On March 31, Partners In Ministry (PIM) was approved to become the first and only National Mission Institution in the North Carolina Conference.
National Mission Institutions (NMIs) are United Methodist Women at work in communities across the United State. Their programs touch lives from infancy right into senior years. They give communities and individuals the freedom to dream and the opportunity to see dreams realized, and in their history are stories of women who imagined a better, more caring, more inclusive Christian family, and set about creating it in their own neighborhoods and beyond.
PIM has been serving children, youth, seniors, disabled and otherwise marginalized families throughout the Gateway District for 12 years. PIM collaborates ecumenically with churches, conferences, work teams, missionaries and faithful servants of God to improve the quality of life for thousands of people and their families. The reach of the ministry goes far beyond the Gateway District and even the North Carolina Conference as they unite with servants from across the country to impact the lives of entire communities.
Headquartered in Scotland County, North Carolina, this ministry started as a vision of Bishop Leonard Fairley and the Executive Director, Dr. Melba McCallum, Deaconess. The success of the organization has rested on partnering with the public schools, departments of social services, local hospitals, banking institutions, local and state government officials as well as individual servants who were seeking a “feeding ground for ministry” that they could use to touch the lives of the least of God’s people and make a difference.
PIM states that hope is the most precious gift that they share with those they are serving. As they offer a “hand-up” instead of a “hand-out” daily through mission and ministry, they hear the testimonies of countless of people whose lives have been transformed because Partners In Ministry has restored their faith in God and the servants of God.
Today, there are approximately 90 National Mission Institutions in a covenant relationship with United Methodist Women National Office (hereafter referred to as the national office). They are located in inner cities, small towns and rural settings from North Carolina to Alaska, Massachusetts to Hawaii, Texas to Minnesota. They provide services to all persons without regard to race, color, national origin, religious, sexual orientation and political persuasion. They are ministries with the poor, elderly, women, children, youth, families and communities.
Programs and services are flexible and respond to the changing needs of the local communities. The ministries seek to empower those who are in need, to witness to Christ’s hope in the midst of despair and know life more abundantly.
United Methodist Women are engaged in mission with NMIs on a daily basis through their prayers, volunteer support, and mission giving. Their faith, hope and love are resulting in action on behalf of and with women, children and youth in local communities through the work of NMIs.
