Transformational MissionI am truly one proud Missionary!

Recently we needed to create a short video that described the

mission work taking place at my site, Clarkston United Methodist Church. In the planing process we were brainstorming what we should focus on during our 30 second clip, a task that many of you will know, is very daunting. How do we capture all that we do in 30 seconds? We decided to focus on one story of how lives are being changed through our commitment to Transformational Mission, a philosophy of mission that goes beyond easy offerings of items and money and translates into real relationships being formed.

We asked a lovely couple (pictured above) to share the story of their friendship and I was honestly

blessed by their enthusiasm as they shared about how much they have grown to care for each other. This is a relationship the goes far beyond phrases like “I am blessed by giving to ___.” or “I realize how much I have and should be grateful for when I am with___.” and instead are replaced with

phrases like “I’ve known you so long I don’t

remember where we met! She has been a bright light in my life, she is bubbly, and cute, and always has a project in mind. Around ___ you can’t sit still, you have to be doing something, so I have learned to bake,

she has gotten me every app possible on my new iphone, but most of all she has just been a sweet dear and very precious in my life.” and “She is a very important person in my life, she helps

me with my homework, she is very informational, she is almost like a human

dictionary! Sometimes if we are reading a book she will

tell me what this word means, or what that word means, she is very educational. She is really nice and awesome!”

When I say that I am “proud” I don’t mean in a condescending way but instead in a YES! I am so glad to be working with a group of individuals who are committed to learning from each other and loving one another! kind of way! Praise be to God!

Connecting Church & Community

MARY GLADSTONE-HIGHLANDUnited Methodist Missionary

For the past few years Clarkston UMC has offered a short-term mission opportunity

in the summer for adults. The group has provided minor/not-so-minor construction for local Metro-Detroit nonprofit organizations. In the past the group has partnered with a different organization each year, visiting some a few times but not two years in a row.

This year however, we decided to visit the same site as last year, the Baldwin Center in Pontiac, MI, a great United Methodist organization whose mission is to “Feed, Clothe, Educate, and Empower”. It may seem like a small change to our previous way of operating but it represents a larger change in the way we think and are motivated.

This change happened in an effort to really live into our desire to create relationships with those we are serving. The idea is that if we partner with the same organization for a number of years in a row it will help us to get to know our neighbors better and help us to brainstorm ways that we can continue to be connected throughout the year.

During the week we worked with the director of a local organization’s free clothing store to renovate the 100-year-old building it is housed in. We also spent the week preparing their community garden to provide food throughout the summer but most importantly we spent the week learning from those who are different from us and making plans for how we can continue that learning process in the months to come.

Partnering in our

Community

Clarkston UMC has the unique privilege of being located in-between two districts in the Metro-Detroit area, Renascence and Crossroads. While we technically belong to the Crossroads District we are often involved in

Renaissance activities also.

Both districts offer mission days where they encourage the entire district to step out of their church walls and make a difference in the cities of Flint, Pontiac and Detroit. How perfect for my job as a missionary assigned to those three cities!

In June a group of us participated in Taking It To The Streets, an event in Flint, where we spent the day planting crops in community gardens and providing food to residents. In October we participated in Hands4Detroit/Pontiac where I coordinated the Pontiac sites and many of our volunteers gave of their time in food banks, parks,

local nonprofits, and United Methodist missions.

Both days were a great way for our districts to show the residents of those three cities that we care about them and the cities that they live in.

While working in Flint in June I was able to have a conversation with a Flint resident who was giving of her time to coordinate the day’s activities. She shared her story with me of growing up in a city that a lot of people have written off. She is a single mother who is currently studying at the University of Michigan/Flint to obtain her Social Work degree.

She expressed that, the city needed more days like that. Days where folks from across the district come to Flint and see the city for themselves. She said there was much to do in Flint and she hoped that those who volunteered that day would continue to help in the future.

I felt blessed to have met her and hoped along with her that the day would make that kind of impact!

District Mission Days

“Bridges Out of Poverty is working towards:

Reducing the social costs of poverty,

Strengthening the

I want to sincerely thank you for supporting me as a Church and Community Worker Missionary for United Methodist Church!Supporting churches truly make it possible for us as missionaries to go out into the world and together we are all the hands and feet of God.I would love the opportunity to come and speak to your church about how your support is put into action. One of my favorite parts of my job is coming to meet you face-to-face. Thank you for all the ways you give to mission.

Bridges Out of Poverty

This past Spring I was able to attend a conference where I was trained in leading groups through the Bridges

Out of Poverty curriculum. Bridges Out of Poverty looks at the dynamics that cause and maintain poverty from the individual to the systemic level and develops strategies for a community to prevent, reduce, and alleviate poverty.

It is a fantastic curriculum that helps answer questions like “If they are poor, then why do they have such a nice cellphone?” “Can’t they just get a job?” and “What causes poverty?”

Part of my role as a Church and Community Worker at Clarkston UMC is to educate our church, district, and conference partners in these exact issues. Since receiving the certification I have trained over 150 laity, clergy, and young adult missionaries across the Detroit Annual Conference.

This Winter I will take part in another conference that will certify me in Getting Ahead in a Just Getting By World. This curriculum is produced by the same authors but it focuses on providing this information to those who are currently living in generational poverty, the hope being that we can bring all groups together to help prevent and alleviate poverty in the Metro-Detroit area.

It is exciting material and I am excited that leading it is a part of my job. If you are interested in having me visit your church to train your congregation in this material please feel free to contact me!

Mary Gladstone-Highland is a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church

serving as a Church and Community Worker based at the Clarkston United Methodist Church in Clarkston, Michigan.

Church and Community Workers respond to God’s call to ministry among the poor and disenfranchised in rural and urban areas throughout the United States. They work to change the social inequities of poverty, racial injustice, and domestic violence.

Mary serves as outreach coordinator for a regional ministry that responds to social and economic challenges in an area lying between Flint, Pontiac, and Detroit, Michigan. Two districts of the Detroit Annual Conference are involved. A native of Detroit, Mary served as a US-2 missionary as a young adult and as a Church and Community Worker in Baltimore, Maryland, and Utica, New York. She currently lives in Pontiac. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Western Michigan University in 2005.

Please support me through Covenant Relationship:

Missionary Advance # 982022Send your gifts through The Advance to your conference treasurer or to Advance GCFA, PO Box 9068, New York, NY. 10087-9068 with the Advance number clearly designated on your check. For more information about developing a Covenant Relationship. Visit www.advancinghope.org

On May 15th my husband Andrew and I closed on a home in Pontiac, MI. We are committed to

living in the communities that we serve and pleased that we found a place in a great historic neighborhood. We like the fact that the neighborhood is very diverse and our son Theo will grow up surrounded by people of all ages, races, and socioeconomic statuses!

Biography

Living in the Community