DETROIT ANNUAL CONFERENCE EARLY RESPONSE TEAM

ONLINE ERT REGISTRATION SYSTEM COMING SOON! 

We of the Detroit Annual Conference (DAC) Disaster Response Network, welcome you and thank you for your interest and participation.  The following information provided, is given in hope that your finding us has been an answer to a call of your heart and a willing, flexible spirit and attitude.

Although ERT’s have been around for a relatively short time, under that heading, make no doubt about it that the volunteers of The United Methodist Church have and continue to play an active, progressive role in being the hands and feet of Christ to a battered and hurting world through the ministry of Disaster Response.

The following is taken from the “2010 ERT Student Manual”

The Mission of an Early Response Team is to provide a caring Christian presence in the aftermath of a disaster.

This team is neither a first response group of emergency workers nor a recovery rebuild or repair team; rather it fills a specific need in the early days after a disaster to establish the presence of the church. While there are specific tasks assigned to early response teams, no task is more important than the people it serves.

Early Response Teams were first created by the United Methodist Church in the mid 1990s. It began, as it remains today, as a coopera­tive effort between the United Methodist Committee On Relief and the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission.

In early 2007, a covenant was formed between the two groups and a new protocol was established. The covenant is on the following pages and the protocol is included in the body of this manual.

It is also important to understand that ER Teams are trained primarily to respond within their own community. Your team does not need an invitation to respond in your own community or in your own Methodist district. To travel to another district, conference, or jurisdiction, requires the invitation by the affected community. (For information on jurisdic­tions and conferences check the web www.umc.org/directory

Each individual annual conference must decide how and when they will use ERT’s and how they fit into the conference disaster response plan.

UNITED METHODIST VOLUNTEERS IN MISSION WHY WE ARE VOLUNTEERS

The understanding that we are called and that we are sent is at the foundation of our faith. The scriptures are full of stories of persons who responded to a call and were sent on mission for God. Jesus spent his ministry calling persons and sending them on God’s mission.

Jesus summed up the Christian lifestyle in a simple formula: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Putting our faith into action is at the very heart of our Christian calling. The New Testament instructs those who would be followers of Jesus to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give shelter to the homeless, heal the sick, care for the widows, and nurture the children.

Through volunteers in mission, every person in the church has the opportunity to serve and to live their lives more faithfully. And when we reach out and use what God has given us in the service of others, we have life-transforming experiences.

We are told that Jesus came in order that we might be able to tear down walls of hostility that divide and to build bridges of understanding. We are called, wherever we are in the world, to love all of God’s creation and to demonstrate that love with action.

UMVIM exists to promote, encourage, and enable Christians to exemplify “Christian Love In Action” through short-term mission service in the United States and abroad

UMVIM provides opportunities for service by developing and nurturing relationships with domestic and international leaders. We continually nurture our contacts with these leaders to respond to the needs of local communities and to provide comprehensive project information. Our office strives to connect volunteers’ talents to suitable projects for effective service.

Nature and Purpose

The ministry of all Christians consists of service for the mission of God in the world. The mission of God is best expressed in the prayer that Jesus taught his first disciples: Thy kingdom come; thy will be done, on earth as in heaven. All Christians, therefore, are to live in active expectancy: faithful in service of God and their neighbor; faithful in waiting for the fulfillment of God’s universal love, jus­tice, and peace on earth as in heaven.

Pending this time of fulfillment, the ministry of all Christians is shaped by the teachings of Jesus. The handing on of these teachings is entrusted to leaders who are gifted and called by God to ap­pointed offices in the church: some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-12). For these persons to lead the church effectively, they must embody the teachings of Jesus in servant ministry and servant leadership. Through these ministries and leadership, congregations of the church are faithfully engaged in the forming of Christian disciples and vitally involved in the mission of God in the world.

The United Methodist tradition has recognized that laypersons as well as ordained persons are gifted and called by God to lead the church. The servant leadership of these persons is essential to the mission and ministry of congregations.

The privilege of servant leadership in the church is the call to share in the preparation of congrega­tions and the whole church for the mission of God in the world. The obligation of servant leadership is the forming of Christian disciples in the covenant community of the congregation. This involves discerning and nurturing the spiritual relationship with God that is the privilege of servant ministers. It also involves instructing and guiding Christian disciples in their witness to Jesus Christ in the world through acts of worship, devotion, compassion, and justice, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. John Wesley described this as “watching over one another in love.”

The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church (2004): 131, 132, 136, pp. 90-92.

The Covenant

With the grace of God and the support of my colleagues in UMCOR and UMVIM, I will:

Treat all people involved in a disaster as children of God and worthy of my respect.

Regard the collegiality of my fellow workers as a gift from God.

Seek to understand and support the variety of roles needed in Disaster Response.

Practice good stewardship of my own resources and those of the various disaster volunteer teams, understanding that the funding of the work of UMVIM is the responsibility of the volunteers and that General Advance funds collected by UMCOR for a disaster are distributed within an annual confer­ence by the conference leadership.

Ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in discerning my own role.

Be ready to listen as a ministry of healing.

Avoid taking sides in local dynamics that may be exacerbated in a disaster.

Hold fast as a disciple of Jesus Christ in the midst of the chaos of disaster.

COVENANT COMMITMENT

Mindful of the suffering of Christ in the suffering of others,

I hereby make my commitment, holding myself accountable to my colleagues

in Disaster Response and seeking to be mutually supportive at every opportunity.

IF you are interested in becoming part of an ER Team or any other aspect of disaster response please visit or info page and submit the online request for information.

Already a ERT trained individual or are registering today in one of our training sessions, please complete the following required information for the DAC Disaster Response Network to assist us in the preparation and response of the Detroit Annual Conference’s Disaster response network.

 ONLINE REGISTRATION SYSTEM COMING SOON!