The Rev. Jack Amick grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “My eyes were opened to the world as a child in Dixboro United Methodist Church,” he recalls. Amick remembers Dixboro’s “farm widows, who ministered with healing by potluck and casseroles.” And there were “professors and folks from the University of Michigan who led Bible studies with participants seeking understanding in radical, non-binary ways.” In addition, he “heard people who traveled around the world and who shared slideshows about international things.” Amick’s mother “would drive halfway up the state and meet Pastor John with Christmas packages” for Kewadin Indian Mission UMC. Amick says all that “imbued me with a sense of mission at a very early age.”
The Dixboro experience — “old-school mission full of relationship” — was great preparation for his future role as director of Global Migration for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). Jack left the Detroit Conference in 2013 to begin his ministry with UMCOR. He remains “proud to be connected with Michigan,” a conference that is “way forward” in its support of the work of the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM).
Your gifts on UMCOR Sunday helps support the foundation for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to share God’s love with communities everywhere.
Amick began his UMCOR sojourn in disaster response and development programs. Today, his focus is migration. “It’s something we’ve been doing since we started,” he observes.
Amick highlights programs familiar to Michigan United Methodists. “We have done a lot with Immigration Law and Justice Network” (formerly Justice For Our Neighbors). That network is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UMCOR. “We are very connected with them,” Amick says.
“The second thing that I’m really excited about is the Mustard Seed Migration Grant program, which UMCOR started in 2021. We now are doing a hundred grants a year.” Any United Methodist congregation can apply online for one of these grants.
When relationships have been formed, people can say, “I’m doing this. I’m standing up for this. I’m calling you, Senator, because my friend is not being treated right.” Amick insists, “I think that’s the way change happens both in our hearts and in the world. I believe in advocacy, but I think policy changes will only be made if the heart gets changed first.”
UMCOR moves into a new quadrennium at a time when The United Methodist Church faces stress and strain. At the spring meeting of the General Board of Global Ministries, General Secretary Roland Fernandes said, “The pandemic is just one of several realities from the past few years. Other realities have included resurgent racism, the ravages of climate change, turmoil within The United Methodist Church, and a dramatically increased need to collaborate and partner.
“I don’t think we have any metrics yet on the impact of disaffiliation on mission giving,” Amick remarks.
The UMCOR executive believes mission is based on relationship for relationship’s sake, “seeing the presence of Christ in the other person.” What is the proper approach to mission? Amick concludes, “I think we must say, ‘Hey, I’m doing this mission so that I can learn, so that I can see, so that I can grow,’ rather than, ‘I’m doing mission to fix things.’”
Calling it “very midwestern to want to rescue things,” Jack Amick encourages individuals and churches to examine their instincts carefully. “We have this attitude that we are pioneers, and our job is to fix stuff and bring our good abundance and give it to somebody else to help them,” he explains. “But whenever we start to rush to where bad stuff is happening, we have to slow down and remember that rescue can harm, not help.”
He counsels all in mission to “Listen more to find out who people are and what people need.”
excerpt from a story by Kay Demoss, UMCOR
One of six churchwide Special Sundays with offerings of The United Methodist Church, UMCOR Sunday calls United Methodists to share the goodness of life with those who hurt. Your gifts to UMCOR Sunday lay the foundation for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to share God’s love with communities everywhere. The special offering underwrites UMCOR’s “costs of doing business.” This helps UMCOR to keep the promise that 100 percent of any gift to a specific UMCOR project will go toward that project, not administrative costs.
When you give generously on UMCOR Sunday, you make a difference in the lives of people who hurt. Give now.
