MIND participated in the “Momentum of Ministries” festival that was the highlight of the last day of the 2010 annual conference. The event, housed in three big circus tents outside the arena where the conference plenary sessions were held, drew thousands of new church members from throughout the New York Annual Conference. MIND’s theme for its space at the festival was “Welcome Home,” to celebrate that there is safe, welcoming space within the UMC through its Reconciling congregations and the work of MIND.
The MIND space was set up like a studio apartment to embody the home theme—with chairs, a table and a couch in the living room and a fridge and table in the kitchen. There were placemats with photos from Reconciling churches that said “You have a place at the table,” and there was MIND literature on the living room table. There were photos on the “walls,” some house plants, rugs and other homey touches.
There was also a basket of prayer ribbons and pens for people to write payers of hope on ribbons, which then got hung up around the space. And there were 1,500 rainbow M&M cookies to make it an especially inviting home.
The MIND space was packed all day as hundreds of people stopped by to ask what MIND is and does and learn more about the work of building a welcoming church. Dozens of people joined MIND, and hundreds walked away with flyers for upcoming events and other literature.
It was a great way to end annual conference, connecting with members of local congregations who took the message of welcome back to their home pews.