Report to the 2007 Metro Association Fall Meeting
Committee on Mission Priorities and Stewardship

The Committee on Mission Priorities and Stewardship (COMPAS) met right after the 2007 Metro Spring meeting to review its functions as stipulated in the By-laws, and worked on all throughout the summer. The committee set up their goals as follows:

Visions: The twin goals of the committee are Mission and Stewardship.

• It is the vision of the Committee to bring to the local churches the opportunity to hear and meet visiting missionaries, to learn mission opportunities, both domestic and international, and to report through the website mission programs of the local churches. To strengthen COMPAS by participating in the Association, Conference and National mission meetings, workshops and training events.

• It is the vision of the committee to provide tools for stewardship through UCC and other resources, training of people to do presentations in the local churches on OCWM, OGHS, NIN, etc., as well as general fund-raising campaigns.

• To encourage its members to equip themselves with the ability to talk about mission and stewardship with people.

As first step to accomplish these visions, Melva handed out materials from the UCC, such as “Inspiring Generosity” and “The Big Secret of Giving.” Carol Giordano, the minister on Financial Business and Development, was invited from Syracuse to lead a Stewardship Orientation, where eleven churches attended. This event is the starting point where the members of the committee received proper training to equip themselves the necessary tools to do stewardship, to answer stewardship questions and accept invitations to visit from the local churches.

We had three missionaries visiting our area in April - The Rev. Adora Iris Lee attended our 2007 Spring meeting and shared her ministry in Africa with HIV/AIDS. She did an informative presentation on HIV/AIDS at the Riverside Church .

The Rev. Wayne Wilson and Mrs. Ingrid Wilson were back from their mission from Africa and did presentations at the Garden City Community Church, where Rev. Wayne Wilson also preached, while Mrs. Ingrid Wilson met with the children and did the children's message. They also visited the Congregational Church of South Hempstead and the Parish Resource Center .

The UCC NY Conference Global Commission extended an invitation to all the committee members to participate in their programs and meetings. Four members of COMPAS attended meetings in Syracuse during the summer months and on November 2-3, 2007 participated in the "Mission Possible", a mission retreat held at Christ the King retreat center in Syracuse. In early August the NY Conference delegates traveled to Nicaragua and signed the partnership agreement with our sister churches in Nicaragua . We then invited a delegation from Nicaragua to attend the mission retreat. Our Nicaraguan delegate from "Mision Cristiana" , the Rev. Jose Raul Davila Castro was the keynote speaker. Rev. Davila is the president of the "Convencion de la Iglesia Mision Cristiana" and serves as a pastor in one of the 30 church-members and 15 work camps of Mision Cristiana .

The Rev. Felix Ortiz-Cotto, the Area Executive for Latin America and the Carribean of the UCC National office spoke and relayed the importance of our relationship with our sisters and brothers in that part of the world. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere , second only to Haiti .

Rev. Davila spent his time traveling and visiting churches, hospices, schools and a farm in Upstate NY. He then traveled back to the Metro Association where some of the members of COMPAS gave him hospitality, fellowship with him and helped him travel from one church to another. The COMPAS committee played a very vital role in making the Rev. Davila be welcomed and gave him the Ministry of Presence and Accompaniment" (Acompaniamento). The Rev. Davila traveled back to Nicaragua after being with us from November 1 - 12. He left with an invitation for us in the NY Conference to attend their General Assembly in Nicaragua on March 28 - 30, 2008 .

As part of the Global Mission program, Melva Victorino was trained and commissioned at the Ministries & Mission Interpreters (MMI) Training in Cleveland , Ohio on October 19-21, through scholarship grants from the NY Commission on the Global Church , the Sue Scott Fund and the combine grants from the UCC and the Disciples of Christ Global Mission.

COMPAS is now composed of eight members after one member requested to be released from the committee. It is the intention of the committee to bring in stories of mission, opportunities to be part of mission and to hear and meet people in our midst. It will also answer the calls from the local churches to help in stewardship. With God's help we will be able to accomplish all these goals.

Submitted by:
Melva T. Victorino and Kate von Braunsberg