Isaiah 43:19 (New International Version)
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland
Welcome to the Northern Virginia District!
I’m so excited to see the work of your hands to create this new District! So many people have been a part of this process, and I want to thank you all for sharing your gifts and thoughts and feedback that has led us to this important place in the life and mission of the new Northern Virginia District. We are doing a new thing, following as God is leading us through this time of wilderness.
To help inaugurate this new District, we have a special missional need that I think we can all help with. We can all affirm that UMCOR is one of the BEST things that the United Methodist Church does. We got a call from the UMCOR depot that holds resources for disasters in the United States, and it turns out – it is empty. Empty of all cleaning kits, also known as “flood buckets.” And, it’s tornado and hurricane season. We need to help get these depots back into the business of being on the ground with resources when people are in trouble.
How can we help? We are asking each church to build 4 flood buckets. You can certainly build more – but 4 from every church will meet our minimum goal of 425 buckets from the Northern Virginia District. But because we love the work of UMCOR, and we never know when we too might need this kind of help ourselves – I would love to see 500 flood buckets come from Northern Virginia, sent to Richmond, palletized, and loaded on tractor trailers, bound for our UMCOR depot. LEARN MORE
Can you help us do our inaugural District missional project? And join with all 8 Districts in the Virginia Conference to help people throughout the United States make a path through floods, tornadoes, and disasters? We will be giving churches all the details to get this started, so watch this space for what comes next.
I pray for all those affected by our mission, and for all those churches who will turn their attention to helping others, to making disciples, to transforming the world. This is why I am so excited to do this challenging work – will you join us?
Sarah