SOCIAL ACTION MINISTRY TEAM – LOCAL AND GLOCAL* MISSIONS

Mission: To Invite and Connect People to God and One Another Through Christ’s Love

Vision: To equip and empower St. John’s members to walk together in God’s mission in our local community and our world.

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:31)

*Glocal: local mission outreach with global impact

Invite and Connect
Our Team would love to personally get to know you by inviting you to share in our mission projects.

Needs
Experience Missions Alive by taking part in God’s work with our hands

  • Prayer
  • Project volunteer time
  • Material donations
  • Project Chairs
  • Local missions board members

Team Meetings
First Tuesdays of each month, 5:15 PM – 6:15 PM, Multipurpose Room

Contact Info
Pastor Elyse in the church office.

Hand in Hand: Social Action’s quarterly prayer email newsletter. To be added to the mailing list, contact Lynn Richmond.
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FIND YOUR MISSION, PICK YOUR PASSION

Battery Recycling (ongoing)
Recycle your batteries in collection containers located at Welcome Centers.

Earth Day (April)
Go Green education in caring for creation. Contact info: Margaret Hollowell, (309)662-1808.

Food Pantry (local)
St. John’s supports several local organizations established to feed the poor. Among them are: Midwest Food Bank, Mt. Pisgah Food Pantry, Clare House, Home Sweet Home Mission, Safe Harbor, The Jesus House, Center of Hope, and occasionally individuals. We also address food needs through Lutheran World Relief and Lutheran Disaster Relief.

Giving Tree (November)
St. John’s, through The Giving Tree through Community Action, works each Christmas to provide wrapped gifts for approximately 250 people. Members choose tags with designated gift items from Christmas trees located throughout the church welcome areas and then shop, wrap and return these items beneath the tree. The gift items are then delivered to families by Community Action just before Christmas. Contact info: Deanne Eytalis, (309) 378-4608.

Habitat for Humanity
www.habitatmclean.org
Habitat For Humanity is an ecumenical nonprofit organization that partners with people to help them build their own homes. Families are chosen to participate and must earn 500 hours of sweat equity. They also learn life skills in the process. St. John’s helps with both finances and labor. St. John’s work days are May thru September. In 2009, we were part of Lutheran Build, partnering with 4 other Lutheran churches in our community.

Hopedale Growing Project
The Hopedale Growing Project is an annual partnership with several entities: Lutheran World Relief, The Mennonite Church in Hopedale, St. John’s Lutheran Church, The United States Government, and The Foods Resource Bank. Each year dedicated farmers designate a certain portion of land to the project. They secure donations of needed seed and fertilizer and provide the equipment and labor to plant, grow and harvest the crop. St. John’s raises funds to pay the lease on the acres of land. When the crop is sold the sale amount is designated to the Foods Resource Bank along with matching funds from the United States Government. The entire amount is funneled to our current project in Uganda. The project is a wholistic one that works to develop infrastructure for a village that includes a source of clean water, good seed and farming practices, good business practices, good health practices, and animal husbandry. Each year at the time of harvest both St. John’s and The Hopedale Mennonite Church gather together to have a celebration, hayrick rides, and cookout.  Contact info: Eric Johnson, (309) 661-7360.

Lutheran World Relief (LWR) / Lutheran Disaster Relief
From time to time our church calls for special offerings to help with recent disasters: hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, famine, and violence, etc. St. John’s also addresses food needs through Lutheran World Relief and Lutheran Disaster Relief. The monies are overseen by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). On the last Saturday of each October a regional collection held at St. John’s is gathered into a semi and sent to third world countries to help with the poor. Every year workers are needed to load the truck. LWR also collects school kits, sewing kits, medical kits, light weight and medium weight clothing for women, children and infants, and sweat shirts and sweaters for women, men, children and infants. They cannot use clothing with religious symbols or political symbols. They also make and collect quilts used to provide shelter (St. John’s Quilters meets regularly). Material for these quilts is always needed. Contact info: Doris Robertson 451-3541.

OneSight
www.onesight.org
Partnership with Resurrection Lutheran Church in Bloomington. RLC collects used prescription glasses and readers to donate to underprivileged people in U.S. and developing countries around the world through project OneSight. Drop off your old prescription glasses, sunglasses and readers to St. John’s church office.

Prayer
Our quarterly prayer email newsletter, Hand in Hand, is the hands and feet of Christ in our community. We invite you to be in prayer with us for projects, ministry outreach, and to experience walking hand in hand in service with the Holy Spirit. It highlights service stories, photos, prayer requests, and upcoming projects. To receive by email, contact Lynn Richmond.

Red Cross Blood Drive
St. John’s hosts Red Cross Blood Drives twice annually, once in the fall and once in spring. You can help by donating blood, plasma, time as a volunteer, or by bringing sugary snacks to the drive.

2010 dates: Saturday, 8:00 AM – Noon, April 17 & Saturday, November 13

To schedule an appointment, call Lynn Carpenter, (309) 663-9345; call the church office; sign up at Welcome Centers; or visit www.2.givebloodgivelife.org and choose “Schedule Appointment”–be sure to include your phone # and email address, and be sure to bring your photo ID to your appointment. Contact info for questions like “Am I eligible to give?” is (800)GIVE-LIFE (800-448-3543).

Safe Harbor
www.sabloomington.org
Safe Harbor, the Salvation Army homeless shelter, feeds men and women each day and houses them at night. Many groups from St. John’s take or help prepare meals and get to know new people who have fallen on hard times. Our official night is scheduled almost monthly. Any small group can sign up for a meal by calling the mission. Contact info: RJ Whitworth, (309) 663-0137.

“Shoeman Project” Shoe Collection
www.shoeman.org
In collaboration with Resurrection Lutheran Church in Bloomington, a joint Lenten 2010 glocal mission project, sponsored by Thrivent Financial. The Shoeman Project was started by Reverend George Hutchings, with donations of used shoes converted into funds to provide clean water for the people of Kenya and Haiti. The proceeds from a single pair of shoes can provide a lifetime of clean water for one person!

Social Justice Advocacy
www.elca.org/advocacy
This includes annual participation in Lutheran Day in Springfield, IL through Lutheran Social Services of IL (LSSI).

Storybook Prison Ministry
www.lssi.org/Service/StorybookProject.aspx
Working through Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI), this ministry helps parents and children stay connected. The most positive factor in the youth of prisoners is whether or not they stay connected and feel hope about their parents and about themselves. Sealed audio tapes are used to record both the book and a brief message as read by the prisoner with the help of a volunteer. The tape and book are sent to the child/children and often becomes their most prized possession.

Ways to help

*Donate books: Book donations of specific types of books are always welcome. The ministry offers book bundles on a regular basis for a donation of $5, which includes a book, tape and postage.

*Volunteer: Apply to become a volunteer who goes into a prison and helps the parents prepare tapes.

*Donate funds: Storybook also raises funds through a matching grant with The Barney Challenge, which offers to match donations at certain times of the year.

*Donate clothing: The ministry also collects “Prison Release Clothing for Women” clothing for women getting out of prison so they can interview for jobs or just have something to wear upon release to help them blend back into society. Larger sizes are in demand.

*Donate gift cards: St. John’s Caregivers also collect gift credit cards at chain stores in the amount of $20. These are given to caretakers of prisoner’s children. Most are older relatives of the prisoners, and many live on modest fixed incomes.

Western Avenue Community Center
www.westernavenuecc.org
Food pantry and other ministry opportunities.