Connecting Church and Community

MARY GLADSTONE-HIGHLAND

C o m m u n i t y O u t r e a c h i n t h e M e t r o - D e t r o i t A r e a

In September I returned to my home state of Michigan and started my third placement site as a CCW. I now serve as the Community Outreach Director at Clarkston United Methodist Church (CUMC).

In the past decade rough times have hit all communities, including Oakland County the county where Clarkston resides and the church members at CUMC have found themselves deeply involved in reaching out to the communities of Flint, Pontiac and Detroit.

One of the major roles I play as the Church and Community Worker placed at Clarkston UMC is to find ways that we can partner locally, regionally, and globally to be in ministry together.

Another major function of my position is to lead regional trainings that focus on how to overcome our societal barriers and work together. This year the training is Bridges Out of Poverty. We will look at the culture of class and learn how to understand our partners better.

United Methodist Missionary

Sharing Our Food With Our Neighbors

The goal of Clarkston United Methodist Church’s Food Pantry is to allow

proper nourishment for families in our community. We strive to ensure that parents and children do not go to work and school hungry. When children are able to attend school without worrying about when their next meal will be, they are more successful. The 1,500 CUMC members (with 1,000 families) are given bright red large canvas bags with a list of products (toilet paper, peanut butter, cereal, etc.). They fill these bags each week and bring them back to church to fill the food pantry.

Individuals receive enough food to feed a family for a week, snacks that are accessible immediately for those who are very hungry when they come through our doors, a bag filled with hygiene products and one with cleaning products. We also give each person a $5 grocery card to purchase Milk and Eggs and we have baby diapers, wipes, and formula and feminine hygiene products available upon request.

Since its inception in 2010, the CUMC Food Pantry has increased the individuals and families served by 400%. In 2012, 198 families and 533 family members received food.

Transformational Mission

Clarkston UMC is committed to Transformation Mission. In fact, it is

one of our 5 Core Values. Here is a little more about how Clarkston UMC views Transformational Mission:

“Mission work can easily become abusive when we allow ourselves to miss the critical truth that it is: never to be seen as those who have giving to those who have little or nothing. Mission is not charity in the traditional sense of the word. When we enter into life situation of others with an attitude that we are somehow more blessed or in any way ahead of the game over others, we easily can begin to treat them without the respect and dignity they deserve. We may also set up an attitude where we will miss out on the great value of how we ourselves can be changed in the act of sharing in mission. When we share our life journey with others, we put ourselves in position to receive back from them their life experiences. If we are willing to take the time to really listen and share we discover that we have much in common with those we serve. We will hear their perspective of the world, their way of seeing life and their experiences of God. They may share their talents and graces with us as well in ways that make our offerings seem meager by comparison. Certainly, if we dare risk being open we may find our world view and predetermined attitudes changed as well. In fact, we often find that our very lives are transformed so that when we return home we discover that we are different. We may find our values gracefully changed and our passions reawakened to return again in mission not only to help others but to discover the unique joy that we find only when we are truly willing to become servants again. As a congregation we seek to transform the world through our mission even as we are changed to the glory of the Lord.”

Emergency AssistanceClarkston UMC offers Emergency

Assistance to individuals in need. We work with a local social service agency that refers individuals to us when their own emergency assistance funds are depleted.

We provide Emergency Assistance funds to individuals who have an eviction or a shut-off notice. We cover the basic needs of shelter and electricity so that families can be successful and not afraid of when they are going to be out on the street or without power.

Individuals are given up to $300 per twelve month period per family. We also work Individuals are given up to $300 per twelve month period per family. We also work with many local churches to cover the amounts that individuals owe.

One of the families we supported in July was a young couple with an 8 month old baby. The young man had been out of work and recently got a new job but was awaiting his first check. They received money from many of our local churches to cover their large eviction order but still had a significant amount that they needed to pay. Their only option if they were not able to raise the funds was to live in their car. We were able to provide the remainder of the funds to evade eviction.

I want to sincerely thank you for supporting me as a Church and Community Worker Missionary for United Methodist Church!Supporting churches truly make it possible for us as missionaries to go out into the world and together we are all the hands and feet of God.I would love the opportunity to come and speak to your church about how your support is put into action. One of my favorite parts of my job is coming to meet you face-to-face. Thank you for all the ways you give to mission.

As a certified Trainer for Bridges Out of Poverty I will lead classes in this material at Clarkston UMC, with partner churches throughout the Detroit Annual Conference and with groups and agencies such

as the Detroit Mission Intern Program. Bridges is not a program but rather a foundation for understanding how our own class affects us and how class affects those around us so that we can create strong and lasting relationships with those we are in ministry with.

“Bridges Out of Poverty is working towards:

Reducing the social costs of poverty, Strengthening the workforce,

and building a more prosperous and sustainable community.”

Mary Gladstone-Highland is a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church

serving as a Church and Community Worker based at the Clarkston United Methodist Church in Clarkston, Michigan.

Church and Community Workers respond to God’s call to ministry among the poor and disenfranchised in rural and urban areas throughout the United States. They work to change the social inequities of poverty, racial injustice, and domestic violence.

Mary serves as outreach coordinator for a regional ministry that responds to social and economic challenges in an area lying between Flint, Pontiac, and Detroit, Michigan. Two districts of the Detroit Annual Conference are involved. A native of Detroit, Mary served as a US-2 missionary as a young adult and as a Church and Community Worker in Baltimore, Maryland, and Utica, New York. She currently lives in Pontiac. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Western Michigan University in 2005.

Please support me through Covenant Relationship:

Missionary Advance # 982022Send your gifts through The Advance to your conference treasurer or to Advance GCFA, PO Box 9068, New York, NY. 10087-9068 with the Advance number clearly designated on your check. For more information about developing a Covenant Relationship. Visit www.advancinghope.org

On December 28, 2012 my husband, Andrew, and I welcomed our first child, Theodore (Theo) Glenn

Gladstone-Highland, into our family. Theo is a calm, smiley boy who is always on the move and always curious. He loves his shopping cart and stacking stars and flowers. He also loves making adults laugh with his many facial expressions and sounds. He transitioned well to our new location and he brings us great joy. It is a great new adventure to be parents and we are really enjoying it!

Biography

New Additions