Last week as Glenn Memorial celebrated its 100th Anniversary, Pastor Mark reminded us of all the chords that have been built over our first century as a church. Chords of faith, of love, of service, among many other types of chords orchestrated through the holy spirit. Many of these “ties that bind” are easy to see as we reflect on our own daily experiences as members of Glenn. Weekly Sunday school classes. Prayer circles. Book studies. Pancake breakfasts. Sing-a-longs with our homebound brothers and sisters. VBS fun with our children. And Glenn Memorial has many chords beyond the walls of our church and the borders of our state and country.
Over the past decade you, the Church, have been building ties that bind in Zimbabwe, Ecuador, Cambodia, and Honduras. Through your generous giving to our annual operating budget, we now provide full tuition scholarships to 109 students in these countries ranging from kindergarten through university studies. Students receive support every year until they graduate. Most of these scholarships are for girls, including Jessie Cevallos (pictured below). She’s studying Ecological Tourism at a university in Ecuador thanks to your faithful gifts. That’s a pretty powerful tie.
Many of these children come from families that migrated from the countryside to the Atucucho neighborhood far outside the capital of Quito. Their parents are constantly looking for day labor and are rarely at home to care for their children. Glenn’s gift provide not only tuition, books, and uniforms for these students, but also after school care provided at the Methodist Church Agua de Vida (Water of Life).
Our chords stretch directly to missionaries Marilyn Chan in Cambodia (who recently retired) and Sara Flores in Ecuador. You may remember hearing their names during weekly prayer on Sundays. Glenn’s covenant relationship with these amazing women provides the financial and spiritual support they need to spread God’s love to the vulnerable and to ensure our scholarship funding reaches those who need it most.
Our chords are tied up in a school building in Cambodia where young children can live and learn. Several years ago Glenn and several other churches helped fund the construction of a girl’s dormitory that now houses many of our scholarship recipients. And the threads of our church are literally worn in Zimbabwe where Glenn scholarship recipients proudly where school uniforms every day, uniforms supplied through gifts of our very own members.
In a sense, Glenn’s Missions Committee is dedicated to building strong Kingdom chords from 1660 North Decatur Road to many parts of the world. I’m sure these chords were celebrating our Birthday last week as well.
If you have an interest in Mission at Glenn please contact Missions Committee Chair, Aaron Hurst.