Partnerships

– Ryunosuke Satoro

For many years, our church has enjoyed spiritual and justice-centered partnerships with other organizations and people, including a Native American community in South Dakota, the village of Beit Sahour in Palestine, an educational foundation in Haiti and a congregation in South Africa. 

Through these cross-cultural relationships, we share and grow in our respective faith traditions and gain an even clearer understanding of our shared beliefs. 

Here are just a few of our treasured partnerships.

Our church’s first partnership began in 1985 with the Green Grass Church on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. Henry Good Bear, the church’s minister, came and shared with our congregation his vision for the Green Grass Church – a new church building that would be large enough for youth ministries, Alcoholic Anonymous meetings, and fellowship activities. In a spirit of partnership, we agreed to help finance that project.

Since 1985, more than 300 members of our congregation have traveled to South Dakota to learn, share and further strengthen the bonds of friendship between our two communities. During our visits, we have had the privilege of participating in sacred Lakota rituals, such as the Sweat Lodge Ceremony and the Sun Dance; and several members of our church have even been honored with their own Lakota names.

Our congregation has been blessed in return by visits from many members of the Green Grass community, who have shared with us their history, culture, hopes and dreams. Several have also taken part in our mission journeys to South Africa, Israel and Palestine. A recent addition to our ongoing partnership has been the Morning Star Camp, where our local youth enjoy an educational experience with youth from the reservation.

Another important component of our partnership has been Tribal Crafts, Inc., a nonprofit organization that bought and sold beautiful star quilts, jewelry and other crafts made by our Native American friends as a way to help affirm, share and celebrate the traditional skills for which the Lakota are known.

Following the tragedy of 9/11, our Board of Deacons raised the question, “Where do we go from here?”

Recognizing the long history of conflict in the Middle East, it was determined that we needed to not only encourage broader understanding among the Christian communities, but also help build more of an interfaith community in Southeastern Connecticut, in order to constructively address those conflicts.

These discussions ultimately led to the “World House Journey to Israel and Palestine” – an overseas visit led by the ministers of our church and the executive director of the Jewish Federation of Eastern Connecticut. The original group of travelers included people with a variety of beliefs – Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Native American.

During this journey, we established a special friendship with Beit Sahour, a small, predominantly Christian community neighboring Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied territories of the West Bank. 

In 2002, we established the Tree of Life Educational Fund – a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide cross-cultural opportunities that educate and enlighten our congregation and local community, and help foster a more just and peaceful world.

The Fund organizes journeys to Israel and Palestine. Since 2004, we have welcomed a number of young Palestinian musicians from Beit Sahour and other communities who have performed wonderful concerts at special events here in Connecticut and, sometimes, across the U.S.

Through the Fund, we have established partnerships with charitable organizations both abroad (the Shoruq Organization, the Parents Circle/Family Forum, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions) and at home (the Middle East Children’s Alliance, the Council on American-Islamic Relations).

Our church has also held Tree of Life events bringing together Jewish, Muslim and Christian voices of conscience from across the U.S., Israel and the occupied territories, and provides scholarship assistance to students at Bethlehem University.

The Crosby Fund for Haitian Education was founded in 2004 by Rebecca and Frederick Crosby to support the creation of more affordable educational opportunities for young people in Haiti.

The Crosbys established a Fund that provides full scholarships to academically promising students from the Artibonite Valley who could not otherwise afford to attend school. The scholarships aim to prepare these students for post-secondary education and careers within Haiti. For every student selected, the Fund provides full tuition, the required books and school uniform, and covers all exam fees.

When the program first began, the Fund was only able to offer scholarships to 36 high school students; today, it offers almost 400 scholarships that enable students of all ages to attend schools in Haiti.

Through the years, the Crosbys have led trips to Haiti for Old Lyme students in grades 9-12. The teens participated in arts and craft projects, offered English tutoring, play soccer with Haitian teens, delivered handmade clothing to children, visited schools and learned about the lives of rural Haitians.

In January of 2017, the Crosbys opened a new Education Center for the Fund in Deschapelles, Haiti. The Center’s focus is on providing daily tutoring classes, teacher training and literacy programs. It also provides a permanent home for the Fund’s scholarship work, with offices for staff, classrooms and a computer lab. Our church will be working closely with the Fund to leverage the Center’s capabilities to provide additional educational opportunities to adults.

Both our Mission Board and The Benevolent Society (TBS) have provided generous support for the Fund. The Mission Board has twice established a micro-lending grant of $5,000 to benefit Haitians through an organization called FINCA, an international leader in micro-lending banking. When the Crosbys have traveled to Haiti, they take along clothing made by our TBS Sewing Group and other needed items donated by the Society.

You can follow the Fund’s work and accomplishments on Facebook.

In 1988, at the height of the power of the apartheid government, David Good and Carleen Gerber travelled to South Africa as part of a Plowshares Institute delegation that met with Rev. Paul Verryn who was, at that time, the only white minister serving a church in Soweto. Paul also lived in Soweto and offered sanctuary within his home to boys and young men who had been detained and tortured by the South African government.  When Paul’s life was threatened, our church invited him to come to Old Lyme for a sabbatical.

Based on the strength of these experiences, we entered into a partnership with the Methodist Churches of Southern Africa, first in Soweto and later, when Paul Verryn became a bishop, with Central Methodist Mission, a church in downtown Johannesburg. It was in this downtown church that Paul offered sanctuary to more than 3,000 refugees, many of them fleeing political persecution in Zimbabwe.

Since 1989, Bishop Verryn is a frequent visitor and, in 2001, Rev. Derick Maregele, from Central Methodist Mission, moved with his family to Old Lyme and served our congregation for two years as Minister of Visitation. 

We have since been honored by a visit from 53 members of the Central Methodist Choir who thrilled us with their music. Mxolisi Duda, a talented tenor from South Africa, was sponsored by members of our church for 8 years of graduate education in music in this country.  Mxolisi was Director of an indigenous singing group at the University of Pretoria and, during the fall of 2012 and again in 2015, young people from this group visited Old Lyme. The children of our church have also enthusiastically participated in the partnership, collecting and sending school supplies and exchanging art work with the children in South Africa.