Transformed Lives, Restored Relationships, and Flourishing Community
Discovering places, developing partnerships, and discipling people together into flourishing community
Discover Places
Ministries with a primary purpose of going out to bridge boundaries with humility and experience God’s presence together by being present, asking questions, listening, and building relationships.
Develop Partnerships
Auburn UMC is active after disasters like tornadoes and hurricanes providing volunteers and resources as a tangible sign of God’s love and hope with survivors. We work in partnership with the Alabama West-Florida Conference UMC and with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). For more information on disaster relief and recovery at Auburn UMC, please contact Rev. John Fox at johnf@aumc.net.
Early Response Teams (ERTs) are trained volunteer teams who deploy to disaster-stricken areas to assist in debris clean-up, chainsaw work, tarping, and house-gutting and mold remediation. ERT training is offered periodically throughout the year at various churches throughout our conference including Auburn UMC. ERTs work in close coordination with our conference disaster response coordinator and district disaster response coordinators. In some situations, untrained volunteers can serve with ERTs.”
A cleaning kit or “flood bucket” contains essential supplies a family would need to begin cleaning up their home after a storm. Our church collects and stores flood buckets throughout the year and helps to deploy them after disasters. We always accept flood buckets! This is a great mission project for individuals, families, Sunday School classes, or small groups. Click here to learn how to pack a flood bucket.
The North AL Conference UMC maintains a 30,000 square foot disaster supply warehouse in Decatur, AL, that stores and distributes all kinds of supplies needed after storms. Teams of volunteers from Auburn UMC can be organized to spend a few days serving at the warehouse sorting supplies. This warehouse is part of a network of UMCOR warehouses that responds to disasters across the southeast.
Disciple People
For many decades, members of Auburn UMC have heard God’s call to serve and share God’s love around the world. We are blessed by several international mission partnerships with local churches, non-profits, and missionaries. We regularly organize and send international mission teams to serve with our partners, develop relationships, and learn more about God’s heart for the whole world. Learn more about our international mission partners below. For more information on international mission teams and partners, please contact Joe Davis.
2023 Mission Teams
June 3-11 | Construction & Medical Ministry
No prior experience required.
Applications due by February 15.
July 23-29
Our Costa Rica mission team will serve with our friends at Cristo Vive Methodist Church in Palmares, Costa Rica! This team will serve through construction at the church, children’s ministry, and local outreach in food insecure neighborhoods. This is an intergenerational team that is a wonderful team for both first-time and seasoned international mission team members. Ages 12+ are welcome! Cost is $1150 per person.
International Mission Partners
Our partnership with Cristo Vive began in 2017. Intergenerational teams travel to Palmares annually in the summer to serve alongside the church through children’s ministry, construction, and community outreach.
Throughout 2017 and 2018, our church partnered with the Methodist Church of Cuba to build a church building for Patria Methodist Church located on Cuba’s Isle of Youth. Other teams have been sent to provide ministry training with the congregation.
The REV Home is a children’s home for 26 Haitian children and youth. REV operates a home for younger children and a transition home for older teens. The younger children are gaining formal education, and the Transition Home is a place where teens can begin preparing for the transition into normal Haitian life. Our friend Amber Hasson has been the director since 2016. The REV Home is a ministry of Global Partners in Relief and Development. Auburn UMC has been sending teams to serve with the REV Home for many years and has developed close relationships with the children and this ministry. Click here to learn more about REV Home.
Beverly has served as missionary school director at Christian Academy in Petit Goave since 2014. She had previously taught at Christian Light Academy in Port-au-Prince where Auburn UMC’s mission teams were serving and got to know Beverly. We have continued supporting her ministry with the children of Haiti ever since. Click here to learn more about Beverly and Christian Academy
Juntas is a ministry of the United Methodist Church of Mexico that serves the people of Rio Bravo and Nuevo Progreso, Mexico along the US-Mexico border near McAllen, TX. Their ministries include a full-time medical and dental clinic, a school, a home for children from troubled families, home construction, and youth outreach. Our first Auburn UMC team served with Manos Juntas in September 2019.
Auburn UMC has a long history of mission partnership in Nicaragua. Currently, we partner with a church in Leon, Nicaragua called El Rey Jesus Todopoderoso. Our ministry with this church includes the support of a school for special needs children along with “Ms. Ramona’s” very rural school. Our teams serve with the church through children’s ministry and food assistance as well. We also partner with a Nicaraguan doctor to provide ongoing support and host eyeglasses clinics.
Auburn UMC has supported Rev. Rhett Thompson for many years. Rhett serves as pastor of Evangelical Methodist Church in Panama City. He oversees the church’s day school program and has been involved in the development of a comprehensive rural health project alongside the indigenous Ngobe people, which includes home construction, adult literacy, community organizing, clean water, and pre-school education. Rhett is also part of creating a discipleship ministry in Panama through camps and is working toward the construction of a camp facility. Auburn UMC teams serve with Rhett in all of these ministries.
SIFAT is a long-time mission partner of Auburn UMC. Our teams have served with SIFAT in many countries, most notably with the community of Quesimpuco high in the Andes Mountains of Bolivia. With SIFAT’s partnership and the leadership of local organizations, our teams helped construct a suspension bridge as well as a school and medical clinic. We’ve also supported water projects and veterinary clinics in the community. SIFAT has a beautiful training campus in Lineville, AL, that provides all sorts of leadership and cultural training as well as a Global Village showcasing how different people of the world live. Click here to learn more about SIFAT
Wesley College is a new and unique ministry of the United Methodist Church of Tanzania in partnership with the Alabama-West Florida Conference UMC. Wesley College provides Christian education to nurture students as church, community, and business leaders who have a heart to serve others and see their communities flourish. Rev. Eric Soard, a UM missionary from Tennessee, helped found the college. Our conference partnership began in 2018. In 2019, the Auburn UMC children’s ministry director was part of a team that trained a group of Tanzanian children and youth ministry leaders. Future church leadership training teams are also being explored. Click here to learn more about Wesley College
International Mission Team Resources
Community Ministries of Auburn UMC
The Food Pantry provides food assistance to families who reside in Lee County. Guests receive a box of dry goods with items like canned veggies, fruits, soups, meats, pasta, cereal, peanut butter, and more. A box of perishable food with items like milk, cheese, butter, eggs, and frozen meats is also provided. The clothes closet ministry works in conjunction with the food pantry and allows guests to select a few pieces of clothing or shoes. Both ministries are located in the Auburn UMC Annex building at 302 E Magnolia Ave. A team of volunteers prepares boxes and sorts clothing every Thursday from 8am-9am and another team of volunteers operates our food and clothing distribution every Friday from 8am-11am. We are always looking for new volunteers.
Our homebound food pantry prepares and delivers a food box once a month for families who are no longer able to visit our food pantry. A team of volunteers prepares boxes on the 2nd and 3rd Thursday mornings of the month. A team of deliverers who are matched with one or two homebound friends picks up the boxes for delivery. These deliverers form close relationships with their homebound friends through this ministry.
Our MERCY Ministry (Methodist Emergency Relief for the Community) provides financial assistance for rent or utility bills to persons in Lee County who are experiencing a crisis in their lives and are temporarily unable to provide for themselves and/or their families. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the MERCY ministry is partnering with other local organizations to continue providing this assistance.
Our partnership with Loachapoka Elementary School includes Lunches of Love and Gently Read Books. Lunches of Love provides food bags on major holidays when the students will be out of school, snack bags on one-day holidays, and school supplies at the beginning of school and in January. A team of volunteers gathers at the church to prepare food bags and to deliver them to the school. Twice a year, we ask the congregation to donate gently read books. A team of volunteers sorts the books and delivers them to the school so students can choose two books to take home to help build their home library.
Every family deserves a home that is warm, safe, and dry. We partner with Alabama Rural Ministry to serve with families through home repair ministry several times a year. Sometimes we serve with families who contact us directly. This work includes things like building wheelchair ramps, replacing damaged floors, weatherizing doors and windows, roof repair, and more. Each service day is also an opportunity to build a relationship with the family and share Christ’s love with them in a tangible, personal way. Some teams serve monthly on a weekday and other teams serve on Saturdays. All are welcome to serve with our home repair ministry and prior construction experience is not required. If you do have experience, Alabama Rural Ministry provides a great team leader training just for you!
Our youth ministry provides two impactful summer mission opportunities: SWEAT Week and the M25 Atlanta mission team. SWEAT Week is a 4-night, 3-day experience where youth spend the night at the church, go out to serve with local mission partners during the day, and gather in the evenings for worship, Bible study, and lots of fun! The M25 Atlanta team is an opportunity for high school students to spend a week in downtown Atlanta with ministries and organizations serving with those experiencing homelessness.
Mission & Outreach Team
Joe Davis
Director of Mission and Outreach
Rev. John Fox
Director of Jubilee Ministries & Disaster Relief Coordinator