For The Record

Submit birth, marriage and obituary records online.

Personal Ads

Meet new friends today!

Advertising

Put your message in front of 33,000 readers.

PDF documents on this site require the free Adobe Reader:

Get Adobe Reader

2008-07-22 issue:

$100,000 milestone for little blue banks

4-year-old Lydia raises money for Colombian refugees by setting the table.

by Rosabeth Birky Koehn

Print Article

As a Mennonite with a growing global consciousness, Lydia Longacre works hard at good stewardship. At age 4, her money already has reached Ecuador. Longacre’s congregation, Swamp Mennonite Church in Quakerstown, Pa., chose to participate in Mennonite Mission Network’s mission bank project. Through this program, Longacre helped support the ministry of Iglesia Menonita de Quito (Quito Mennonite Church) as it reaches out to Colombian refugees and local children.
















Iglesia Menonita de Quito Sunday school teacher Maribel Bravo and students Karime (left) and Saul. Photo by Marie Gehman.

Since September 2005, Mennonite Church USA children have been dropping their allowances and earnings into the little blue globe-styled banks in order to help fund Mission Network-supported projects around the world. In April 2008, donations topped $100,000.

According to Sandy Miller, director of church relations at Mission Network, “The goal of mission banks is to help children learn how to share Jesus in ways children can.”

Longacre reports, “It makes me feel good to give people money because they might not have food. I set the table to get money to put in the [mission] bank. It was hard sometimes, but I wanted money to put in the bank to help people.”

Banks come with curriculum focused on a particular area of need in an international location. Lessons geared at children’s time, Sunday school and family time at home teach children what mission workers are doing around the world.

According to Cindy Weaver, minister of Christian education at Swamp Mennonite Church, kids get excited about giving when they know specifically what they are giving to. Weaver says that between January and May, Swamp children raised more than $800 to support Iglesia Menonita de Quito’s community outreach that includes providing temporary housing for Colombian refugees and organizing peace education for children in marginal neighborhoods.

César Moya and Patricia Urueña are co-pastors of Iglesia Menonita de Quito and have been working there through a partnership involving Mission Network, the Colombian Mennonite Church and Central Plains Mennonite Conference since 2000. Originally from Colombia, the couple understands the situation refugees are fleeing in that country. They offer their time and energy to help the refugees find the support they need in a new home.

With financial support from Mission Network, the church rents a small house on the outskirts of the city where displaced Colombians can find temporary lodging. To date, the house has sheltered 10 families, one at a time for several months each. Ever since Iglesia Menonita de Quito started aiding refugees, congregants have generously contributed their time and material resources. However, the amount of need quickly surpassed the church’s ability to provide.

“It was then,” writes Moya and Urueña, “that the help from (Mission Network) became important and this partnership provided money exclusively for the needs of the Colombians.”—Rosabeth Birky Koehn of Mennonite Mission Network; translation from Spanish by Laverne Rutschman

Related Resources

Discussion Guides:

Current Stories

Articles

News stories, digests and Meno Acontecer

Columns

Readers Say

Additional Notes

Rosabeth Birky Koehn of Mennonite Mission Network; translation from Spanish by Laverne Rutschman

Subscribe