Thank you!

Thank you SO MUCH for attending our 50th-anniversary celebration last week! And thank you even more for the comments you shared with us during the "Call to Action" and for your willingness to invest in other people by giving us your names and contact info. 

Here are the *next steps* we're working on: 
We have sifted through your comments and are currently developing a brief survey that we will email out to you in the next couple of days. Using this tool, we plan to further define our particular areas of passion and enthusiasm. 

So far the major areas of interest include 

• issues related to sex trafficking (awareness, intervention, prevention); 
• expanding the capacity of the homeless shelter; 
• mentoring for children/youth; 
• and job training/job creation for those coming out of the recovery community, out of a trafficking situation, and those with criminal records

After we have finished listening and discerning where our energies are focused, we will schedule the first Community Conversation. 

And YOU will be the first to be invited to that conversation, though others who are interested may attend as well. If you have a friend who missed the event but wants to be part of the new things God is doing among us, invite them. 

I am greatly looking forward to seeing what sorts of new things God is doing through us and among us! 

Be of good courage & know that you are loved,

Allison 

Rev. Allison T. Bauer
President, Scioto Christian Ministry Board of Directors
Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church (Portsmouth, OH) 

revatbauer@yahoo.com 

PS For those who incorporate a time of daily prayer in your lives, the following is a link to a series of prayers related to human trafficking ("the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act"): 

http://www.prayerforfreedom.com/slavery,faith,prayer,awareness/human-trafficking/

Welcome to Scioto Christian Ministry, Inc!

West End Ministry was founded in 1969 by a group of five visionary pastors in the Boneyfiddle district of Portsmouth, OH. 

Charles Pitzer, rector at All Saints' Episcopal Church, recognized a joint ministry could meet neighborhood needs more effectively working together as the body of Christ. The original five churches eventually reached outside their neighborhood to encompass Scioto County.

To pledge their support, these five congregations held a joint service commemorating the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: All Saints' Episcopal Church, Bigelow UMC, Evangelical United Church of Christ, First Presbyterian Church, and St. Mary's Catholic Church. 

In the early days of WEM, when it was finding its legs and moving crisis to crisis, a program director remarked that they operated by the principle of “management by miracle.” God always provided in order to help meet the community's need. 

Fifty years later, WEM has become Scioto Christian Ministry, Inc, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization sponsoring Scioto County's only homeless shelter (Operation Safety Net) and the West End Child Care Center, a federally licensed daycare center providing affordable child-care to low-income families through the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (Division of Child Care in the Department of Human Services). 

Support from SCM has grown from five to twelve churches, adding Cornerstone UMC, Friendship UMC, First Christian Church, First Presbyterian Church, Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, Second Presbyterian Church, St. Monica Catholic Church, St. Peter Catholic Church, and Valley UMC as ministry partners.

In 2019, we are celebrating 50 years of INSPIRING ACTION in Portsmouth, OH with "An Evening of Inspiration," an anniversary dinner celebrating our history of inspiring actions and focusing on something new: human trafficking in our local community and related issues. 

Details:
Thurs, September 19, 2019
6:30 p.m.
The Welcome Center (342 Second St)
Dinner prepared by Chef Will Robinson
Dessert buffet by SCM church bakers
Video retrospective by Terry Horner
Music by Elizabeth Scott and Charis Davis
Keynote Speaker April Thacker, case manager for "Freedom a la Cart," a Columbus-based organization empowering survivors of human trafficking through wraparound services and workforce training through their catering business.

Ms. Thacker is a survivor of drug addiction and human trafficking and now dedicates her life to empowering other survivors. Hers is a story you will not want to miss.
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RSVP to scminc50@yahoo.com or 740-285-2615
$15 per person suggested donation to be split between the homeless shelter and the West End Day Care Center