On Saturday, December 4th Jarvis Memorial United Methodist Church and York Memorial AME Zion Church came together as sisters and brothers in Christ with the purpose, first to give God glory and second to bless His people and the entire community. Yet our collaboration not only blessed those who received coats, it blessed both congregations. But the ‘Coat and Caring’ drive did not just happen, it took hours of meeting, discussion, clarity, understanding, prayer, coffee, donuts, and muffins. Our time together not only allowed us to plan successful events, but it has proven to be the foundation in which we have solidified our relationship. This is something that I have desired to see occur for many years. Rev. Demond A. Hairston, Pastor at YM-AMEZ, his ministerial staff and the Sound District mission team, church members and I have formed a bond that will continue to permeate not only our churches but I believe our perspective denominations.
On December 18th, Jarvis Memorial will go to York Memorial for another coat drive and food giveaway in which we are partnering. There is a lot of work to be done and I believe that God has called us together for such a time as this. We are in this work together and for the Kingdom of God, Thanks be to God.
Rev. Hairston said, “I am elated to join together in partnership with the wonderful people of Jarvis Memorial Church. The reality for us is the impact we are able to make on our community together far exceeds what we can do as individual ministries. Both ministries have maintained a long standing presence in the West Greenville Community and share a common mission of reaching the world for Christ. This season of ministry has afforded us the perfect opportunity to do so together.
Recognizing that authentic ministry meets needs, we wanted to ensure that our efforts would be a Blessing to the community. As our community continues to be significantly impacted by challenges of various forms we were intentional about doing something that would help to address both immediate needs as well as some of the more complicated challenges that people may be experiencing. It is our Prayer that the Caring & Coats event will help those in attendance in ways even beyond what we envisioned. Further, I am hopeful that this will be the first of many initiatives that the Jarvis Memorial, York Memorial, and other churches serving this community, will plan and implement in partnership together and in service to the Kingdom of God. To God be all the Glory!”
- Rhonda Grant Jordan from Sound District Dismantling Racism Team can be reached at rhonda.grantjordan@nccumc.org