This is the rest of the article about Settlement House Movement
The Deaconess Tradition
The Wesley and Bethlehem houses were focused on outreach to women and children. They had kindergartens, playgrounds, and daycare programs, as well as classes in sewing, cooking, and hygiene, and adult education classes in language and culture. Some of the centers were highly multicultural, reflecting their immigrant neighborhoods. All worked wit a variety of socioeconomic groups and led the way in early efforts to integrate their communities. Margaret Murray Washington- the third wife of Booker T. Washington- established a settlement house outside Tuskegee Institute. In doing so, she created one of the first and only places in Alabama where poor white women and African-American women could gather together for education skill development, and community building.
By the 1920's, there was a move to take the settlement house model to the rural areas, especially to the Southern Appalachian region. More that 200 mountain missions and settlement schools were started there by various denominations and groups (including the Daughters of the American Revolution and Pi Beta Phi). Two United Methodist institutions that remain from this movement- both located in southeastern Kentucky -
are Henderson Settlement, started by the Northern Methodists in 1925, and Red Bird Mission, started in 1921 by the Evangelical Church, a United Methodist predecessor denomination.
The deaconesses (and, later, church and community workers) were instrumental in the success of both rural and urban social settlement missions. Deaconesses emerged as a formal movement in the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1888 and in the Southern church in 1902. They served in the settlement houses and missions and actively engaged in out-reach to the neighborhoods around them. The deaconesses received extensive, cutting-edge training at four national training schools, which were consolidated into what became known as Scarritt College for Christian Workers in Nashville. Scarritt began in 1901 and developed some of thew first sociology and social work courses in the South. The college also formed early partnerships with Fisk University and Vanderbilt. Today's Scarritt-Bennett Center continues to play a valuable part in the history of the settlement movement.
The legacy of the settlement house movement remains active today across United Methodism- both in the important urban ministry work of the Wesley houses and Bethlehem centers and in the rural work of places like Henderson Settlement and Red Bird Mission Settlement houses are still being used as a model for ministry and outreach, especially by groups interested in alternative ways of developing community in urban areas. They also continue to connect us with the history of United Methodist mission.
Michael Feely is the director of Mission Advancement at Henderson Settlement in Frakes, Kentucky
This article can be found in the March/April issue of New World Outlook magazine
Join our Book Discussion
Tuesday, evening April, 8th
6:00 p.m.
Lifting Up hope, Living Out Justice
by Alice G. Knotts
We will be have a soup supper and discussion.
United Methodist Women will be hosting our Maundy Thursday breakfast. We will be have breakfast followed by our Speaker Katurah Johnson speaking on the Stewart Settlement House , which is now a community garden.
Thursday, April 17th at 9:30 in Fellowship Hall
Mother Daughter Tea
May 4th
1:30 - 3:30
Fellowship Hall
$5 per person
All women of the church and friends are invited to attend this fun event.
tickets are being sold between service
Ubuntu?
An
Internet search for the word Ubuntu
comes up with an interesting array of results: it is a community driven computer
operating system, a website for sexual abuse survivors, a cloud server, a
netbook, and a program hosted by the United Methodist Women.
The
question is, “What do all these things have in common?”
One
might say that it is the notion of sharing and making connections be it to through
software, information, or empathy. The origin of the word is South African (Zulu)
and means humanness or humanity toward others.
One
of the ways in which the United Methodist Women is demonstrating faith, hope,
and love in action is through Ubuntu Journeys. They provide an
opportunity to create human connections by serving on short-term mission trips to
different parts of the world. Ubuntu missions are about creating communities - Imagine
having sisters all over the world that can share in your spiritual journey! These
are not one-way relationships: They are based on mutual interdependence. You
pray for, support, and learn from one another.
Interested?
There are opportunities to take part in the 2015 Ubuntu Journeys. The UMW is
looking for a few good women to be team leaders and members. Journeys include Cambodia, Cameroon, and Costa
Rica. Check out details for these 2015
Ubuntu Journeys.
Okay,
so you are thinking - “This is not for me, I can’t go on a mission trip.”
Wait! There
is more to the Ubuntu than mission trips. You can practice Ubuntu right where
you are. In fact, you may already be practicing it when you reach out to others
and create community by giving hope to the hopeless or restoring human dignity
to those who are being or have been dehumanized.
In
one the courses I teach, we say that a team becomes cohesive when it creates a superordinate identity that transcends
individual differences. For me, this superordinate identity is that of
being human and realizing that we have a common destiny.
It
reminds me of the lyrics of the Andy Williams song I listened to as a child
Walk hand in hand
with me, this is our destiny
No greater love could be, walk hand in hand
Walk with me
Ubuntu!
For more information
about how you can be Ubuntu, practice Ubuntu, develop a program for your group
or circle, or participate in exciting Ubuntu Journeys visit
Submitted
by: Anne Christo-Baker
Mission Cooorinator for Education & Interpretation
