Ministries
Outreach opportunities to connect and serve
Our ministries reach near and far, locally and globally. Here is what we are doing now as a congregation. We are always open to new opportunities to serve.
We serve with others in our community…
by participating in the Faith Community Shelter Program. This program encourages those people who find themselves seeking to move from a place of homelessness to be engaged in the process that will move them into permanent housing. This program houses up to 18 people each night on Friday nights. We offer a warm meal, a safe place to sleep and be renewed, and a breakfast in the morning before facing a new day.
The Ministry of a Community Prayer Box
We invite neighbors, people passing by, our congregation and the larger community to write a prayer that is in their heart and place it in the Community Prayer Box in the parking lot of our church building. On Sundays, during worship, we will lift-up the prayers accumulated over the week and light a prayer candle for you.
UMC Santa Cruz cleans up! On the last Sunday of each month, members of the UMC Santa Cruz congregation provide litter clean up in the neighborhood around the church including Neary Lagoon Park. The UMC Santa Cruz congregation lives out their faith by caring for the earth right here in their own neighborhood!
Since the Rebele Family Shelter opened its doors in the spring of 2005, the four bedrooms supported by our church have welcomed and protected many mothers and their children. The children have been newborn to age 15. When a mother and newborn come into the shelter, it is directly from the hospital. This has got to be a very scary time for a new mother! An even scarier time for a mother would be having a child and no home, no safety. Our church helps to support these women and children on their way to a better, safer future.
To read about the history and philosophy of homeless programs in Santa Cruz, see the book The Quality of Mercy.
Members of the UMC Santa Cruz congregation participate in mission locally in Santa Cruz with such organizations as the Western Service Workers Association – Mission and Service, The Human Race, Habitat for Humanity, the Resource Center for Nonviolence, Out In Our Faith, and many others.
UMC Santa Cruz provides support for United Methodist missionaries worldwide through our connectional giving.
For more information about any of these mission activities contact the church office at 831-429-6800.
Other Ministries Close To Our Hearts