Churches receive special envelopes for Harvest Sunday offering

By Rachel L. Toalson
Staff Writer
Southwest Texas Conference congregations should have received special envelopes for next month’s Harvest Sunday anti-hunger offering.
That’s the word from Howard Hartman, anti-hunger coordinator for the Board of Global Ministries.
Envelopes went automatically to congregations, Hartman said. Quantities matched each church’s average worship attendance.
Recommended date for the special conferencewide offering is Nov. 5. Hartman said churches could choose any Sunday before Dec. 31.
For more than 12 years, Harvest Sunday offerings have provided funds for hunger organizations in Southwest Texas and overseas, Hartman said.
“This is a way in which we can join together as a conference to address the hunger needs within our community,” Hartman said. “But we’re also recognizing the world as part of our community. We’re able to make a difference there as well.
“When we can send money to each of these agencies, that’s a big boost for them.”
Funds collected during Harvest Sunday are equally distributed to four organizations—two local and two international, Hartman said. The organizations are different every year and are approved by the annual conference session in June.
Traditionally, he said, one-quarter of the Harvest Sunday proceeds addresses the anti-hunger work in the McAllen District. Money this year is going to McAllen District food pantries.
Another quarter supports a project in one of the other six Southwest Texas Conference districts, Hartman said. This year that project is Christ’s Kitchen in Victoria. The ministry provides a well-balanced meal to an average of 158 visitors a day.
Another 25 percent of the offering aids an ecumenical cause, Hartman said. This year that’s Cameroon, an African nation that The United Methodist Church has pinpointed as a location of new church initiatives. Nineteen United Methodist congregations have been formed in the English- and French-speaking areas of Cameroon, Hartman said.
These churches are developing pig farms, palm nut farms and poultry farms to feed members and become self-sufficient, he said.
“Our conference is so much involved in pushing for new churches,” Hartman said. “This is a place where we started new Methodist churches. Let’s try to build off that enthusiasm that we have and lift up a community that is just starting.”
The final quarter of the Harvest Sunday offering goes to a region “covered by the annual United Methodist Women mission study,” Hartman said. This year that’s Pakistan.
Church World Service, relief arm of the National Council of Churches, is providing food and shelter to victims of the October 2005 earthquake in the mountains between India and Pakistan. Church World Service has already helped 30,000 families and expects to provide emergency assistance to 5,000 families in North West Frontier Province this winter, Hartman said.
The 2005 Harvest Sunday offering brought in $27,829, up $1,713 from 2004’s $26,116. That was up from $25,160 in 2003 but down from $27,789 in 2002, $28,462 in 2001 and $28,643 in 2000.