Each year, churches in the Minnesota Annual Conference take a Love Offering for missions. The offering is brought to annual conference session—a gathering of United Methodist clergy and laity from across the state.

The theme of the 2019 Annual Conference session—taking place June 18-20 in St. Cloud—is “Dare to Reach—Love Boldly!” This year’s Love Offering will include two parts—a financial offering and an offering of names.

The funds from this year’s financial offering will to go three projects: Lao Samphan Methodist Church (60 percent), Volunteer Lawyers Network (20 percent), and Volunteers in Mission Scholarships (20 percent). The second part of the Love Offering involves giving to God names of acquaintances who do not know Christ, for whom we are committed to “dare to reach” through our prayers and our witness of compassion, love, and hope.

Lao Samphan Methodist Church

Recipient of 60 percent of 2019 Love Offering

The United Methodist Church’s presence in Laos is growing through the Lao Samphan Methodist Church (“Samphan” means “united”). Rev. Daniel Yang, a Minnesota elder now serving as a United Methodist missionary in Laos, oversees new church development, training and equipping leaders, and pastoral support. Yang and other leaders are working to establish a Methodist presence in 17 provinces in Laos, develop committed church members and leaders, build relationships with national and local government, and build a resource training center and dormitory. They’re also creating programs to support the socio-economic development of both church members and communities in Laos, one of the poorest countries in the world. Love Offering funds will be used to further these efforts.

Volunteer Lawyers Network

Recipient of 20 percent of 2019 Love Offering

Established in 1966, Volunteer Lawyers Network helps thousands of people each year by providing civil legal services to people living in
poverty. It connects immigrants, single parents, the working poor, prior offenders, the LGBTQ community, and others with top lawyers in the state, who donate their time to support equal access to justice. All services are provided at no cost to clients, 7,300 of whom were served in fiscal year 2018. Love Offering funds will go toward the Immigrant Legal Services program, through which volunteer lawyers and staff partner with community organizations—including Northfield UMC—to provide culturally competent services to immigrant and refugee neighbors.

Volunteers in Mission Scholarships

Recipient of 20 percent of 2019 Love Offering

Mission trips change the lives of participants by giving them an opportunity to grow in faith and gain a new perspective of the world. Through the United Methodist Church’s Volunteers in Mission program, teams spend up to two weeks working on mission projects domestically or abroad.

Most teams from Minnesota are engaged in hands-on projects that build infrastructure to ensure that nutritional, medical, and educational programs in developing countries become sustainable and locally run. Team members pay their own way, and the Love Offering helps to offset the cost for first-time participants.

Love Offering Resources

All churches will receive a packet with materials to help them promote the Love Offering to their congregations. Please share this giving opportunity! Here are electronic copies of those resources:

Letter from Bishop Ough
Bulletin insert in color / bulletin insert in grayscale
​Poster
Name prayer cards
PowerPoint for congregations 16:9 ratio version / 4:3 ratio version