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MDS Guide for the
Church
Contact
Person
1
Welcome
to the role of MDS Church Contact Person,
a ministry linking people in your congregation
to people in need after disaster.
3 Responsibilities Contact Information
4 Communicate In the United States:
MDS Binational Office
5 Recruit 583 Airport Road
Lititz, PA 17543
6 Network (717) 735-3536
toll-free (800) 241-8111
7 Respond
mdsus@mds.mennonite.net
In Canada:
MDS Region V Office
8 MDS at work 6A-1325 Markham Rd
Winnipeg, MB R3T 4J6
9 MDS levels of response grid (204) 261-1274
10 History of MDS toll-free (866) 261-1274
mdscn@mds.mennonite.net
12 Resources
Responsibilities The role of the Church Contact Person
(CCP) is to inform your congregation about
volunteer opportunities with MDS. The tasks
1
of the CCP can be broken down into four
primary responsibilities.
2
Communicate
3 4
Share MDS news
and needs with your Recruit
church. Relay local
Encourage men and
response news and
women of all ages Respond
needs to your Unit
to volunteer with
and Region leaders Be aware of local
local and national
and the MDS office disasters. As a CCP Network
work projects. Help
in your country. you can use the Levels
identify new people Represent MDS
to serve as leaders for of Response grid and
at church and
MDS projects. Resources page in this
community events.
booklet to help you
Be prepared for
know how to begin a
disaster by making
response and who to
connections with
contact for assistance.
members of your
MDS unit, local
church partners and
first responders in
your area.
3
Communicate Information or communication? The two
words are often used interchangeably, but they
signify quite different things. Information is
giving out; communication is getting through.
—Sydney J Harris
As a church member, you know the best way
to communicate the news and needs of MDS
with your congregation. You may choose to
stand up and say something on a Sunday
morning, or you may decide that it is most
effective to shoulder-tap and speak directly
with individuals who are likely to respond
and motivate others. You are the visible
presence of MDS in your church community.
Our promise is to provide you with current
MDS disaster response information. You
will have access to MDS communication
resources (see back cover) to help tell the
story of how responding, rebuilding and
restoring touches lives and nurtures hope,
faith and wholeness. You are also invited to
attend MDS information events and training
seminars.
As a CCP, you are encouraged to share what
is happening in your corner of the MDS
world with your local Unit leader, the Region
Director and the MDS Binational office staff.
The information on page 9 will help you
know who to contact.
4
Recruit The CCP plays a critical role in helping
church members say yes to volunteering
with MDS. Men, women, and youth of all
skill levels can be encouraged to participate
in a local response or with one of the MDS
volunteer programs listed here.
Volunteer locally Pastors-to-Projects
Volunteer on an MDS project in your area. Invite your pastors to spend a week living and
Invite others to go along with you. Everyone working on an MDS project. MDS funds
will come home with stories of meaningful travel, lodging and meals for active pastors
service. and their spouses. They will return home with
personal stories to share, sermon material and
Long-Term be equipped to deliver the MDS message with
This program is for men and women who are your congregation.
available to serve four consecutive weeks or
longer. Long-Term projects, including the RV Partnership Home Project (PHP)
program, need people with gifts of leadership, This program involves congregations by
construction skills, office administration, connecting them to an MDS homeowner
cooking and more. MDS reimburses travel who needs a house. It often includes building
and ensures that volunteers have lodging and components of the house locally and moving
meals where it is appropriate. it to the homeowners building site. Contact
MDS for details.
Short-Term and the
Summer Youth Program
These programs provide a week-long service
experience for youth, men and women,
skilled and unskilled.
5
Network Networking helps connect your congregation
to others who are passionate about helping
people rebuild and restore their lives after
disaster.
Connect your congregation Learn to know other CCPs
to MDS
Exchange information and plan joint
Plan an MDS Sunday. Encourage MDS community events with other CCPs in your
volunteers to share their stories and volunteer Unit. As you think of ways MDS staff can
experiences. Set up an MDS table and help to make your job easier, be in touch with
literature display, show a video or invite a the MDS office in your country.
speaker from your Unit or Region. Contact
the MDS office in your country for other Attend Regional, All-Unit and
speaker suggestions and resources. VOAD meetings
When possible, attend Unit and Region
Make MDS part of your regular giving or
meetings and the annual All-Unit Meeting.
offering schedule. Your financial support is
Join the state or national VOAD (Volunteer
primarily used to cover the overhead costs of
Organizations Active in Disaster.) Meeting
food and lodging for volunteers, who work
information is available from your Unit or
out of Christian love to respond, rebuild and
Region leaders, online or through the MDS
restore lives after disaster. The MDS office in
offices in your country.
your country is happy to provide a letter to
your church treasurer if it would be helpful. Express appreciation
to volunteers
When people from your church decide to
serve with MDS, invite those who are unable Thank volunteers publicly when it is
to serve to support a volunteer by mowing appropriate. Post information about the
their lawn, picking up the newspaper, feeding project and add their pictures on a church
the dog or helping to cover expenses for bulletin board beside the MDS news update.
transportation and missed work. Encourage
your church to hold a commissioning service.
When MDS volunteers return, invite them to
share photos and stories of their experience.
6
Respond “MDS has shown that ordinary people, if they
are dedicated and put in a place of need can
do great things.” —Elmer Ediger
Start at home
Every church and community has people who
need assistance with rebuilding or repairing
their home after a natural or manmade
disaster. Consult with your pastor or deacons
to identify local needs. Organize a weekend
work project. Local projects keep people
involved in MDS and ready to respond in
times of large-scale disasters.
Investigate local needs
Follow-up after disasters that happen in your
area to ask if MDS should be involved. Notify
your unit officers as soon as possible. The
levels of response listed on page 9 of this guide
will help you determine the size of the disaster
and if the response requires Local, Unit,
Region or Binational involvement.
Be prepared to respond
Keep a current list of who to call when disaster
strikes. The MDS office in your country can
provide a list of local Unit members and
Regional and Binational contacts. Be familiar
with your local emergency management
agencies. Help your congregation be prepared
for an emergency or weather disaster.
7
MDS at work MDS is often described as a grassroots
organization. The term implies that the
movement and the support for it grows
out of the local community.
The MDS model for grassroots disaster In the Region
response begins locally. It is deeply rooted Region V in Canada and Regions I-IV in the
in Anabaptist faith traditions and begins United States provide support to the Units. In
with individuals and churches and extends Canada the Director of Region V operations,
to the national offices. The structure of the located in the Winnipeg office, guides large-
organization is interconnectedness rather than scale responses. In Regions I- IV, the respective
being hierarchical. To achieve the mission to Region Directors maintain relations with the
respond, rebuild and restore in Christian love, Binational office in the U.S. and collaborate
MDS draws on the gifts and resources that with them in times of large-scale disaster.
each group has to share.
The Binational board
In the church and national MDS offices
The ministry of linking congregations to The Binational board determines policy and
people in need after disaster begins in the budget and provides vision and resources for
church. A key link at this level is the Church the overall MDS program. They appoint staff
Contact Person (CCP)— someone who to provide continuity and coordination to
relates to local unit leaders and is willing to the overall activities for MDS programs and
give life to the 1950 grassroots vision that projects and to resource the Regions and Units.
“every Anabaptist congregation be equipped
to respond fully to those affected by disaster.” Region
Region
IV map
At the Unit level
Units are local MDS entities that organize
disaster response within their geographic
boundaries. Each Unit connects with a
Region V
network of CCPs who help find volunteers
and other support for disaster response.
Regional leaders and Binational staff are
Region
available to support Unit leaders. IV Region
Region
III
II Region
I
8
MDS levels of While natural disasters capture headlines
and national attention short-term, the work
response of recovery and rebuilding is long-term.
—Sylvia Mathews Burwell
Local unit region binational
Disaster examples: Disaster examples: Disaster examples: Disaster examples:
A homeowner needs A local individual or Several farms in the A multi-state area along
a minor roof repair to family loses their home county or province the Gulf coast experiences
stop a leak. in a house fire and they are damaged by a a large-scale hurricane.
are underinsured. flood and some are Thousands of families
A tree limb blows onto damaged beyond have lost their homes. It
a neighbor’s home. Help A small river in your repair. will take months or years
is needed with cleanup, community floods to get people home again.
repairs and repainting. causing water damage A completely destroys
in a few homes closest the homes of several Widespread forest fires
High winds cause roof to the waters edge. elderly people in your destroy dozens of homes
damage on a number area. in an isolated region of
of homes in the area. Who responds? western Canada and the
Who responds? U.S.
Who responds? For disasters too
widespread for the For disasters too large Who responds?
The CCP is in touch CCP to manage, the for the local Unit to
with the local disaster Unit leader can help manage, the Region A large-scale disaster
situation. Occasionally form a response Director can form a requires all parts of MDS
other churches, the team involving CCPs, team involving local to work together. MDS
local Red Cross or other Unit leaders Units, CCP’s and Binational and the Region
community social and local church and emergency response Director or Unit leaders
service agencies will community emergency and social service should all be included
contact the CCP for and social service agencies. Together the to determine the level
MDS services. The CCP agencies. Together they team will investigate of response and type
presents the situation investigate the damage, and help decide of leadership required.
to the congregation and determine the initial the best ways MDS When needed, MDS staff
informs the Unit leader. response needed and can be involved. are available to schedule
Smaller responses often appoint a coordinator If MDS Binational long-term and short-term
become Sunday school to manage the ongoing resources are needed volunteers and provide
or youth group projects. response. a staff member will be financial and logistical
included on the team. support over the life of
the project.
Job cards needed for all levels: Every job, from local to binational, must have an
MDS job card signed by MDS and the property owner. Job cards are available from
the MDS office in your country.
9
MDS history And whatever you do, in word or deed, do
everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.
—Col 3:17 (NRSV)
A Spontaneous Movement Historical Anabaptist Context
The vision for Mennonite Disaster Service For generations prior to 1950, mutual aid was
(MDS), the disaster relief agency of an informal practice of Anabaptist groups who
Anabaptist churches in the United States felt that their faith was best expressed in the
and Canada, began at a Sunday school day-to-day actions of caring for one another.
picnic in Hesston, Kansas, in 1950. As Through spontaneous gestures such as barn
Sunday school members gathered to share raising and harvest bees, the Anabaptists put
ideas and food, they expressed a common their faith into action when fellow church
desire to “seek opportunities to be engaged members or neighbors faced calamity. In the
in peaceful, helpful activity—just where we event that a family lost their barn to a fire,
find ourselves.” tornado or flood, the church community
would join together to build them a new one.
MDS milestones
1950–51 1953
Mennonites begin to MSO becomes
organize their practice Mennonite Disaster
of mutual aid following Service (MDS).
significant response
efforts to tornadoes in 1955
Oklahoma and flooding MDS in the U.S.
in Manitoba. A Hesston officially becomes part
Mennonite Church of Mennonite Central
Sunday school picnic Committee (MCC).
results in the formation 1962
of the Mennonite MDS in Canada
Service Organization becomes part of MCC.
(MSO).
10A Theology of Service
Serving others is central to the Anabaptist
faith and deeply rooted in biblical call to
respond to human need and the call to
Christian discipleship. As a people of peace
opposed to military participation, the
Mennonites believe that disaster response is
an opportunity to serve not only their own
community, but their country as well.
1993–94 2000 Today
Mennonite Disaster MDS celebrates its 50th MDS is actively
Service incorporates as anniversary. responding to floods,
non-profit organizations fires, tornados,
in the U.S and Canada. 2005 hurricanes and other
Separation from MCC Hurricanes Katrina, Rita disasters in Canada
was done in a spirit and Wilma generate and the United States.
of collaboration and the largest and longest Some 3,000 Mennonite,
ongoing Christian disaster response in Amish and Brethren
response. MDS focuses MDS history, more than in Christ churches
its response to disasters 7 years of work. are involved in this
in Canada and the ministry of responding,
United States. MCC rebuilding and restoring
responds to disasters in Christian love.
internationally.
11Biweekly updates MDS online
Project activity reports and urgent and future mds.mennonite.net
needs are available by FAX, e-mail or mail. The MDS website hosts current national
This information is also recorded on the MDS and regional news, stories, photos, contact
toll free line at (800) 241-8111. To be added information, urgent volunteer needs and other
to a mail list, contact the MDS office in your volunteer information, forms and operational
country. resources.
MDS newsletter facebook.com/MennoniteDisasterService
Volunteers and supporters regularly share their
Behind the Hammer is a free quarterly
experiences, stories and photos on the MDS
newsletter, available by mail or online.
Facebook page.
Each edition features news, client stories and
highlights MDS volunteers in action. youtube.com/user/MDSMennonite
To subscribe for yourself and/or your church A collection of videos, hosted on YouTube
please be in touch with the MDS office in tell MDS volunteer and homeowner stories
your country. and provide instructional information to help
volunteers prepare for MDS service.
Events and training
MDS-sponsored events and trainings are held Other MDS communication and promotional
throughout the year. To learn more, ask your resources available for your use are: tabletop
Unit or Region leaders or contact the MDS displays, brochures, DVDs, slide shows, shirts,
office in your country. hats, cookbooks, carpenter pencils and more.
1015jk2m
Mennonite MDS Binational Office MDS Region V Office
Disaster 583 Airport Road
Lititz, PA 17543
6A-1325 Markham Rd
Winnipeg, MB R3T 4J6
Service (717) 735-3536 (204) 261-1274
toll-free (800) 241-8111 toll-free (866) 261-1274
mdsus@mds.mennonite.net mdscn@mds.mennonite.net
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