Serving

 

 

 

Each year Bethlehem sponsors 80-100 children and adults who are selected from local agencies to receive Christmas gifts. We fill the church with bicycles and stacks of brightly colored packages and eagerly await spreading the joy and love of Christmas.

Community Housing Partnership’s mission is to help provide safe, clean, affordable housing for the elderly, disabled and poor in Williamson County. First, through home repairs; second, through counseling; and third, providing below market rentals for families who are striving to live a better way.

An outreach started by Bethlehem member Tom Henry, church volunteers have donated their time to bag 40,000 pounds of potatoes, bagged cereal and collected funds to feed the hungry all across America. www.feedamericafirst.com

 

The motto of Graceworks is: “In Christ, to help those in need that their hearts may be encouraged as they are knit together in love.” They carry out this motto by providing emergency food supplies, traveler’s aid, help with rent, utilities and medicine for those in need. Bethlehem volunteers assist in the Graceworks Thrift Store and the annual Christmas assistance program, The Manger. www.graceworksministries.net

An international, non-profit ecumenical Christian ministry, Habitat for Humanity works with volunteers in actually building affordable 3 or 4-bedroom homes for working families. The homes are sold to the partner families at cost and the mortgage payments, at zero percent interest, range between $350 and $450 per month, including taxes and insurance. Sponsored families are required to earn a certain number of “sweat-equity” hours attending classes on budgeting and home maintenance and working alongside volunteers in the construction process. Bethlehem is a resource for volunteers for Habitat for Humanity of Williamson County. All skill levels are welcome and will be notified as projects become available.  Volunteers are also needed in the office or at the Restore located at 7115 Bakers Bridge Avenue (next to Costco) in Cool Springs. www.habitatwilliamson.org

Named after an inspirational member of Bethlehem UMC, Kathy Harris, funds are designated each year that allow us to provide backpacks and school supplies for over 400 children throughout Williamson County. (more...)

With other area churches, members of Bethlehem deliver hot meals to shut-ins. Approximately 125 persons are served on seven routes within the Franklin city limits. We assist on the third Monday of each month.

A local ministry of the United Methodist church, Miriam’s Promise provides pregnancy counseling and adoption services. Bethlehem church provides volunteers for the ministry as well as financial support.www.miriamspromise.org

 

On the first Sunday of each month an offering is received during the celebration of the sacrament of Holy Communion for a designated ministry.

As needs arise, Bethlehem Church also responds to local and international needs. You will want to watch for word of these opportunities in both the weekly worship bulletin and the monthly newsletter, The Bethlehem Star.

Throughout the year the youth and children of Bethlehem Church participate in a variety of mission opportunities. They have collected shoes for children in Honduras, food for the hungry, baby supplies for infants at risk, school supplies for the children of Mexico and money for the homeless. Notification of these opportunities will be published in the weekly bulletin and monthly newsletter as they arise.

 

A regional ministry, the Pastoral Counseling Centers of Tennessee is a Church-based center offering pastoral counseling to individuals and families. Fees are based on a sliding scale. The center is located in Franklin.

Individual volunteers participate in a women’s prison ministry in Nashville. Mentoring and other opportunities are available.

 

The Redbird mission is a traditional ministry of the United Methodist Women. It is located in one of the nation’s poorest counties in Kentucky. Support from Bethlehem Church includes participation in their Campbell’s soup label collection and providing gifts for needy children at Christmas.

Bethlehem children and families collect the pop-tops off soda cans to send to the Ronald McDonald House. The money earned from recycling them goes to support out-of-town families with seriously ill children in Vanderbilt Hospital.

Bethlehem Church is one of 120 participating congregations in the Nashville area which, in the name of God, offers a safe place, with food and overnight shelter for the homeless. This ministry is provided by volunteers from the congregation who provide transportation, food and caring for those persons who come as our guests.

 

Cuba Mission – A team of twelve went to Cuba in July of 2008 to help renovate an old school building turning it into a seminary to train pastors and other church leaders. We also took medicines to be distributed by local doctors through the Cuban church and financially assisted a couple of pastors and their churches as well as providing scholarships for seminary students.

Started in 2001, Bethlehem church continues to develop an on-going relationship with the villages of Mano De Leon and Las Higuerillas and in the city of Valle Hermoso in Mexico.

Working through the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, Bethlehem provides salary support on an annual basis to Cherie White and her family who are currently serving in the mission field in Mexico.

 

Annual apportionments over the administrative costs for UMCOR. UMCOR goes wherever there is a disaster anywhere in the world 100% of your contribution will go to relieve the suffering of others.