Cisco, Brian and boys
MESQUITE, Texas – Spouses Francisco Varela (left) and Brian Moeschler and their adopted sons (l to r) Patrick, Michael and Bishop take off their face masks for a moment to take a family picture at the annual Pumpkin Patch sponsored by St. Stephen United Methodist Church. By setting up COVID-19 precautions, the church was able to hold the month-long event to benefit its surrounding neighborhood and fund ministry with the Navajo Nation vendor that supplied the pumpkins. (Photo courtesy of Francisco Varela)
A United Methodist Insight Column
United Methodist Insight may be a tiny speck in the Christian mediaverse, but that doesn’t mean we don’t strive to provide our readers with the best of news and views. That’s why Jon Allsop of the Columbia Journalism Review is my go-to guy when it comes to assessing media performance. After all, if you’re striving to be your best, it makes sense to emulate those who are the best in your profession.
Mr. Allsop’s most recent “The Media Today” column caught my attention. After seven months or so of repetitive coverage in our Crisis Watch columns, I confess it’s getting hard to find enlightening and encouraging stories to share. We’re all suffering COVID-19 fatigue, and with the recent resurgence of the coronavirus, it feels as though we’ve nothing left with which to cope.
Here’s where Jon Allsop throws out a challenge in his latest column: “To that end, it’s vital that we find fresh, compelling ways of telling these stories; ways of cutting through the repetition to communicate the urgency of the stakes. The ever-climbing coronavirus death toll is a repetitive story—but each individual death is not. The victims of the virus and Trump’s atrocious management of it only get to live and die once. The economic impacts of the pandemic feel repetitive—but every job, or health-insurance plan, or apartment lost is a tragedy, if not an emergency, for those who have to live through it. The same is true of voter suppression; it’s not a new story, but every voter only gets one vote per election. If they’re wrongly denied the chance to cast it, that’s a scandal, each and every time it happens.”
Mr. Allsop’s counsel could apply to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ as much as it applies to today’s media coverage of these trying times. If anything, our current crises demand that we think of fulfilling United Methodism’s mission – to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world – in ways that will speak directly to what people are experiencing now.
Here’s an example: United Methodist Insight’s sponsoring congregation, St. Stephen UMC in Mesquite, Texas, opted to hold its annual Pumpkin Patch this year by setting up coronavirus precautions. Everyone, workers and customers, are required to wear face masks, and disposable masks are provided for those who don’t have one. Transactions are kept six feet apart by setting up two tables side-by-side. Customers drop cash in a box or swipe their credit cards on a portable WIFI pay station so volunteers don’t have to handle money or plastic that could transmit germs. Plenty of hand sanitizer is available, and equipment is sanitized as well.
With these few precautions, this year’s Pumpkin Patch has transformed from a fund-raiser into a community engagement event. Customers regularly share how surprised and grateful they are for the church’s effort because few such places are offered this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Practically every transaction has resulted in bridge-building conversations. Sometimes the pandemic itself is the focus of a conversation, giving church volunteers the opportunity to encourage and empathize with others’ situations. Sometimes the exchanges are brief, but to date there have been few reports of the kind of angry confrontations happening in other selling situations.
More often, volunteers and customers reminisce about their longtime ties to the St. Stephen community through past events. Sometimes we exchange mutual gratitude for being able to provide Halloween decorations in a way that contributes to ministries locally and far away. (St. Stephen partners with a vendor in the Navajo Nation, with two-thirds of the proceeds returning to the Navajos who’ve grown, harvested and processed the pumpkins).
In the two weeks since the Pumpkin Patch opened, St. Stephen has learned more about its neighbors and neighbors have learned more about St. Stephen. In other words, relationships have begun, and those relationships are forming disciples of Jesus Christ – people who are more comfortable telling what Christ does in their lives – in a natural, unforced, non-proselytizing way.
I’ve drawn two conclusions from St. Stephen UMC’s Pumpkin Patch experience: our church’s encounter with our neighbors is the kind of story that Jon Allsop recommends, and I would gladly write more such stories if I knew about them.
How have you adapted coronavirus precautions to your church’s community engagement this fall? What experiences have you had thus far that helped you realize an event formed disciples at the same time it transformed your immediate world? Send your news tips or stories to United Methodist Insight. Be sure to include contact information so I can hear about your church’s experience directly from those involved.
We may not yet be able to cure the novel coronavirus, but we certainly can counteract the pandemic’s emotional strain with hope.
Another side to the pandemic story
Communicator Annette Spence of the Holston Annual Conference has found one of those stories that tell the impact of the coronavirus pandemic from a different community. (Holston covers parts of Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia, the heart of southern Appalachia along the valley of the Holston River). She writes:
"While congregations throughout Holston Conference have resumed in-person gatherings in the last few weeks, some recovery leaders are still agonizing over damage caused when the pandemic closed United Methodist church buildings to support groups and people fighting addiction."
Annette's article points out several important points about how recovery groups have fallen through the cracks in pandemic ministry. Not only are they barred from meeting in church buildings, many recovering addicts lack the high-speed Internet connection necessary for online meetings.
The article, "Recovery ministries struggle with damage caused by pandemic," can be a harrowing read, but it's worth the effort to get an additional view of what the coronavirus pandemic is doing to our communities.
Church and Society event to focus on educational equity
In addition to sickening and killing people, the coronavirus pandemic has exposed terrible inequities in social systems around the world. The General Board of Church and Society has chosen “educational equity” as the focus of its next seminar. Here’s the board’s press release:
Church and Society will host its fifth annual Called Seminar, "Towards Educational Equity: Investing in the Beloved Community” Nov. 30- Dec. 3, 2020.
Returning back to school in the COVID-19 pandemic has created challenges for students, teachers, and parents. These challenges have been compounded by the disproportionate availability and access to resources, highlighting the inequities of our education system. Unfortunately, these inequities are not unique to COVID-19, and like other societal inequities magnified by COVID-19, existed prior to the pandemic.
This four-day series of seminars will feature discussions with experts on what an equitable education system for all can truly look like. The seminar will equip participants with tools and resources to continue the work of advocacy towards educational equity.
All sessions will be held on Zoom. Registration is free and open to all.
Register for each session here. Advance registration is required for all events.
Closed captions and ASL interpretation will be available for all webinars. Available upon request for Dec. 2 and 3 events.
Participants also will have an option to hold virtual meetings with their Congressional offices on Dec. 3. To participate in this and the team building session on Dec. 2, please register by Nov. 11.
Webinars on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 will be recorded. Register by the date of the webinar to receive the links and additional resources. Please contact Aimee Hong for more information.
Media Mentions as of Oct. 20, 2020
Both candidates went to church this weekend. Their experiences were very different – Religion News Service
Pastor in Michigan leaves church amid political tensions – The Holland Sentinel *
Thirty-two coronavirus cases now linked to Maine church outbreak – Bangor Daily News *
Our church suspended in-person worship until 2021. This one question sealed the deal – Religion News Service
* Paid subscription required.
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.