Designated Ministry: Missionary Outreach—May 31, 2009

To view entire suggested worship service for this day, click here.
Click here for a PowerPoint presentation to support the story.

For stories about what’s happening in Apostle Linda Booth’s Southern USA Mission Field, read the May Herald “Sharing in the Field” section.

A. Disciples’ Generous Response Story: World

Tri City, Kentucky—Come, Holy Spirit, Come

Each Sunday we are invited to “share equally” with Mission Tithes for local and world ministries. These stories are provided to keep us in touch with how your contributions to Mission Tithes are spreading the peace of Jesus Christ.

This story, Disciple the World, takes us to the Tri City, Kentucky Community of Christ in the Mid–South USA Mission Center, part of Apostle Linda Booth’s Southern USA Mission Field. Linda relates: About two years ago the pastor of the Tri City, Kentucky congregation announced that she was “tired” of doing church the same old way. She had been praying and believed God was calling the congregation to reach out to children through a children’s Peace Club. The few at that Wednesday evening Fellowship Service were stunned, responding, “We have no children.” However, they reached out in faith and invited the Holy Spirit to come into their lives.

Two years later I spent four days with the congregation. On Thursday evening, there were 48 children at the Peace Club. I sat across the table from Wendell, a self-proclaimed, recovered addict who has been baptized because his two teenage children love the people who have loved them. On Sunday there were about 25 children, youth, parents and grandparents, many of whom have been baptized because they’ve seen the difference the Peace Club has made and they are being transformed. And the older folks who thought their congregation was dying now have new life and vitality as they drive hundreds of miles each week to pick up children, love them, replace worn-out shoes that parents can’t afford, counsel with parents, and share Christ’s peace. Your contributions to World Ministries Mission Tithes make missionary outreach such as the Peace Club possible. Thank you for responding faithfully by sharing so very generously.—Linda Booth, apostle, Southern USA Mission Field

B. Disciples’ Generous Response Story: Local

What is happening to you or in your congregation as a result of giving to local ministries through Mission Tithes? Share those experiences as part of your congregation’s Disciples’ Generous Response.

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C. Blessing on Our Offering

From Doctrine and Covenants 162:2e we read: Again you are reminded that this community was divinely called into being. The spirit of the Restoration is not locked in one moment of time, but is instead the call to every generation to witness to essential truths in its own language and form. Let the Spirit breathe.

Sharing our Mission Tithes equally between local and world ministries is part of sharing the peace of Jesus Christ. Let us share in the prayer of blessing for our offering.