October 1, 2002

Tangible Love: Nearly $3 Million in Two Decades
Embodying Justice, Proclaiming Peace

During the past 19 years, 181 one- to three-year projects have received a total of $2,863,700 in Tangible Love grants, which are supported through the Oblation Fund. Approximately 20 percent of Oblation Fund dollars go to Tangible Love grants, a percentage that could increase if contributions to the fund grow.

Tangible Love grants are available for peace, justice, and compassionate ministries sponsored by Community of Christ congregations and jurisdictions. These outreach ministries focus on meeting people’s basic physical, social, and educational needs; environmental ministries; human rights advocacy; reconciliation/conflict resolution initiatives and training; and peace and justice ministries with children, youth, and young adults. To be approved for a grant, ministries must recognize the worth of individuals, families, congregations, and communities, locally and internationally, and facilitate reconciliation and healing of the spirit.

Projects must represent a collaborative effort between church and community or have specified plans to evolve as such. All applicants agree to serve as mentors for others interested in developing similar projects. Ministries have included, but are not limited to, projects that advance peace and understanding among diverse religious and cultural communities, helping homeless families progress to self-sufficiency, and after-school centers for children and youth.

The story of four Tangible Love projects follows, representative of the wide variety of ministries created and sustained by the fund.

Empowering the Poor
Imani Mission Center, Columbia, Missouri, received funds for 2000 through 2002 to support an urban ethnic ministry that empowers needy families to help themselves and each other. Pastor and director Judy Hubbard said, “This is hands-on Zion building.”

Children from the Imani Mission Center in surround Pastor Judy Hubbard during an Adventures in Peacemaking daycamp outing.

The center operates six days a week and offers Sunday evening worship. It is strategically located within walking distance of African-American public housing neighborhoods. More than 1,500 families have participated in the social ministries offered at Imani.

Glenn Cobbins, the center’s outreach coordinator, said that the center is in the city’s highest crime area. He feels that identity formation is the most important aspect of what the center does. “We give them what they need to be successful,” he said. Cobbins describes himself as “coming from the same quilt” as the center’s clients. He’s from the neighborhood and served time in prison for dealing drugs. “Now I can give back by letting them know about God’s forgiveness and love. I’m part of something that saves people’s lives.”

The center offers parent support groups, church school, and Young Peacemakers Club. Drug and alcohol addiction support groups meet several times per week, and many people who have been incarcerated embrace the center as their support to re-enter society. A victims advocacy group has been started and staff go to court with accused clients to advocate for equitable justice. The nonprofit organization Destiny of H.O.P.E. is housed in the center with programs that focus on preventing violence, crime, and drug use for youth.

Center volunteers (who are also the clients) and staff partner with several organizations to help people obtain shelter, clothing, food, and rent and utility assistance. Hubbard said, “There are so many poor-working poor in particular-that fall through the cracks.” The center also helps people with applications, resumés, and job interviews.

Cobbins said, “I invite anyone to come see what we’re doing-be part of it.” He said there are intense times but always a feeling that things will be all right. He focuses on walking the talk. “If I can walk in the shoes of a person who gave their life for me, my lips will follow.”

Helping Homeless Families
In 2001, Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) in Mississippi received a grant to provide temporary shelter and social program assistance to single- and two-parent families. IHN board president and pastor William Barsema said, “Nationwide and local statistics indicate that families are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population and, in many locations, the least well served.” That was true in the Ocean Springs-Long Beach area that IHN serves, which has no other family shelters.

More than 70 percent of families who participate in IHN have found permanent housing. They also receive the benefit of job search and training assistance and help securing welfare benefits, childcare, and school placement. These services are provided through IHN’s 11 host congregations, which provide a place for families to stay; 11 support congregations (including the Gulfport and Ocean Springs Community of Christ congregations), which help with host churches and other IHN needs; and social services agencies.

“The Tangible Love grant came at a critical time for us,” said Barsema, who indicated that the money kept them afloat while they worked to secure other avenues of funding. Involved churches and community organizations do fund-raisers, and other grants have also been secured.

Barsema says the ministry is one where you receive more than you give. “The families are priceless and the congregation has learned that ‘the homeless’ [includes] families down on their luck living in their cars, under bridges, or wandering between family members and friends. They are children who are just like ours and caring parents who need a little assistance,” he explained.

He feels that the participation and support of the local congregations and the World Church help to make the name “Community of Christ” real in the Gulfport-Ocean Springs area. He said, “To get 22 churches working together as one is a sight that needs to be shared around the world. I feel lucky to do a small part of the Lord’s work on his earth as he has called me to do.”

Eradicating AIDS and Its Impact
For three years (1999-2002), the Tovwirane Center in Mzimba, Malawi, received funds through a Tangible Love grant to support its work to eradicate HIV and AIDS and its impact. Community members, including Community of Christ national leader the late Roshen Phiri, organized the center in 1993. Church members continue to participate and provide leadership in this community effort. Former Africa Region administrator Gregg McDonald said, “This program is well known and actively supported by the members of the Mzimba community.”

The AIDS epidemic has long been a major health disaster in Africa. The Tovwirane Center utilizes various activities to meet its objectives. Education, counseling, and resources are used to empower people by dispelling myths and increasing prevention of HIV and AIDS. Care is found for the many local children who have lost both parents to the disease in a culture where poverty makes adoption unrealistic. Home care is provided for chronically ill patients, and there is a concerted effort to empower people, especially youth, with life skills.

Helen Munthali, who was “instrumental in helping Community of Christ become established in Malawi,” according to McDonald, chairs the center. He explained that the Tangible Love grant supports an already successful community effort and also helps the church because community members are aware that Community of Christ is supportive of their efforts to free themselves from the scourge of AIDS.

A Safe Place to Deal with Mental Illness
Folk-Time, a project in Portland, Oregon, that meets the needs of chronically mentally ill adults, received grants in 2000 and 2001. More than 60 members of the Folk-Time community participate in activities that improve their quality of life and their life skills. Twice a week the group shares a hot lunch in which all are involved from preparation to clean-up, and weekly field trips are offered. The Folk-Time community offers an atmosphere where members meet friends and volunteers with whom it is safe to talk about their daily challenges.

Project director Laurie Dalton said, “Folk-Time is more than a social program…. [It] is a community of people helping each other to live with the day-to-day reality of mental illness.” Members also provide support to one another outside the hours of Folk-Time’s operation in hopes that fewer will require hospitalization or become homeless or incarcerated.

Besides one another, Folk-Time members receive support from several volunteer mentors. In return, members also focus on outreach. In November they rake leaves for the Portland Community of Christ congregation, which has housed Folk-Time since its beginning sixteen years ago, and many have participated in fund-raisers that support the church’s youth program.

The program depends on volunteers who come from the church and the community. “What has been exciting to see,” said Dalton, “is how much the Folk-Time members realize they are receiving from the Portland congregation and how appreciative they are.” Dalton is also grateful for the financial stability provided by Tangible Love grants. She said, “We are very appreciative of the support and community we find at the church.”

-Kendra Friend reporting

Offerings to the Oblation Fund will continue to support these and other Tangible Love projects. For more information about available mentoring and funding for starting a project in your community, visit the Web site at www.CofChrist.org/tlove or contact World Church stewardship commissioner Kenneth Schnell at 1-800-825-2806, ext. 3073, or kschnell@CofChrist.org.