1860 Hayes Rd. (PO Box 527) Gloucester Point, VA 23062
(804) 642-2110
Sunday Worship 8:30 & 11:00 a.m.

Missions

Bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to Gloucester Point

Bethany UMC is a mission-minded church dedicated to serving those in need both locally and around the world.  We provide financial and prayer support for missionary Clara Mridula Biswas as well as many organizations in our community.

Adult Missions

In May 2019 several Bethany members and friends joined the Coastal Carolina Rebuilding Ministry team in Edenton, NC to work on various projects.  While there, they presented a lap robe from our HUGS Ministry (Hands Unto God’s Service) to one of the clients served by the mission team.  

Top Row: Paul Kendall, Fred Niethamer, mission client, Jane Niethamer, Kevin Kiley; Bottom Row: Steve Moret, Douglas Doggett, Ed Conner, Andy Edge

Steve Moret presents a lap robe to one of the clients served during the mission trip to Edenton, NC. Also pictured: Fred & Jane Niethamer


 

International Missions

clara biswasClara Mridula Biswas is a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church serving as a community worker in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  She works with the “poorest of the poor,” especially children, in slum areas and garbage dumps to facilitate their transfers to relocation and rehabilitation centers.  “To bring hope to the hopeless, bring light to those who are in the dark, bring Christ to the poor, and share the love of God,” (Luke 4:18-19) summarizes Clara’s understanding of her service. She sees the objectives as “sharing the love of God, helping children obtain an education by opportunities to study through scholarship, improving living conditions by providing vocational training, providing medical care and financial support to the ill, and with education creating awareness on human trafficking, human rights, and domestic violence.”

Prior to her commissioning as a missionary, Clara was in Bangladesh with Food for the Hungry International (FHI), a Christian service group based in the U.S.  As the community development area manager, she served the poor, lower caste, and oppressed by supervising, managing, and monitoring education and development programs from 1983 to 1998.  Clara also served as the program director of the Christian student center at Sendai City in Japan.  She emphasized issues of justice, development, international understanding, worship, and equality from a Christian perspective.

Clara has extensive experience as a volunteer in the Student Christian Movement and speaks English, Bengali, Hindi, and Japanese.

Click HERE to read Clara’s Easter greeting for 2019.