The Shared Ministry

Fourth United Church of Christ—Park Street United Methodist Church

1508 Market Street - Harrisburg, PA 17103 (717)-232-0877 (Office Hours 9 AM-NOON)

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ACTS 29

CURRENT STRENGTHS OF THE SHARED MINISTRY

The Shared Ministry continues to make and keep disciples for Christ in the following ways:

A.We care for our members with Christian love and compassion and have regular visitations to sick and shut-ins.

B. We serve our neighbors in need and the larger community by sharing the limited resources we have:  

      1. Weekly after-school tutoring program with Bible stories, songs, and a hot meal for neighborhood                children.

      2. Community hours Monday-Wednesday-Friday mornings during which time we have available spiritual               nourishment/counseling; food vouchers; limited and focused financial assistance through the Pastor's          Fund; clothing; and referrals to a wide variety of social service agencies.

      3. Summer week-long day camp for neighborhood children at location outside the city.                                   4. Thanksgiving food basket distribution to needy families in the neighborhood.

      5. Christmas toy distribution to needy children in the neighborhood.

      6. End-of-school-year meal that includes the parents/guardians/caregivers of children in tutoring program.  

C. We welcome persons from all cultures and races to be part of The Shared Ministry in Sunday school and/or worship services as well as any activities that take place at The Shared Ministry.

We will continue to affirm and celebrate the strengths we have identified. Some examples of the celebration of our strengths will be to increase the use of our prayer chain, institute monthly community breakfasts (in conjunction with Martin Luther King Baptist Church), and increase the age diversity among the persons from other cultures who attend services and activities at The Shared Ministry.  

ACTION PLAN FOR THE SHARED MINISTRY 

 The Shared Ministry, following discussion, thought, and prayer while attempting to discern what God is calling us to do, identifies the following three areas for focus during the calendar year of 2007:

The Shared Ministry will conduct a community needs assessment and evaluation of response potential to identify needs in the church's immediate community which can effectively be met by The Shared Ministry either independently or in concert with other churches and organizations.

•  Assess Community Needs —February to October                                                                                                •  Identify social and spiritual service needs of the immediate community surrounding The Shared Ministry with a focus on individuals (both members and non-members) living in the local neighborhood of the church.

•  Conduct two focus groups with community residents—one for adults and one for youth. •  Distribute a paper survey and stamped envelope to a sample of community homes addressing such topics as awareness of The Shared Ministry and its current outreaches and services, perceptions about community needs, and suggestions for programs and services most likely to be needed and used.

•  Develop provider surveys to obtain information from social service providers.

•  Interview key individuals who are knowledgeable about the community. Analyze secondary data including census data, health indicators data, and other available community studies to gather information on community demographics and needs.

•  Describe current efforts to address needs of the community.

•  Identify gaps in service provision.  

•  Evaluate The Shared Ministry's Response Potential —March to November

Survey the congregation through a written survey to discern:

1) perceptions about congregational and community needs

2) perceptions of programs and outreaches which best match The Shared Ministry's resources and interests

3) members' personal strengths, talents and interests for volunteering in The Shared Ministry's spiritual and service ministries

4) current service involvements

5) hours and days of availability for volunteering.

6) Conduct a focus group for interested members to discuss issues raised in the written survey.

7) Interview the pastor, council members and committee leaders.

8) The cost will be negligible as the project will be developed by Research Applications , a company owned by members of the congregation.

9)  Printing of all surveys and other necessary documents will be done at the church by volunteers.

10) Distribution and/or mailing of surveys will be done by volunteer members of the congregation and select members of the community.

11) A computerized database and directory of church members' services, strengths, talents, and volunteering interests and availability will be created.

12) The current listing of churches and other organizations serving the community will be updated.

13) Analysis of the needs assessment and response potential will be reported first to the church leadership and then to members of the congregation at the annual meeting to be held in December 2007.

14) The Shared Ministry offers an urban clinical setting that will be used to provide both educational experiences for students and also, servant ministry for the Allison Hill neighborhood. These service and educational programs will be in health care, pastoral care, clinical chaplaincy, and pastoral counseling through programs of graduate education and seminary graduate education. In order to enable the provision of clinical experiences and also to provide additional programs for the immediate community, The Shared Ministry will secure funding sources through grant-writing processes.

Such sources will include, but not be limited to, The Pinnacle Health Foundation, The McCune Foundation, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation and other local and national foundations and groups, such as Harrisburg Young Professionals, that may be interested in fostering ministry, programs, and services to and for persons and students in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods. A critical phase will be the comprehensive development of and expense budget through intentional collaboration with Christian Churches United, Help, Inc. and the Pinnacle Health Spiritual Care Advisory Committee and the Spiritual Care Department.

•  Rev. Michael Beynon will meet monthly with the Spiritual Care Committee of the Pinnacle Health System.

•  Exploration of possible funding sources will be done by volunteers from the congregation with a deadline of November, 2007 to write grant proposals to interested parties

•  There will be no cost associated with this goal.

•  Actualization of this goal will enable The Shared Ministry to become a site for clinical experiences for students from a variety of educational venues as well as to offer additional programs for the surrounding community.

•  Evaluation of this goal will occur by actually writing grants proposals and, in the next year, seeing the realization of funding from one or more of them.

•  Grant proposals written and contacts made and established will be reported at the Annual Meeting of The Shared Ministry and included in the Charge Conference report to the conference.  

•  Activate a venture previously discussed by The Shared Ministry Council and the congregation, “Ties That Bind,” designed to establish relationships with suburban churches and organizations within and outside the city. These relationships will enable those churches and organizations to join with current programs and/or begin new programs using The Shared Ministry as a base.  

•  Revise and print a brochure for “Ties That Bind” that describes The Shared Ministry and its existing programs.

•  Revise and print materials about existing and proposed programs of The Shared Ministry that can be distributed to interested parties.

•  Establish guidelines for ways other churches can be involved with The Shared Ministry, including sharing members, in-kind services, volunteer opportunities, and donations for specific needs.

•  Contact suburban churches and request a time to present our programs, needs, and dreams to their administrative body or to whomever is designated by them.

•  Do presentations by volunteer members of The Shared Ministry Council and members of the congregation.

•  Printing of the brochures and other materials will be done in-house and there will be no outside costs associated with the printing.

•  We seek to create new and expanded programs that will offer more opportunities for members of the surrounding community such as expanding our tutoring program, establishing computer training, and re-instituting a literacy program.

•  The success of this venture will be evaluated by the realization of one or more programs/relationships that enable The Shared Ministry to continue to be in ministry on Allison Hill.

•  The contacts with other churches and organizations will be made by October 2007.

•  Outcomes of this venture will be reported at the Annual Meeting of The Shared Ministry and reported with Charge Conference documents.

The mean age and health status of the members of our congregation, as well as our small size, may preclude wide involvement of the congregation. Therefore, we acknowledge that a limited number of members may be able to actively participate in the fulfillment of Acts 29.