$1,000 prize being offered in United Methodist Women video competition

• By Ang Hart, Detroit Conference Director of Youth and Young Adults •

United Methodist Women (UMW) has been impacting lives worldwide for more than 140 years, and this fall the Rev. Faith Fowler wants to bring attention to the organization by impacting a young adult’s pocketbook.

The pastor of Cass Community UMC is offering $1,000 to anyone under the age of 30 who produces the best video on the history of UMW and how it continues to change lives today.

At last October’s Detroit Conference UMW Annual Celebration and Meeting Fowler enacted the challenge as part of a passionate speech that invited people to consider how they looked at women’s rights and UMW in the 21st century.

Fowler referenced a poem that included names of women who throughout history helped pave the way for women everywhere today.

She said that most women under the age of 30 might not know a lot of the names, but if they didn’t, they should look them up and learn about them.

Fowler then showed a video that informed the audience about often-overlooked truths, like the fact that still today women only make 77 cents for every dollar that a man makes.

After the video, she talked about how women in the younger generations forget to be passionate about such issues.

She said something like a video competition utilizing some of the brightest young minds in the conference would be a great way to bring attention to the legacy of the organization and show how people can be involved in women’s rights issues today.
Fowler said the video could include UMW history, an invitation to join the organization and/or a look at the mission of UMW.

The video should be a maximum of four minutes long and cannot be posted on the Internet prior to Nov. 11, 2011.

The deadline for entry is Sept. 1 and submissions should be sent to: Cass Community Social Services, 11850 Woodrow Wilson, Detroit, MI 48206.
An initial screening will be held on Sept. 11 and videos that make the final cut will be viewed and voted on by attendees of the Detroit Conference UMW Annual Celebration and Meeting on Oct. 29.

Finalists must be in attendance.

The competition represents another partnership between the UMW and the conference’s youth and young adults.

For almost two years now, the Detroit Conference United Methodist Women has been working hard to focus on being in ministry with youth and young adults.
Detroit Conference UMW vice president Mary Fox asked me to help plan the annual UMW Celebration and Meeting after I gave a presentation to the organization.

She wanted to include more of a focus on young people and wanted to get more people under the age of 30 excited about what UMW is doing in the conference.
Over time the board solidified a more formal partnership with the Conference Council on Youth Ministries and what was formerly the Young Adult Task Force, by attending events and meetings, supporting fundraising efforts for new initiatives and building relationships.

For the 2010 Celebration and Meeting we invited the CCYM to do the installation of officers, and asked the young adults to be involved in various ways throughout the day.

This encouraged some new faces to appear at the meeting.

Fowler’s video competition was just the icing on the cake and a new way for young people to look at how they can be involved in a missional community that has over 800,000 members around the globe.

Those interested in more details on the competition can e-mail Ang Hart at ahart@detroitconference.org or Rev. Fowler at ccumcac@aol.com.

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Building new young adult communities one church at a time

By Ang Hart, Detroit Conference Director of Youth and Young Adults

Anyone who is part of Annual Conference each year knows the presence of young adults has been growing at the conference level for many years. But anyone who is not part of that body might not know much about it.

Either way, most people who have set foot inside a United Methodist Church in the last five years realize young adult ministries is one of the primary growing concerns and focuses in our denomination.

But what is a mystery to some is the direction the new Conference Commission on Young Adult Communities is hoping to take local churches in the next five years.

It is one of the best-kept secrets of our conference — one that more and more people will start being let in on.

In August, the Commission had its first retreat. There they decided on a vision, mission, structure and future actions.

They decided they would have two focuses: The first being ministry with local churches and the second being partnerships with other agencies in the conference.

Their plan to work with local congregations is three-fold.

The commission will first find a representative for each district.

Second, that person will be given the knowledge and resources to train others to start a local Young Adult Ministry and to organize and run a ReThink Church Event.

Third, the district representative will go out and train churches in their district and help them form or maintain a Young Adult Ministry that fits the life of that church.

Any church can work with a representative, and each church will have a different outcome. Some of the district representatives have been chosen already; Dan Philips in the Ann Arbor District, Alyssa Grant in the Detroit West District, Kayla Roosa in the Saginaw Bay District and Kaitlin Norton in the Flint District.

Norton is already piloting the program in Flint, while he rest of the representatives are getting ready to be trained.

The commission is still looking for people to do ministry for the Detroit East, Marquette and Port Huron districts.

The second main idea is to start partnerships with other agencies in the conference.

For example, the commission wants to work closely with agencies who deal with vulnerable persons.

In 2012 they hope to help raise awareness about vulnerable persons and young adults that are classified vulnerable persons.

The commission also has existing on-going partnerships with other groups, such as Keep Making Peace and United Methodist Women.

If you or someone you know are passionate about these ministries, and are under 30 and interested in working with Young Adults or working as part of this team, the commission is always looking for new people.

For those interested in having a district representative come to their church or for agencies of the conference who would like to partner with the commission, please contact Ang Hart at ahart@detroitconference.org.

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The Lighthouse Overlook: Haitian Artisans for Peace International

By RJ Walters, Editor

What is it?
HAPI stands for Haitian Artisans for Peace International. It is an initiative of The Advance that was co-founded in 2007 by West Michigan Conference Council on Ministries Staff Office Manager Valerie Mossman-Celestin and Paul Prevost, a former mayor of Mizak, Haiti. It is a United Methodist Women-supported project that was founded as a fair trade artisan co-op focused on women’s economic development and empowerment.
The goal is to help skilled Haitian workers earn just and fair wages to help stimulate economic growth.
HAPI’s work extends into the community through community-based health care and programs for youth and its four major areas of focus are: economic opportunity, children, health, healing and wholeness, and building capacity.

How did it start?
Prevost introduced Mossman-Celestin to an artisan cooperative on her visit to Haiti.
Mossman-Celestin said it was not a sustainable business model, but the women earned a paycheck and had the dignity of their work.
“The effects were transformational; children were in school. Women were respected at home and in the community,” she said. “They didn’t have to travel long distances on risky and costly public transportation to sell products in dangerous urban areas. The women were happy.”
Prevost and Mossman-Celestin have helped people in Mizak make partnerships with local churches, local civic bodies, media outlets and even North American organizations.

What type of progress has been made?
Mossman-Celestin wrote the following about one Haitian woman’s experience in the August edition of the UMW publication Response:
Artisan Leonne Ridore’s husband once held traditional views of a woman’s role. He did not see the value of a woman going off to work, and instead believed Ms. Ridore should stay home. But he changed his mind when he slipped in a muddy field and severed his wrist on his machete. Ms. Ridore had just received her first paycheck from HAPI, which enabled them to pay for the transportation to rush him to the hospital.
“If I had not gotten there as soon as I did, I would have bled to death,” Mr. Ridore said, as he exposed the scar on his wrist. “Now I am happy HAPI is in the community.”
Some of the anticipated long-term outcomes of HAPI are more households living above $2 per day, the empowerment of women and girls, a reduction of emigration to other areas of the country and improved health and mortality numbers.

What churches/people can do to help?
There are plenty of ways to get involved.
As with any project, funding is essential. People can donate through The Advance by donating to special project #3020490. Tax-deductible donations can also be made at www.haitianartisans.com, where individuals or groups can choose specifically where their money goes.
HAPI is also looking for people interested in serving as long-term volunteers in the areas of business, creativity, medical, agricultural, photography and more.
Prevost can be reached at Hapiest2007@yahoo.fr and Mossman-Celestin can be contacted at valeriem@wmcumc.org.

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