Bethel United Methodist Church
Monday, September 06, 2010
God's House in the Heart of Bethel

Gifts for Christ

The programs of our Church and our Church building itself have many needs that cannot be supported out of our day-to-day operating budget.  These are the things we add to our long term list which includes all those things we would like to do or fix but simply cannot afford.   
 
Gifts for Christ is a program that enables our members and our other supporters to help address these needs.  Whenever one of our committees or programs is confronted by something that they need but which is not in the budget, they add it to the Gifts for Christ list.  
 
Mitchell Hall has a tree with little notes on it which identify these needs.  Sometimes the items require a volunteer's time, sometimes a little bit of money and sometimes a whole lot of money.  For the more costly items, they are often divided into shares making them more affordable for each contributor.  People who donate through this program are acknowledged unless they prefer to remain anonymous.  
 
An excellent example of a Gift for Christ need is our metal chairs.  We use these chairs in the classrooms, in Mitchell Hall for various meetings, for the pasta dinners and many other places.  Our current chairs are old and many are bent or otherwise damaged.  So you will see metal chairs on the Gifts for Christ list.   The list identifies the make and model and notes that they are available at Costco.  If you would like to assist in this long term effort, pick one up the next time you are getting your gallon jars of dill pickles and leave it off at Mitchell Hall.  Make sure you let Alice Mayer or Jerry Shike know and we will update the list.
 
A copy of the mosts recent list is available on the following link