Church World Service Archives - Christian Church in Oklahoma

Disciples Supporting Afghan Families

Loving and Helping Our New Neighbors

Soon Afghan families will be our new neighbors as they move into the metropolitan areas of Oklahoma. Some of our Disciple congregations are already making preparations to help welcome them. As you might imagine, the needs to help one family relocate are tremendous, and there will be many families who need our help. If your congregation would like to join this ministry and work together, please contact Mary Heath, Chair of the Region’s Refugee & Immigration Commission or the Regional Office. Please note there are many resources to help understand the needs of our Afghan communities. The resources below are just a start!

Disciples Hospitality & Welcome

These links will take you to the most comprehensive resources to learn about Disciples hospitality and welcome of Afghanistan refugees into our midst. You are welcome to use any and/or all of these resources in your congregation.

Disciples Statements on Refugees and Immigration

Share this video from Rev. Terri Hord Owens, General Minister and President, and this video from Week of Compassion on Afghan Welcoming.

Disciples Refugees & Immigration Ministries (RIM)

These links will direct you to many resources for your congregation to learn more about the Afghan refugees.

Web Resources Facebook Resources

Week of Compassion

Refugees and Displaced People

Church World Service

Church World Service is an organization in the US serving the Afghan resettlement program. There are twenty-one CWS offices around the US. Just recently, CWS approved the Afghan Placement and Assistance Program to make it possible for CWS to provide resources to communities who want to partner with CWS who are further than 100 miles from a CSW office, places like Oklahoma and West Virginia.

Please follow the links below to help your congregation learn about the CWS Afghan Resettlement ministries and worship resources.

5 Ways You Can Help Welcome Afghans Video

Resources and Worship Guide for Reflecting and Praying for the Displaced

Oklahoma Congregations Already Preparing

The Region of Oklahoma has eight congregations already preparing to help in the resettlement of Afghan families.

Edmond Trinity
Norman FCC – working ecumenically in the Norman community
OKC Crown Heights
OKC Western Oaks
Ponca City FCC
Stillwater FCC – working ecumenically in the Stillwater community; OSU has contributed housing
Tulsa Harvard Avenue – working ecumenically in the Tulsa community
Weatherford Federated

How Your Congregation can Participate

The needs of resettlement are great. Here are some of the many ways your congregation can be a partner in this ministry.

1. Pray for these Afghans who have been displaced from their home and are seeking a new home — here.
2. Partner with a larger congregation who is already in motion.
3. Designate a point person in your congregation to contact one of the congregations noted above to see what the needs are and report back to your board to determine the best way for your congregation to partner. Some of the needs include:

financial support for rent, utilities, legal services
medical care
transportation
furniture and home goods
appropriate seasonal clothing for adults and children
language interpreters for Dari and Pashto
volunteers when the time comes

4. Make a financial contribution to the Region’s Restricted Fund: Refugee & Immigration Afghan Resettlement.

We cannot do this ministry by ourselves. We work best together. Let us welcome and love our new neighbors with joy and gratitude!

Peace & God’s Grace,
Rev. Pamela Holt

CCOK3012021-10-12T14:52:18-05:00Oct 12, 2021|Regional News|Comments Off

Church World Service Kits Program: Emergency Kit Depots Needed! Watch the Video

Watch a video about the emergency kits impact!

A Letter From Church World Service:

As you might have heard, the CWS Kits program is a critical one for disaster responses both near and far. But we have one big problem: we don’t have an easy way for congregations in your area to collect the supplies needed to fuel those responses.

We’re determined to overcome that problem this year, which is why I’m reaching out to your congregation. We’re looking for one congregation to serve as our Emergency Kit Depot in your area when disasters strike the U.S. It’s a very low-maintenance commitment with a powerful outcome. Will you consider serving in this role?

As an Emergency Kit Depot, your congregation would open your doors for a limited period of time (around two months) following a major emergency, and only when CWS makes it clear that there is a need. This gives local congregations a place to drop off their emergency cleanup buckets, hygiene kits and school kits based on your availability.

Our team supplies almost everything you’d need to make this a smooth process: we communicate with local congregations, we send you a toolkit with preparation information, and we arrange for kits to be picked up at a date that is convenient for your congregation. You would simply be offering storage space and a handful of volunteers to help with the collection.

If your congregation is interested, I’d love to share more information with you about this important opportunity to see if it’s a mutual fit. Just complete this interest form and we’ll reach out to you right away – this is a first step in learning more, but it does not commit your congregation to the kits ministry.

Thanks so much for your support as we respond to more needs together,

Samantha Fore
Congregational Outreach Specialist
Church World Service

CCOK3012019-07-01T13:18:27-05:00Jul 1, 2019|Congregations|Comments Off

Going to the Disciples of Christ Conference in July? CWS Needs Your Help with Disaster Relief Kits!

A Message From Church World Services:

Are you driving to the Disciples Conference this summer in Des Moines? If you’ve registered, we have a new way for you to build disaster response into this trip.

You may be familiar with CWS’ Kit ministry, which has helped fuel disaster response for thousands of families this year. Because of that response, we’re incredibly low on supplies like hygiene kits and emergency cleanup buckets. We need all the help we can get to restock before hurricane season bears down – and that’s where you can help.

Will you help restock these supplies by assembling kits? We’re opening a CWS Kit drop-off point at West Des Moines Christian Church during the Conference dates. If you and your congregation choose to assemble kits – you can find assembly instructions here – you can easily drop them off at this location:

Location Details
West Des Moines Christian Church
4501 Mills Civic Parkway
West Des Moines, IA 50265
(515) 223-1639
Contact: Luke Ehrhardt, [email protected]

Let me know if you have questions or if there are other ways your congregation wants to support this ministry.

Matthew Stevens, [email protected]
Director of Congregational Giving
Church World Service

CCOK3012019-05-23T10:52:07-05:00May 23, 2019|Congregations|Comments Off

300+ Clean Up Buckets Donated to CWS

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

A few weeks ago, after Hurricane Harvey created its disaster on the coast of Texas, we asked for Oklahoma congregations to participate in creating desperately needed Church World Service Hygiene Kits and Clean Up Buckets. Look what you all have done! You all have responded in an astounding way!

Since this request, Hurricane Irma made her mess in the Caribbean islands and Florida. Then, Hurricane Maria decimated Puerto Rico. All your work and your prayers will be delivered to unknown recipients who will receive these gifts with deep gratitude.

Blessings,
Rev. Pam Holt

Here are pictures of our congregations uniting to help.

FCC Edmond has been featured in The Edmond Sun for the bucket project. Read more HERE.

On Friday, September 29, 2017, Regional Minister Pam Holt met the volunteers from congregations who served as drop off locations at the OK Conference UMC Ministry Center in Oklahoma City to help unload the buckets and hygiene kits. These much needed supplies will assistant in hurricane relief efforts for U.S. citizens in the mainland and Puerto Rico.

UMC Volunteers are working directly with Church World Service to have the clean up buckets and kits picked up and distributed for hurricane relief.

Scott Rackets is shown delivering a truck load of buckets that Harvard Avenue Christian Church in Tulsa had collected.

FCC Duncan Volunteers.

Iglesia Christiana El Shaddai in Enid helped to pick up and transport the buckets from FCC Edmond to the UMC collection site in Oklahoma City.

FCC Perry assembled 60 cleanup buckets surpassing their goal of 20.

FCC Woodward created hygiene kits and buckets.

A special thank you to the churches who participated as Drop Off Sites:

First Christian Church – Duncan
First Christian Church – Edmond
First Christian Church – Oklahoma City
Harvard Avenue Christian Church – Tulsa
Iglesia Christiana El Shaddai – Enid
OK Conference UMC Ministry Center

CCOK3012019-03-18T15:43:26-05:00Oct 2, 2017|Congregations|Comments Off

Update 3: Hurricanes, wildfires and world disasters

551st Multi-Role Bridge Company out of El Campo, Texas, scouts the road for water depth as his unit makes there way to a flooded Orange, Texas neighborhood where they use their boats to search for people in need of help, Sept. 3, 2017 as a result of Hurricane Harvey. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Joshua L. DeMotts)

Blackhawk flyover of Railyard in Beaumont, TX on 9-2-17. (Video by 1st lt. Nicholas Caesar, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Southwestern Division)

Air National Guard responding to Pier Fire Fresno, CA

U.S. Air National Guardsmen follow a U.S. Forrest Service lead plane under a large column of smoke preparing to drop retardant on the Pier Fire southeast of Fresno California. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by: Tech. Sgt. Jeff Allen.)

U.S. Air National Guardsmen Maj. Danny Ariza (left) Capt. Nate Southwick (right) and loadmaster Staff Sgt. Garret Gillette (center) follow a U.S. Forrest Service lead plane under a large column of smoke preparing to drop retardant on the Pier Fire southeast of Fresno California (U.S. Air National Guard photo by: Tech. Sgt. Jeff Allen.)

We are sharing this information to update you about the continued devastation from U.S. Hurricanes and wildfires and other world disasters. Above image credits: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team Hurricane Irma 9/6/17

Pam Holt, Regional Minister

09.07.17 11:00 am

“Listen to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor, who suffer most because of the unbalanced ecology.”
Pope Frances

Disasters in South Texas & Louisiana, California, India, Caribbean, Florida

Last week while Hurricane Harvey devastated south Texas and wild fires in California, monsoons paralyzed Mumbai with twelve hundred lives lost and twenty-four million people affected across India, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

As of today, Hurricane Irma has devastated several Caribbean islands.

In Puerto Rico, millions are without electricity and many are without water. There have been ten reported deaths.
Caminante, located in the Dominican Republic, has been severely affected. Caminante is a Global Ministries partner and one our Region supports and visits each summer.
And now Florida is preparing for Hurricane Irma’s wild and chaotic presence this weekend.

Week of Compassion is responding and will continue to reach out to our partners and churches to provide emergency support and assistance in these unprecedented storms.

Please continue to keep these millions of people in your prayers, and thank you for your generous support to Week of Compassion.

We also continue to encourage congregations to make Church World Service Clean-Up Buckets and Hygiene Kits. (CLICK HERE for a list of the contents and instructions on assembly.) These will be distributed both in South Texas and in Florida.

Oklahoma Drop Off Points for Clean-Up Buckets & Hygiene Kits

Duncan
First Christian Church Duncan
912 W. Walnut Ave.
Duncan, OK 73533
(580) 255-6116

Enid
Iglesia Christiana El Shaddai
1524 N. Independence St.
Enid, OK 73701
(580) 278-8424

Edmond
First Christian Church Edmond
201 E. 2nd St.
Edmond, OK 73034
(405) 341-3544

Oklahoma City
First Christian Church Oklahoma City
3700 N. Walker Ave.
Oklahoma City, OK 73118
(405) 525-6551

Tulsa
Harvard Avenue Christian Church
5502 S. Harvard Ave.
Tulsa, OK 74135
(918) 742-5509

Donate to Church World Service

Donate to Week of Compassion

CCOK3012017-09-07T15:59:59-05:00Sep 7, 2017|Regional News|Comments Off

Update #2 Hurricane Harvey

Coast Guard Hurricane Harvey Beaumont, TX

Coast Guard helicopter rescue Beaumont, TX Hurricane Harvey

Beaumont, TX area 8/30/17 The Coast Guard responds to search and rescue requests in response to Hurricane Harvey.

(U.S. Coast Guard photos by Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Giles. Used with permission.)

Coast Guard rescue Port Arthur, TX Hurricane Harvey

Port Arthur, TX 8/30/17 Petty Officer 3rd Class Austin Davis, assigned to Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team New Orleans, rescues a child in support of Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.

(U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy by Maritime Safety and Security Team New Orleans/Released. Used with permission.)

We are sharing this information to update you about the continued devastation from Hurricane Harvey.

Pam Holt, Regional Minister

08.31.17 11:50 am

Things are quite grim in far SE Texas today after three days of extreme rains.

Beaumont is essentially stranded with the water system compromised.
Port Arthur and Orange took a hard hit.
Flooding is still occurring in Houston, but people are starting to be able to get around.
Schools in Katy have been postponed for several weeks.
Port Aransas has suspended schools in their area for this school year due to damage.

The list is endless. Income and banking are now moving to the top of the list. Jobs and services are lost. I am so appreciative of all your donations and efforts to encourage Week of Compassion and Church World Service giving.

Texas is resilient but this is going to be a very long haul. Please continue prayers for us.

Grace and peace,

Zena McAdams
Interim Regional Minister
Christian Church of the Southwest

Donate to Church World Service

Donate to Week of Compassion

CCOK3012017-08-31T16:44:54-05:00Aug 31, 2017|Regional News|Comments Off

Immediate Needs for Hurricane Harvey: How You Can Help

A Message from Regional Minister Pam Holt

Downloads

Video Transcript – Please feel free to use excerpts of Regional Minister Pam Holt’s message

How to Assemble Hygiene Kits & Clean Up Buckets – Instructions and contents for assembly

Week of Compassion Logo – Use this logo in your outreach

Mail Checks To:
Week of Compassion
PO Box 1986
Indianapolis, IN 46206

Make Payable to Week of Compassion

Donate Online to WOC

When one member suffers, we all suffer . . .

Imagine what you might see inside this sanctuary. It is Cypress Creek Christian Church in Spring, Texas.

There are many of our brothers and sisters suffering in south Texas from Hurricane Harvey. We all know someone in this area – they are either family or friends who are impacted by this unbelievable storm.

Oklahoma folks know what devastation is, and we also know what it is like to be on the receiving end of grace and acts of kindness. Because we are compassionate and generous disciples of Christ, we are anxious to help our brothers and sisters in great need in south Texas. And we are all asking “What can we do?” Right now, the waters are still very high, and while the clouds have parted to reveal blue sky, people are still being rescued from danger.

What We Recommend

While there are many needs and many pleas on FaceBook, in consultation with Rev. Mary Hughes Gaudreau, Oklahoma Conference of Church’s expert on Disaster Spiritual and Emotional Care Ministries, Vy Nguyen from Week of Compassion, Josh Baird from Disciples Volunteering, Rebekah Belase local representative for Church World Service, and Zena McAdams, the Interim Regional Minister of the Christian Church in the Southwest, we are recommending the following:

PRAY. Keep the millions of victims of this storm in your prayers. Pray for all the rescuers, the first responders who are working on the ground and who are exhausted yet determined. Pray for the Red Cross and the Salvation Army who are in urgent mode. Pray for city officials who are already thinking about the long-term clean up. Pray for all the livestock and pets who were abandoned.

STAY. Out of concern and a desire to be useful, we want to go and help. Now is not the time! The situation is dangerous and is ongoing even though the sun came out on Tuesday afternoon. Volunteers at this time put themselves at risk and create additional challenges for rescue and emergency crews. Volunteer opportunities will come later for clean-up and long term recovery. We will listen for mission opportunities in the days and weeks and months ahead.

DONATE. Give to the Week of Compassion. On Sunday morning, please make an appeal to church members to make an extra donation to Week of Compassion. Remind folks to designate the donation to US Storms where 100% of their gifts will go to help communities rebuild after storms such as Hurricane Harvey. For the days ahead, be creative and host a church yard sale and donate all the proceeds to Week of Compassion.

MAKE.

Hygiene Kits and Clean Up Buckets.

Remember the 120 hygiene kits that we made in April 2016 at Regional Assembly? Church World Service is sending 150,000 hygiene kits to Texas. They need more. Gather your resources and make hygiene kits to be shipped to Texas. Follow this link for instructions or download it at the link above.

In just a few days, Clean Up Buckets will be needed. Church World Service has 1,500 clean up buckets, which is all that they have. CWS is in desperate need of more clean up buckets. We need to make more! In the next few Sundays, organize and make clean-up buckets. CWS will need these buckets by September 30th. Follow this link for instructions or download it at the link above.

Where to take them? We will publish a drop off point for these buckets in the near future. Arrangements are being made right now. Just get started!

GIVE BLOOD. You can always give blood at your local blood donation station and designate it Hurricane Harvey.

These are the first steps to being the hands and feet of Christ in South Texas.

Please know that this is a situation where the needs for help will change, almost daily. We will do our best to keep you informed so that you can continue to be faithful disciples of Christ, and guide your congregation to love and serve like Jesus.

Pam Holt, Regional Minister
Michael Davison, Associate Regional Minister
Leslie Dotson, Associate Regional Minister

CCOK3012017-08-31T11:39:23-05:00Aug 31, 2017|Regional News|Comments Off