Roots of Peoples United Methodist Church
Part 48 Strength in Numbers, Purpose, and Faith
Members of the leadership team including the Pastor, Lay Leader and leadership in the Council of Ministries proposed in 1981 that all committees meet with full membership. The Council in order to encourage that to happen proposed that all member organizations of the Council of Ministries should meet in their regular meetings on the same evening on which the Council was scheduled to meet. That was to a degree possible, as the number of members who were willing and able to serve was more numerous than was possible in the early Twenty-first century.
One of the areas that needed to improve in the operation of Peoples was in the area of Outreach. During the mid-1980’s Peoples participated in a number of ecumenical endeavors including a "Jesus Celebration" on the Eastern Promenade, a summer concert of Christian music held in the summer. Some of the music groups that had been formed at Peoples were actually involved in that concert.
It should be noted in this era that the Peoples choirs were very busy helping church members celebrate weekly in church services. The choirs also ventured beyond the doors of the church and brought religious music to the high rises for vesper service and also accompanied Pastor Lin to Empire Grove for vespers during the summer in the town of Poland. It was also not uncommon to see and hear Peoples choirs at joint concerts with other Methodist choirs. Two locations particularly stand out. One of those joint events took place at Thornton Heights United Methodist Church. A mass choir was developed and an April Cantata at Easter was the result. The other outside performance was a grand occasion that celebrated Methodism in Maine at Maine’s "mother church", Chestnut Street United Methodist in Portland.
Not to be outdone, the Junior Choir under the tutelage of Hillie Cass also had road engagements beyond the church walls. A couple of the most memorable later in the decade were to Washington Avenue Methodist Church where at that time there were few youthful members. Reverend Lew Beckford was their pastor at the time and invited the choir to participate in their service. In time the Washington Avenue Methodist Church became the Rainbow United Methodist Church. For years Korean Methodists met at various area churches including Clark Memorial and Thornton Heights. Today the majority of members at Rainbow are from Korean backgrounds.
Names of Youth Fellowship leadership that should be remembered were those of Audry Greer who served as President and assisted by Karen Darling as Vice President in 1980. The following year the leaders were Walter Greer who served as President and was ably assisted by Amy Joslin (Wellington). At the time the advisor to the Youth was Pat Sawyer.
Guy McLellan who developed a system of zones, which would help to keep in touch with members, led evangelism. It was also a system designed to have zone leaders also get in touch with the unchurched in their neighborhoods. 19 leaders volunteered to be the focal person in each zone. Cottage meetings were for a time held and these meetings were used to disseminate information about the church and to a degree serve as fellowship groups as well.
As the reader can see many activities were available to church members and others who were seeking a church life as well. This activity continued in the area of missions. We have already mentioned the most significant mission experience in the life of Peoples in the last installment of Roots as being our sharing with Cambodian refugees. Beyond that significant involvement of many members of Peoples there was a strong emphasis on giving to other worthy causes as well. Through the United Methodist Church large contributions were extended to the Black College Fund and the Pyburns who were Methodist missionaries that were mentioned earlier in this series. We continued to support the Heifer Project and Ethnic minority churches throughout this nation and the rest of the world. During the year, 1983, Peoples was visited by mission speakers from China, Pakistan, and Guatamala. A group of young folks that were members of "Youth With A Mission" returned from a short term ministry in Columbia and performed in Ellis Hall a play titled,"Toy Maker and Son."
Locally we supported a young man from Zimbabwe, Tendai Kundeshora, who was a student at the University of Southern Maine. Some members of the congregation were active in supporting the hospital chaplaincy program through gifts of money. The Sunday school started its support of the Food Pantry located at the First Congregational Church with a collection of food during the Thanksgiving period. The women of the church successfully launched a Nearly New Shop. This operation provided low cost or no cost clothing for anyone who needed it. A mature years group continued to operate in Ellis Hall on a regular basis until the Southern Maine Agency on Aging began using Ellis Hall as a meal site and center for its Meals on Wheels program in the area. When folks who were members or related to the church were in need of food because of a tragedy or sickness, a Meals Ministry was launched and continues to the present day. As time passed the responsibility for some of these activities fell in to the hands of others while other activities just seemed to fall away.
Another significant creation was that of the Ministerial Loan and General Scholarship Committee. Bernard Bruce initiated the fund for loans and over time moneys were earned and collected to build up the fund. Several ministerial candidates would benefit from the low cost loans that might be gained from the loan fund. The recipient for the loans had to be in a certified theological program. The intent was that once the recipient was established in ministry of some kind they would be expected to begin repayment. As a result the fund would perpetuate for other ministerial candidates in the future. Designed primarily for those who would have been active at Peoples, it might have been used by other candidates if they had a need and our own had been taken care of first. The scholarship program was organized later in order to consider any young folks from Peoples who planned going on to educational institutions regardless of the program they were enrolled in. While most young folks who have gone on to higher education benefited from this program the rules for who would gain a scholarship changed to a degree over the years. Most of those folks who had received money from the loans have over the course of time repaid those loans. In addition to the scholarships that were passed out through these general funds, the United Methodist Men sponsored a scholarship that was given to one young man or young woman graduating from South Portland High School who was also a participant in programs at the Boys and Girls Club near the church. In the early days of the scholarship program a number of activities were held to earn money for the program. One such activity that took place two years in a row was a supper that was sponsored by Hannaford Brothers supermarkets. Bud Sawyer, a local radio personality and a Maine humorist, Joe Perham, hosted the program that accompanied the meal. Hannaford donated all of the food and the entire fee for the supper was donated to the scholarship program. In time that option for raising funds was not available, but parents of students that were ready to go on to college often sponsored a meal or an entertainment to support the fund. The first four scholarships awarded in this program went to Walter Greer and Steve Perry at USM, Mark Tordoff at UMO and Anthony Harvey at Emory.
In 1983 the Pastor Parish Relations Committee reported their support for the ministerial candidacies of Dick Clark, Nancy Tordoff, Steve Perry and Anthony Harvey. Many more would follow these names over the coming years.
By 1983 the annual report noted that the membership of the church had grown by 40 over the previous year. Some of this change can be attributed to the influx of Cambodians that became active in church life. Our young folks were also growing up and joining the church as well. Pam Harris who was now in charge of the Sunday school reported that Sunday school membership was 118. While most of this number were children of school age there were also 4 adult Sunday school classes in operation. The first of the Cookie Bakes was held prior to Christmas and the children delivered many dozens of succulent creations to the residents at 425 Broadway. The Sunday school celebrated many times during the year and the membership stayed steady. One other innovation of that period was the creation of a special program for Sixth graders. In preparation for gaining membership at Peoples, children spent the entire year studying John Wesley and the Methodist Church. Through this program the children gained a good understanding of the church they were joining.
Part 48 Strength in Numbers, Purpose, and Faith
Members of the leadership team including the Pastor, Lay Leader and leadership in the Council of Ministries proposed in 1981 that all committees meet with full membership. The Council in order to encourage that to happen proposed that all member organizations of the Council of Ministries should meet in their regular meetings on the same evening on which the Council was scheduled to meet. That was to a degree possible, as the number of members who were willing and able to serve was more numerous than was possible in the early Twenty-first century.
One of the areas that needed to improve in the operation of Peoples was in the area of Outreach. During the mid-1980’s Peoples participated in a number of ecumenical endeavors including a "Jesus Celebration" on the Eastern Promenade, a summer concert of Christian music held in the summer. Some of the music groups that had been formed at Peoples were actually involved in that concert.
It should be noted in this era that the Peoples choirs were very busy helping church members celebrate weekly in church services. The choirs also ventured beyond the doors of the church and brought religious music to the high rises for vesper service and also accompanied Pastor Lin to Empire Grove for vespers during the summer in the town of Poland. It was also not uncommon to see and hear Peoples choirs at joint concerts with other Methodist choirs. Two locations particularly stand out. One of those joint events took place at Thornton Heights United Methodist Church. A mass choir was developed and an April Cantata at Easter was the result. The other outside performance was a grand occasion that celebrated Methodism in Maine at Maine’s "mother church", Chestnut Street United Methodist in Portland.
Not to be outdone, the Junior Choir under the tutelage of Hillie Cass also had road engagements beyond the church walls. A couple of the most memorable later in the decade were to Washington Avenue Methodist Church where at that time there were few youthful members. Reverend Lew Beckford was their pastor at the time and invited the choir to participate in their service. In time the Washington Avenue Methodist Church became the Rainbow United Methodist Church. For years Korean Methodists met at various area churches including Clark Memorial and Thornton Heights. Today the majority of members at Rainbow are from Korean backgrounds.
Names of Youth Fellowship leadership that should be remembered were those of Audry Greer who served as President and assisted by Karen Darling as Vice President in 1980. The following year the leaders were Walter Greer who served as President and was ably assisted by Amy Joslin (Wellington). At the time the advisor to the Youth was Pat Sawyer.
Guy McLellan who developed a system of zones, which would help to keep in touch with members, led evangelism. It was also a system designed to have zone leaders also get in touch with the unchurched in their neighborhoods. 19 leaders volunteered to be the focal person in each zone. Cottage meetings were for a time held and these meetings were used to disseminate information about the church and to a degree serve as fellowship groups as well.
As the reader can see many activities were available to church members and others who were seeking a church life as well. This activity continued in the area of missions. We have already mentioned the most significant mission experience in the life of Peoples in the last installment of Roots as being our sharing with Cambodian refugees. Beyond that significant involvement of many members of Peoples there was a strong emphasis on giving to other worthy causes as well. Through the United Methodist Church large contributions were extended to the Black College Fund and the Pyburns who were Methodist missionaries that were mentioned earlier in this series. We continued to support the Heifer Project and Ethnic minority churches throughout this nation and the rest of the world. During the year, 1983, Peoples was visited by mission speakers from China, Pakistan, and Guatamala. A group of young folks that were members of "Youth With A Mission" returned from a short term ministry in Columbia and performed in Ellis Hall a play titled,"Toy Maker and Son."
Locally we supported a young man from Zimbabwe, Tendai Kundeshora, who was a student at the University of Southern Maine. Some members of the congregation were active in supporting the hospital chaplaincy program through gifts of money. The Sunday school started its support of the Food Pantry located at the First Congregational Church with a collection of food during the Thanksgiving period. The women of the church successfully launched a Nearly New Shop. This operation provided low cost or no cost clothing for anyone who needed it. A mature years group continued to operate in Ellis Hall on a regular basis until the Southern Maine Agency on Aging began using Ellis Hall as a meal site and center for its Meals on Wheels program in the area. When folks who were members or related to the church were in need of food because of a tragedy or sickness, a Meals Ministry was launched and continues to the present day. As time passed the responsibility for some of these activities fell in to the hands of others while other activities just seemed to fall away.
Another significant creation was that of the Ministerial Loan and General Scholarship Committee. Bernard Bruce initiated the fund for loans and over time moneys were earned and collected to build up the fund. Several ministerial candidates would benefit from the low cost loans that might be gained from the loan fund. The recipient for the loans had to be in a certified theological program. The intent was that once the recipient was established in ministry of some kind they would be expected to begin repayment. As a result the fund would perpetuate for other ministerial candidates in the future. Designed primarily for those who would have been active at Peoples, it might have been used by other candidates if they had a need and our own had been taken care of first. The scholarship program was organized later in order to consider any young folks from Peoples who planned going on to educational institutions regardless of the program they were enrolled in. While most young folks who have gone on to higher education benefited from this program the rules for who would gain a scholarship changed to a degree over the years. Most of those folks who had received money from the loans have over the course of time repaid those loans. In addition to the scholarships that were passed out through these general funds, the United Methodist Men sponsored a scholarship that was given to one young man or young woman graduating from South Portland High School who was also a participant in programs at the Boys and Girls Club near the church. In the early days of the scholarship program a number of activities were held to earn money for the program. One such activity that took place two years in a row was a supper that was sponsored by Hannaford Brothers supermarkets. Bud Sawyer, a local radio personality and a Maine humorist, Joe Perham, hosted the program that accompanied the meal. Hannaford donated all of the food and the entire fee for the supper was donated to the scholarship program. In time that option for raising funds was not available, but parents of students that were ready to go on to college often sponsored a meal or an entertainment to support the fund. The first four scholarships awarded in this program went to Walter Greer and Steve Perry at USM, Mark Tordoff at UMO and Anthony Harvey at Emory.
In 1983 the Pastor Parish Relations Committee reported their support for the ministerial candidacies of Dick Clark, Nancy Tordoff, Steve Perry and Anthony Harvey. Many more would follow these names over the coming years.
By 1983 the annual report noted that the membership of the church had grown by 40 over the previous year. Some of this change can be attributed to the influx of Cambodians that became active in church life. Our young folks were also growing up and joining the church as well. Pam Harris who was now in charge of the Sunday school reported that Sunday school membership was 118. While most of this number were children of school age there were also 4 adult Sunday school classes in operation. The first of the Cookie Bakes was held prior to Christmas and the children delivered many dozens of succulent creations to the residents at 425 Broadway. The Sunday school celebrated many times during the year and the membership stayed steady. One other innovation of that period was the creation of a special program for Sixth graders. In preparation for gaining membership at Peoples, children spent the entire year studying John Wesley and the Methodist Church. Through this program the children gained a good understanding of the church they were joining.
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