Calendar of Events
Mannford Adult Mission Trip
Wed, May 22 - 12:00 AM
Men's Prayer Breakfast
Wed, May 22 - 06:00 AM
CDO
Wed, May 22 - 09:00 AM
UMW #5
Wed, May 22 - 09:30 AM
Festival Bells Rehearsal
Wed, May 22 - 05:30 PM
Emmaus Reunion
Wed, May 22 - 06:00 PM
Sanctuary Bells Rehearsal
Wed, May 22 - 06:30 PM
UMW #2*
Wed, May 22 - 06:30 PM
Chancel Choir*
Wed, May 22 - 07:00 PM
Evening Women's Bible Study
Wed, May 22 - 07:10 PM
Wednesday Evening Bible Study
Wed, May 22 - 07:30 PM
Al-Anon
Wed, May 22 - 07:30 PM
The Quest
Wed, May 22 - 07:30 PM
At McFarlin, we believe in putting hands and feet to our faith with hundreds of people giving more than ten thousand of hours of service each year. Locally, McFarlin has been a founding member of several of Norman’s most effective mission organizations and we continue to have an active presence in more than a dozen local ministries through our Church & Society Committee. In addition, we have very effective “in house” ministries including a food pantry and utilities assistance program.
We are also active beyond Norman. Each year we engage in a large mission, organized by our youth department, to the Rio Grande Valley over Spring Break. Each summer, both our Middle and. High School students take a mission trip somewhere in the U.S or Canada. In 2012 we will be sponsoring teams for adults to go to Haiti (one team in June, one in November) and Cuba (early August).
There are more groups engaged in more hands on work than could possibly be listed here. It’s simply part of who we are. But there is always more to be done, more people to be blessed, and we’d love to have more people involved in God’s work. We’d love the chance to help you put your faith to work through the many missions and ministries of McFarlin.
Local Mission Opportunity
Last year the Missions Ministry Team adopted Madison Elementary in Norman as a local mission opportunity. We found volunteers to be test proctors, bought pencils for testing, put food in backpacks to give away to hungry children over the weekend, and purchased nutritious food to make a healthy breakfast for the children during testing week. We are looking for small groups at McFarlin such as Sunday school classes, UMW circles, the UMM, Bible study groups, and youth groups to adopt a class. This would involve some or all of the following activities: buying school supplies, clothing, food during testing times to make a healthy breakfast, volunteering as a test proctor over the course of the school year, and, if needed, helping with holiday parties. There are other volunteer opportunities at Madison if your group wishes to do more. School begins August 22nd. If you are interested in helping in any way, please contact Nancy Koplowitz at 314-6047.
Church and Society
The work of Christ is to feed the hungry, visit the sick, house the homeless and care for the needy. In our community, there are many different non-profit agencies that do this work. The Church and Society team at McFarlin is the group which tries to unite the work of these agencies with our membership. McFarlin supports these various agencies financially, through donated items and service. The C&S team consists of about 15 members who act as liaisons to various agencies, communicating with them on a regular basis to learn about the needs of the agencies and to report back to our church.
As members of the United Methodist Church, we have made a commitment to give of our gifts and our service. We use the giving tree in the atrium to advertise for donated items that have been requested by these agencies. We also have local mission days when our congregation can do work for these agencies and other projects in Norman. Sometimes the work is to actually feed the hungry, like at Food and Shelter for Friends. Other times, the work is indirectly helping the ministry, like building maintenance, so that trained staff can spend their time doing their ministry. We help coordinate the “To Norman With Love” event, which is a multi-church effort to serve Norman. To learn more, visit www.ToNormanWithLove.com.
The agencies with which the Church and Society team works are listed below, along with contact information for our church liaison.
Big Brothers Big Sisters – provides long-term one-on-one mentorship programs for at-risk youth – work to recruit mentors. Dirk O’Hara (364-1134)
Bridges – provides housing and other support services to homeless teens and enables them to continue school – have a drive to collect personal care items, cleaning supplies, household items, food, gift cards from Target, Wal-Mart, Homeland, cook lunch for the teens. Olivia Feagins (447-4211) and Pam Moore (364-5490)
Center for Children and Families – provides assistance for families, teen parents, divorce visitation arbitration, relationship therapies, etc. – collect diapers, wipes, formula, volunteer for babysitting at the facility while parents are in sessions. Susan Byers (229-7311)
Child SHARE – recruits and supports quality foster care parents – collect items for and put together welcome baskets for the foster child, collect diapers, bedding, clothing, other on-going needs for the co-op, organize and maintain the equipment and clothing storage areas, assist with annual parties. Judith Besett (288-2034)
East Main Place – provides transitional housing and case management services to homeless individuals and families – clean and refurnish an apartment whenever resident moves on, have a drive for personal care items, cleaning supplies, and other household items, work in the garden, cleaning/organizing storage area. Zach and Christie DuFran (308-8972)
Food & Shelter Inc – provides lunch, short-term housing and counseling for homeless individuals and families – volunteer to help with lunch (need food handlers permit) or collect toiletries and laundry soap. Mary Sallee (447-1370)
Habitat for Humanity – builds homes for families in need of adequate shelter - work on or recruit workers on a home build, provide lunch for workers building home. Sarah Sanger (360-5286)
Health for Friends – provides medical care, prescriptions and prenatal care for low-income individuals – health care professionals can volunteer at Wednesday night clinics, other volunteers during regular business hours with clerical duties. Chris Gentry (360-1491)
Meals on Wheels – provides hot nutritious meals to ill, disabled, and senior residents – become a volunteer driver or substitute driver, run a weekend route (or all 8 weekend routes), help with fundraisers. Brant Elmore (321-6286)
Mission Norman – provides food pantry, counseling and ministry to Norman’s needy families. Plans to build transitional housing facility specifically for families. Karen Tobey (640-4353)
Norman Mission Ministries – works with various non-profit agencies in Norman, collecting donations and distributing to each agency. Dorinda Harvey (321-0928)
Women’s Resource Center – provides shelter and support for abused women – collect ladies’ and children’s clothes and shoes. Susan Byers (229-7311)
In addition, Church and Society works with these organizations:
McFarlin Food Pantry – provides bags of food to people coming to the church for help – have a food drive to stock the shelves, prepare sacks of groceries or personal care items for hand-out, organize shelves and check expiration dates, send thank-you notes to donors, enter client information into computer database, give money – Nancy Koplowitz 360-4094 – or to give out food to those coming in on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact Judy Neaves (701-0255) or Mary Sallee (447-1370) for more information.
McFarlin Giving Tree – this tree helps us communicate the items that are needed by each agency. McFarlin members take a leaf off of the tree and purchase the item needed, then drop off the items underneath the tree. Liaisons are responsible for taking these items to the agencies who requested them. Karen Tobey (640-4353)
Salvation Army Bell Ringing – organizing volunteers for the weekend of Thanksgiving. Brant Elmore (321-6286)
Oklahoma Blood Institute Blood Drives – organizing and promoting blood drives at the church several times per year. Zach DuFran (308-8972)
Crop Walk – participating in the planning of and soliciting walkers from the church for Crop Walk each October, Brant Elmore (321-6286)
Cleveland County Christmas Store – coordinating the collection of household items and volunteers for the store each November. Dorinda Harvey (321-0928)
Norman Justice Alliance – this group fosters communication between churches and social service agencies about how they can work together, has provided Poverty Simulations (hosted by McFarlin) and attempts to address needs of our neighbors who live in poverty. Chris Gentry (360-1491) or Keith Pirtle (823-0892)
