Are you aware of the ways we, as United Methodists, are caring for children in need in our area? Let me tell you about the United Methodist Children's Home in Decatur and the Murphy-Harpst Home in Cedartown.
For many years, the Children's Home in Decatur was primarilly a residential care facility, or what we used to call an "orphanage." There are still a number of children living there, but because of changing attitudes and government policies, the focus of the home has changed over the last several years. Rather than housing children in group homes, the thought today is that children do better in Foster Care environments. The Children's Home has adapted and is, today, very heavilly involved in this effort. For those older teens and young adults needing to become more independent, the Children's Home now devotes much of its resources to teaching life skills and helping persons secure an apartment, learn a trade and find meaningful employment.
Murphy-Harpst Children's Home is a residential care facility for high risk children and teens. The children living there have experienced unspeakable emotional, physical and, in some cases, sexual abuse. They have nowhere else safe to go. At Murphy-Harpst they encounter an environment of love, support, and hope; all offered in the name and on behalf of Christ and the Church. What they do in the lives of these kids is truly remarkable!
Why am I telling you this? Two reasons. One of our own members, Ralph Jones, currently serves as Chairman of the Board for the Children's Home in Decatur. He will be sharing information about the ministry in this Sunday's worship.
The other reason for sharing is this. These ministries...these kids need our support. Neither program is funded in the conference budget. They depend on the support of churches like Sugarloaf. We have decided to support these ministries in the following way.
Whenever we have an infant baptism, I will be offering you an opportunity to make a gift to the Children's Homes in honor of that child. We will NOT be taking up another offering! This is simply a way for any who want to give to do so. At the conclusion of the service, you are simply given an opportunity, if you wish, to leave loose change, a few dollars, a check, whatever you wish. ALL the money left at the altar will be sent to the two Children's Homes in honor of the child being baptized in worship that day. I will be saying more about this this week. I believe this is a way for us to make a meaningful and significant contribution to support the work of these two amazing programs.
I look forward to sharing more about all this with you on Sunday.
Stuart
