
reminds us that all of us are God's children.
4 I know when I read Response Magazine I always find God's family. There are great articles about people just like me all around the world. They may look different, or sound different, but we all are children of God.
5 And the Response minute, where someone tells about
their favorite article that month, has really added a lot to our meetings.
1 If you increase your unit membership by just two members, it sounds like your unit can be a Mission today Unit next year .
2 That's easy. With all of the exciting things going
on in the United Methodist Women, I know lots of people who would come and be
involved.
3 That's what it takes. A few excited, involved women
can make it a Mission Today
Unit. You don't have to do everything, just some of the things, and your unit
will become more energized. Through prayer, study and action you will become a
Mission Today Unit. It's a great way to expand our concepts of mission.
5 That's the music to call us back to order. I'll see
you next year when we both belong to Mission Today Units.
2 Great. See you then!