Ministry, Volunteer needed by United Methodist Storm Recovery Centers (Louisiana) (UMCOR)

Louisiana Mission Zone Ministry

Rev. Martha Orphe' is the Director of the Louisiana Mission Zone Ministry

The purpose of the Louisiana Mission Zone Ministry is “to make disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world”. The Zone is composed of churches in the Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemine Parish in the Greater New Orleans Area and the Cameron Parish in Southwest Louisiana. Churches and communities in these geographical areas have been damaged and/or devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

In “The Zone” we are seeking to build anew and rebuild our lives, our churches, our ministries, and our communities offering God’s presence and love in the midst of the changes in our lives. Sweet Lake, Cameron and Grand Chenier Churches in the Cameron Parish are churches in The Zone seeking to rebuild ministry. In the Greater New Orleans area, some churches are working together in 7 different groups or cooperatives. Each group has a Team Leader and 2 or 3 pastors serving jointly as the pastors of each of the churches in the group. The Cooperatives groups are:

Group One: New Orleans First, Grace, St. Mark’s, LaHarpe,
St. Phillips, Thompson, Shaw Temple and John Wesley
Group Two: Carrollton, Haven Trinity, Phillip’s Memorial,
Parker, Williams
Group Three: Mt. Zion, Peck, Wesley, Felicity, People’s
First Street, Napoleon Ave.
Group Four: Kenner First, Thomas (Kenner) Jefferson, Ross,
St. Paul’s Harahan
Group Five: Asbury (Algiers), St. Matthew (Algiers) First (Algiers)
Boynton
Group Six: Hartzel, Covenant of St. Bernard, Cornerstone
Group Seven: Metairie First, St. Luke, Brooks, Trinity-Gentily

Other churches in the Greater New Orleans area of “The Zone” are station churches and/or Specialized Ministry Churches. They are El Mesias, St. Matthew’s, Munholland, Lake Vista, Korean, Rayne, Aurora, Belle Chase, Trinity Buras, Gretna and Bethany.

Vital to the ministries of these churches for rebuilding is the nurturing and healing of the faithful church people as we reach out into our communities to access the needs of the people currently living in our communities and projecting the needs of the people who will be returning to the communities. The ministry of nurture and outreach calls us back to our Biblical Roots and our Wesleyan roots of going amongst the people, going where the people are. In the scriptures, Jesus engaged people where they were, in the synagogue, on the road, in a home, on the street. John Wesley simply followed the examples of Jesus. So we are called to follow Jesus as we nurture ourselves through the Spiritual Disciplines of prayer, meditation, bible study, fasting, etc. for the purpose of reaching our neighbors as we experience God’s love together.

Also vital to the rebuilding ministries of our churches is worship. As we nurture one another and reach out to others we are called as the churches in The Zone to worship God. Our healing ministries and outreach are grounded in one source – God Almighty. In the Zone the churches are called to worship God and invite others to join in worshipping God and becoming disciples of Jesus Christ. In the midst of our hospitality, welcoming and inviting we helps others encounter the Living God.

Critical to the Ministry of The Zone is cooperation and working together among the churches, the communities, the clergy and laity. Cooperative ministries are not new to United Methodism but the challenges and opportunities for creating new, effective, dynamic cooperative ministries are compounded by the specific situations found in the storm damaged Zone Areas. As a former District Superintendent, I have worked with cooperative ministries in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Louisiana Mission Zone Churches have many of the same characteristic however, unlike in Pittsburgh and other parts of the United States, the churches working together worked amidst more stable populations and communities. The churches in The Zone in Louisiana not only have to rebuild ministry among current churches but also help literally rebuild, repopulate and meet the needs in our communities. God’s presence and work of making disciples through the vehicle of United Methodist is literally foundational to and actually the rebuilding of our cities, New Orleans, and our churches. There is much work to be done, a massive task but cooperatively we can address our communities and churches ever more effectively as we work together in the name of Jesus.

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