A-Z Ministry and Missions
Mission: Invite and connect people to God and each other through Christ’s love
The list below includes St. John’s internal ministries as well as a list of organizations (both local and international) which St. John’s supports with financial or human resource ministry. If you have questions about any group below for which contact information is not listed, please contact the .
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AdoptaPlatoon
www.adoptaplatoon.org
Mom’s Bible Study partners with the nonprofit group AdoptaPlatoon and sends care packages to those who serve our country in the military. They send items each month and include hot chocolate, feminine hygiene products, pain relievers, lotion, socks, seasonal items, and non perishable snacks.
Aluminum Can Recycling
A fundraising project of the Open Door Missions team.
The Baby Fold
St. John’s works through benevolence funds to support those agencies dealing with children at risk.
Buy a Brick
A seasonal fundraising project of the Open Door Missions team.
For Camp45, visit in the church office.
For Cave Camp or SALT Camp, visit St. John’s in the church office.
For Work Camp, Nazareth Farm, or Bethlehem Farm, visit St. John’s in the church office.
Center of Hope
see Food Needs (local)
Cell Phone Collection Project
A fundraising project of the Open Door Missions team.
Charitable Trust
St. John’s Charitable Trust provides a way for members to designate “Planned Giving” gifts to support St. John’s current or future ministries. Persons who have included St. John’s Charitable Trust for bequests, gifts, charitable annuities, life insurance policies or other financial distributions in their wills or estate plans, and advise the church, may become members of the Legacy Society. For more information click here.
The Children’s Foundation
St. John’s works through benevolence funds to support those agencies dealing with children at risk.
Clare House
see Food Needs (local)
Community Action / PATH / The Giving Tree
www.pathcrisis.org
St. John’s works through Community Action to help keep people in their homes in the midst of unforeseen problems. A one time gift at a maximum of $70.00 helps to pay for heat, electricity, gas, or medicine. Often several congregations work together to meet the total need.
PATH (“Providing Access to Help”) is a non-profit agency that runs a 24/7 hotline and takes close to 60,000 calls a year. PATH is always in need of caring and compassionate adult volunteers (18 or older, no experience required). PATH disseminates community information emails via PATH-O-GRAMS. PATH-O-GRAMS are sent out twice per month (approximately every other week) and include such information as community social services events, local agency announcements, community needs, social services employment opportunities, and more. To submit announcements or to be added to the list, email . For current and previous PATH-O-GRAMS or “Special PATH-O-GRAMS,” visit the PATH web site or call (309)828-1022. For emergencies, call the PATH Hotline at (309)827-4005.
St. John’s, through The Giving Tree through Community Action, works each Christmas to provide wrapped gifts for approximately 225 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.
The Compassion Center
see Food Needs (local)
Easter Seals
www.easterseals.com/site/PageServer
St. John’s works through benevolence funds to support those agencies dealing with children at risk.
Faith In Action
www.bnfia.org
Faith in Action offers numerous community services and has expanded to include home visits, home maintenance and light repairs, in addition to offering transportation such as to appointments or to go grocery shopping. The only requirements for using Faith In Action services are being at least 60 years of age, living in Bloomington-Normal, and having registered in advance with the Faith In Action office. Volunteers are always needed for these services. All volunteers must attend training sessions at the Faith In Action office, held regularly throughout the year. If you would like to attend a volunteer training session, have a need for a community service such as those listed above, or know someone who could use these services, call Bobbie Hynes, Director, at 827-7780 or Tim Terry, St. John’s liaison to Faith In Action, at (309) 530-7297 or e-mail him at at .
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, The Compassion Center, and occasionally individuals. We also address food needs through Lutheran World Relief and Lutheran Disaster Relief.
The Giving Tree
see Community Action
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 2009 work days are May 30, July 11, and September 12, at 618 Indianapolis Street in Bloomington. Contact in the church office for more information.
Health Care
St. John’s works to support agencies that minister to the health care needs of those who cannot afford insurance or care: The Community Health Care Center, John Scott Health Care Center, and The Cancer Center. St. John’s is also a member of BroMenn’s Brokaw-Mennonite Association of Delegate Churches and part of an on-going prayer support for the medical community. You can access the BroMenn Healthcare Spiritual Care page by clicking here.
Home Sweet Home Mission
see Food Needs (local)
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 and food.
Idea
IDEA (“Investigate, Disseminate, Educate, Advocate”) is a group dedicated to sorting out current information in order to keep the congregation aware of projects and concerns that support the poor, the widowed, those in prison, the orphan, and the earth in which we live. They oversee Earth Day each year.
Jesus House
see Food Needs (local)
Lighthouse Project
For several years, St. John’s has hosted groups of older orphans from Russia who are hoping to be adopted. The church hosts their visit to America, provides Vacation Bible School (which is their introduction to faith), and has been part of the adoption process of many children. Their needs are tennis shoes of all sizes and shapes, snacks, help with crafts, luggage for transportation (the children arrive with nothing and go home with supplies for the orphanage), and funds to help the orphanage meet current needs.
Love Packages
www.lovepackages.org
Monthly one-day mission trips to Love Packages in Butler, Illinois to help sort and pack Bibles and Christian materials for shipment to third-world countries. Bibles and other Christian materials are also collected for this ministry, including old dated material such as devotionals and subscriptions. For more information see Open Door Missions.
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. We also send a portion of the Thanksgiving offering to help with both national and international needs. 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.
Midwest Food Bank
see Food Needs (local)
Mt. Pisgah Food Pantry
see Food Needs (local)
OneSight
www.onesight.org
Partnership with Resurrection Lutheran Church. RLC collects used presciption glasses and readers to donate to underprivileged people in developing countries around the world through project OneSight. Drop off your old or unwanted prescription glasses, sunglasses and readers to St. John’s church office.
Open Door Missions
Open Door Missions is for those who feel called to witness in the world through mission trips. For more information click here.
Operation Christmas Child
A seasonal project of the Open Door Missions team.
Pastor’s Emergency Fund
Some in the congregation choose to give monies to the Pastor’s Emergency Fund. These dollars are used to help people in immediate dire need, including walk-ins. The Pastors oversee the fund and the distribution of emergency monies.
Project Concern International
St. John’s Sunday Church School children share their offering with orphan children in many third world countries. Their offerings are designated each semester. Children are encouraged to earn their monthly offering through chores, giving an amount per activity they do, or an amount per activity they give up for others so they connect their gift to an awareness of what others do not have.
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. For more information contact the .
Safe Harbor
also see Food Needs (local)
Safe Harbor, the Salvation Army men’s shelter, feeds the men each day and houses them in the night. Many groups from St. John’s take opportunity to bring a meal and get to know new people who have fallen on hard times. Our official night is scheduled 5 times a year. Any small group can sign up for a meal by calling the mission.
Salvation Army
see Safe Harbor
Samaritan’s Purse
Also see Operation Christmas Child. A mission project of the Open Door Missions team.
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.
Thrive
St. John’s Junior High youth who do mission work as a part of their time together.
For more information, visit St. John’s in the church office.
Thrivent
Thrivent works in partnership with St. John’s with programs that match or supplement gifts given by members.
Used Cell Phones / Prescription Eyewear Collection Project
Projects of the Open Door Missions team.
Verizon / State Farm
Verizon and State Farm both have programs of matching funds for employees who donate to charities or non profits.
Work Camp
St. John’s Work Camps are undertaken by the high school youth each summer. The funds to pay for the Camp are a combination of budgeted funds, fundraisers, individual payment, and matching funds. The camp destination is chosen each year. Students work with peers from around the nation to help people who are no longer able to help themselves. Previous trips include Racine, Wisconsin in 2006; Vandalia, Ohio in in 2007; and Wheaton, Minnesota in 2008.
Other work camps include Nazareth Farm to West Virginia in 2006, 2007, and 2008; and Bethlehem Farm to West Viriginia in 2007 and 2008. For many it is life transforming. Prayer support is also a way of helping students and adults who participate in Work Camp.
For more information regarding the above camps, visit St. John’s in the church office.