Nov. 27 special offering helps college
students in Southwest Texas

My view

 

It’s time to plan your United Methodist Student Day special offering Nov. 27!
Why should we plan yet another special giving day for our church when we have so many good causes? Consider how much this one day of giving can be for our college students as they seek financial aid for their college careers.
John Wesley felt that combining education with faith was an essential part of our spiritual journey. United Methodist Student Day is one of the special offerings designated by General Conference to help support our college students. This special day of giving goes back to 1866, when the church had the first Student Day to aid potential students attending a United Methodist college or university.
A portion of the Student Day offering is returned directly to our Southwest Texas Conference so we can award additional scholarships to students in our own conference. If we don’t collect the Student Day offering, our pool of money limits the number and amount of scholarships we can award.
Last year only 62 of our 350 congregations participated in the Student Day offering. We had enough money to fund only two very small scholarships.
One went to Sarah Ruth Fry from Kingsville. Sarah is attending United Methodist-related McMurry University in Abilene. She is enrolled in the nursing program and wants to be a registered nurse.
The other Southwest Texas Conference scholarship went to Christopher James Elford. He enrolled at United Methodist-related Southwestern University in Georgetown this past fall as a freshman.
Both students are exceptional and exemplified the best of our youth!
In addition to these two scholarships awarded by our conference, another 65 students received either a loan or scholarship from the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry in Nashville, Tenn.
The money from the Student Day offering provides much needed funds for our students and for students throughout The United Methodist Church. Our youths are important. Aiding them in obtaining an education is truly a blessing for them and for our church.
Let’s see if we can increase our giving to the Student Day offering this year so that we can offer more scholarships to our college students in our conference and throughout The United Methodist Church!
Each special giving day is important and offered so church members support important causes that touch their hearts! May God bless each of you as you plan for this special day of giving.
Remember that every dollar given to the Student Day offering can be used to help a college student enrolled or who will enroll in one of our United Methodist colleges or universities!