First Christian Church Salida, Colorado Celebrates Global Ministries Sunday
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Reflections on Salida FCC Global Ministries Sunday
We began working and advertising weeks ago. On October 16th and 23rd at coffee hour we took pictures of everyone for their Global Ministries Passport. Passports are available free from Global Ministries along with lots of other materials we used. 
Our journey began after our meal on October 30th. The tables were set up with wonderful Global Ministries place mats, book marks and pens. Tables were decorated with items from foreign countries. Passports were handed out at the end of the meal in preparation for the journey.
An orientation before the trip emphasized the word PARTNERSHIP. We are first doing all our mission work in partnership with the United Church of Christ. We have a joint Global Ministries Board. We are in partnership with many autonomous churches around the world like the Community of Christian Churches in Congo or The Church of North India. We also have partnerships between regions and churches like CRMR and the Evangelical Pentecostal Union of Venezuela. Partnerships may be between social service groups, relief groups like Church World Service or Councils of Churches.
The second word emphasized is CRITICAL PRESENCE. We try to be there in person for our partners at their point of greatest need. They make this need known to us, and we serve at their request.
Our CRITICAL PRESENCE JOURNEY took us to 12 stations where mission staff are located at the present time, plus three big stand up displays which included information on The Woman to Woman Trip to Congo, Congo Radio Project, The Child Sponsorship Program, Regional Youth Trip to Visit CRMR Partners in Venezuela, High Plains Area Pilgrimage to Congo and The Global Ministries Display with brochures.
The countries selected were from the Global Ministries calendar and contained the picture and explanation, the missionary personnel, and the list of partners and projects in that country. In addition each stop had an artifact from the country. Our stops at the Mungeli Hospital in India and in Jerusalem-Palestine had looped video interviews of missionary personnel. Instead of stamping our passports we added a star on the last page for each station visited.
We gathered at the end for a summary and to find out how much our church had given to Week of Compassion, Easter Offering and Disciples Mission Fund. We concluded that we were glad to be a part of such a rich and strong partnership, Global Ministries.