Church and Community Ministry
The Church and Community Ministry was founded in 1885 by the women of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It came out of a concern by the women for those in mining areas and rural areas. (In the beginning they were known as Rural Workers, then Town and Country Workers, and today Church and Community Workers.) The program was fully supported by the women of the Church until 1964 when the Board of Missions restructured. The Church and Community Ministry is now part of the Mission Personnel Unit.
Church and Community Workers are commissioned missionaries of the General Board of Global Ministries. In response to God's call, they are devoted to uplifting the poor and disenfranchised of society. The Church and Community Ministry Program exists to assist churches and communities in both rural and urban settings with the needs, issues and problems they are facing. Church and Community Workers bring to these arenas resources such as education, leadership development, community development, experiences from other situations and training. They work to change the social inequities of poverty, racial injustice, and domestic violence.
Church and Community Workers take the church into the community and bring the community into the church. It is a kaleidoscope ministry, ever changing and never remaining the same. As needs change so does the ministry.
There are currently 38 Church and Community Workers across the United States. They come from various backgrounds, education, and employment. They include nurses, lawyers, clergy, teachers, and social workers.
In Arkansas there are three Church and Community Workers and their ministries. They are:
Evelyn Banks-Shackelford - Marianna Larger Parish/Delta Dream (Missionary Support Code: 982939) - Evelyn serves five churches in the Arkansas Delta communities around Marianna. Her responsibilities include overseeing a ministry feeding the hungry in the parish communities by operating an area food bank which disburses food to the local food pantries and churches, supplying children with backpacks of food on the weekends and coordinating a community garden. Evelyn also coordinates conference VIM work teams coming to the Marianna Parish Larger Parish.
Evelyn Banks-Shackelford, P. O. Box 204, Moro, AR 72368
870.295.3171, 870.662.0672 mobile, mlpccw@aol.com
Rev. Stephen J. Copley - Executive Director of the Arkansas Interfaith Conference and the Arkansas Interfaith Alliance; Director of Arkansas Justice For Our Neighbors (Missionary Support Code: 982019) - As Executive Director of the Arkansas Interfaith Conference, Copley works with people from the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, B'hai, Buddhist and Hindu faiths to look at issues of unity and dialogue. He also works with them on community ministries around poverty, the environment and immigration. As Executive Director of the Arkansas Interfaith Alliance, he works on public witness at the federal and state level around issues of concern to the interfaith community. As Director of Arkansas Justice For Our Neighbors, he works on fundraising and communication.
Rev. Stephen Copley, PO Box 2441, Little Rock, AR 72203
501.626.9220, scopley438@aol.com
Allyne Solomon - Lower Delta Parish Community Outreach (Missionary Support Code: 982021) - Allyne works with those in poverty and on the fringes of society by assisting in developing ministries with children and youth in the area. Allyne is developing a program with HIPPY in Ashley County for providing healthful snacks for preschoolers. Approximately 90 needy children are served each week. She is working on bringing the First Book program to the Hamburg area. While doing all these things Allyne is not forgetting the main focus of the project - developing ministries and outreach to the Hispanics in the area. She is working on completing the Modular training through the National Plan for Hispanic/Latinos with the General Board of Global Ministries and is planning to take an immersion Spanish course in 2010.
Ongoing needs of this ministry are: school kits, money, and peanut butter and jelly.
Allyne Solomon, c/o First United Methodist Church
202 S. Main St., Hamburg, AR 71646-3228
870.501.1810, allynesolomon@yahoo.com
