Contributions made through the 2025 Annual Conference mission offering will support various ministries throughout the Congo, humanitarian relief efforts through the United Methodist Committee on Relief, and the building of the Scranton Mission Center in Korea.

CONGO

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, years of colonialism and civil war left their mark on the people of this rugged land. A lack of infrastructure and social services means that many rural communities have no access to necessities like hospitals, schools, and clean drinking water. The North Katanga Conference of The United Methodist Church has stepped into that gap, and with the support of the West Ohio Conference, now provides services like the Kamina Children’s Home for youth orphaned by war or disease; Wings of the Morning aviation ministry, which flies sick or injured Congolese from rural areas to city hospitals; Kamisamba Farm, which trains farmers across the country on sustainable agricultural practices; and rural hospitals and health clinics, which provide care and prevention of diseases like malaria, cholera, and dysentery.

UMCOR

The United Methodist Committee on Relief U.S. Disaster Response (UMCOR USDR) seeks to alleviate suffering caused by disasters that strike within the United States and its territories. With a “communities own their recoveries” philosophy, UMCOR supports local efforts to accomplish immediate relief and long-term recovery while providing for volunteers to offer compassionate ministry in the aftermath of disasters.

In partnership with disaster response ministries and coordinators in U.S. annual conferences, UMCOR journeys with affected communities throughout a disaster’s cycle, including disaster preparedness, relief, response, recovery and mitigation.

UMCOR’s Early Response Team (ERT) training program supports conference preparedness and immediate response efforts. Key activities for conference ERT and other response teams are supplying survivors with food, water, shelter and help with mucking out and cleaning up. UMCOR offers emergency financial assistance in the aftermath of a disaster to support local relief work.

For disasters that require long-term strategies, UMCOR provides conferences with expertise, grants and training for more extensive programming, such as disaster case management, materials and construction management, volunteer management and psychosocial support for survivors.

When a natural or human-caused disaster strikes outside of the United States, the United Methodist Committee of Relief International Disaster Response program (UMCOR IDR) serves as the primary channel for United Methodist assistance. Response includes support for displaced people as well as refugees fleeing disasters in the form of food, water, hygiene and other essential nonfood supplies and temporary shelter. Long-term, UMCOR cooperates with church leaders and local organizations to develop response mechanisms and to support local relief and recovery efforts.

UMCOR focuses on disasters that overwhelm a local community’s ability to respond, such as storms and flooding, fires, volcanoes, war and civil unrest.

Partners working with UMCOR select beneficiaries based on need and vulnerability as opposed to any other category (such as gender, race or religion).

KOREA

The Mary Scranton Memorial Mission Center is a proposed initiative by the Seoul Annual Conference of the Korean Methodist Church. This new mission center will serve as a hub for outreach, training, and mission work while preserving the history of Korean Methodism and its connection to The United Methodist Church. The West Ohio Conference is honored to contribute to this effort, recognizing that Mary Scranton, one of the first Methodist missionaries to Korea, once called Ohio home.