Outreach Ministries

Membership Recruitment | Membership Assimilation | Membership Lay Involvement
Outreach | Global Missions | Local Missions | Local Evangelistic Outreach
Global Evangelistic Outreach

Membership - Recruitment

A constant flow of new members into the life and fellowship of Bethany United Methodist Church is crucial for our church to maintain the level and strength of our ministry. New members are needed to bring fresh insights and ideas for ministry into our fellowship. The work of Membership Recruitment includes identifying, inviting and welcoming new persons into our fellowship.

Membership - Assimilation

When new people come to the church they are often without much direction. The task of assimilation is critical in helping new people find their place and feel confident that they belong to the Bethany family. The Bethany Basics course, special invitations, the First-Time Visitor program, Fellowship Friends, New Member Brunches, and assistance in finding Sunday School classes are just a few ways we can help new members make the transition into our church family.

Membership - Lay Involvement

In a large church, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle or have difficulty finding your place for ministry and service. The Lay Involvement team exists to make sure that all members find a place to serve where their talents and gifts will be most beneficial to ministry.

Areas of involvement in membership include:

• Assimilation Committee member

• Being a Fellowship Friend

• First-Time Guest Visitation Team member

• Lay Involvement Committee member

• Membership Enlistment member

• New Member Brunch helper

• People Invite People supporter (simply inviting your friends and family to church)

• Retention Committee member

For more information, contact Bethany’s Membership Director.

Outreach -- Global Missions

Jesus instructed us to care about the physical needs of the people he described as, “the least of these” (Matthew 25:31). Christians must care about the needs of people who are hungry, naked or otherwise in need around the world. How does the church raise awareness of the needs of persons? How do we develop ministries and funding to respond to those needs? How do we enlist our people in becoming more involved in this kind of ministry? Those are the issues Bethany’s Global Missions Committee seeks to answer.

The committee works closely with the S.C. United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) to identify critical needs of people locally, nationally and internationally, and to address those needs through mission trips and projects.

For information about the Global Missions Committee and upcoming mission trips, call Chuck Swenson, Global Missions chairperson, at (843) 821-4856.

Outreach -- Local Missions

All around us every day there are people in need: the poor, the blind, the lame, the homeless. It is the Church responsibility to respond to the needs of people in our community. The Local Missions Committee works to identify the needs of people who reside in the Charleston and Summerville areas and to coordinate programs to meet those needs.

Through the support of the congregation of Bethany, the Local Missions Committee has established many programs to aid the elderly, the disabled and the poor.

• Operation Heatwave – Providing space heaters during the winter

• Second Saturday – Program to repair the homes and build wheelchair ramps for the poor and disabled

• Thanksgiving Baskets – To more than 125 families. These baskets consist of all the necessary food for preparing a Thanksgiving meal.

• Angel Tree – Providing toys and clothing to disadvantaged children at Christmas

• Hands of Christ – Providing school supplies to poor children both Dorchester School Districts 2 and 4.

Local Missions provides financial support to many local nonprofit agencies in our community:

• Palmetto House Homeless Shelter

• My Sisters House

• Meals on Wheels

• Ark of Summerville

• Help of Summerville

• Stars of Summerville

Fundraisers to further support the programs of Local Missions and to provide fellowship to members of the church and community.

• Annual Community-Wide Pancake Breakfast

• Annual Christmas Tree Sale

To learn more about the Local Missions Committee, the Bethany Builders and planned local mission projects, call David Powell, Local Missions chairperson, at (843) 821-9535.

Outreach -- Local Evangelistic Outreach

In the very neighborhoods where we live, there are many people living around us who are not active members of a church. Of this group, many have no religious affiliation at all. The mission of the Local Evangelistic Outreach (LEO) Committee is to consider how the church can reach out to people in such a compelling way, that those who are outside of Christianity are drawn into the faith and fellowship of God’s people.

LEO takes part in furthering such Bethany ministries as the Bethany booth and picnic grounds during Summerville’s annual Flowertown Festival and the Living Christmas Story.