Opportunities For Prayer, Giving, and Volunteering
Jump to: Prayer | Financial Giving (Donate Online!)| VolunteeringThe Challenges
Because Zuni is an isolated and disadvantaged community, the Mission continually faces serious challenges in generating sufficient levels of financial resources to carry out its ministry. At one time fully funded by the Christian Reformed Church, the Mission has been rightly and steadily encouraged by Christian Reformed Home Missions to assume more responsibility in generating the needed ministry resources. Each year, as CRHM funding has declined and costs have increased, God has faithfully filled the gap with other funding resources.
Financial support for the Mission from the Zuni Tribal Government is not possible due to our religious orientation. Revenue from tuitions and donations from local sources are also severely limited because of the high levels of family poverty and the lack of business and economic development on the Reservation.
Thus the Mission’s existence depends heavily on appealing to a wider network of prayer support, financial assistance, and volunteer involvement to sustain and broaden its cross-cultural ministry. Only recently has the Mission begun developing the capacity to seek and nurture these sources of outside help.
Participating Through Prayer
Most surely, God’s blessings come to the Mission through the prayers of his people. We invite you to pray regularly for Zuni people and for the ministries of the church and school.
To prompt and facilitate your prayers, the school publishes a quarterly news bulletin called The Torch and a monthly e-mail Prayer Bulletin. To receive either or both of these information channels, e-mail your request to ZCMS@mac.com. The Torch, published each September, December, March and June, is available in print form.
How to Help Financially
General Donations
Of course, anyone is welcome to make a general donation to the Mission. The church and the school are deeply grateful for the many generous gifts that regularly come from individuals, churches, Sunday Schools, and businesses to support our mission efforts in Zuni.
Specific Avenues for Donations
The Mission has also established several specific avenues and programs through which our mission partners can channel their benevolent contributions.
Avenues that specifically support Zuni Christian Reformed Church:
* Pastor Partnership. Many individuals and churches have faithfully supported Pastor Mike Meekhof and his family. The congregation has increasingly assumed responsibility for the salary, benefits and professional development of the pastor; however, gifts continue to offset the gap between congregational resources and needs.
* Benevolence. ZCRC often has opportunity to help people in the community with their physical needs. Food, wood and gas are common needs to which the deacons respond. During the summer, mission teams often assist community members with basic home repairs.
* Bible Translation. The ZCRC and Wycliffe Bible Translators work together to produce Christian materials in the Zuni language. A grant from Wycliffe supports translators’ stipends; the church provides a work place; and the costs of publications are shared by Wycliffe and the church.
* Youth Ministries. From Summer Kids’ Clubs to scholarships for students attending ZCMS or Rehoboth Christian High School, from camp-outs to conferences, the church provides a wide range of activities for children and young adults.
Avenues that specifically support Zuni Christian Mission School:
* The ZCMS Student Sponsorship Fund: Outside support helps low-income parents pay their portion of school tuition. Sponsorship also helps the school offset the gap between the parent provided resources and the cost of education.
* The Staff Partnership Initiative: Some donors desire to support specific staff persons who come to Zuni as mission workers. This partnership helps ZCMS pay staff costs for salary, benefits, and professional development.
* The ZCMS Endowment: ZCMS has established a permanent Endowment Fund for the long-term support of the school. The school “tithes” 10% of all donor contributions into this fund and donors can also designate gifts to the Endowment. Read more about the Endowment Fund
* Coming Soon - The Zuni Arts & Crafts Auction. The school coordinates an on-going on-line auction by which constituents can purchase Zuni-made jewelry, pottery, crafts, and art. Many of these items are made by parents of ZCMS students and by students themselves.
Avenues that support both church and school.
* Facilities Initiative. The care of the facility is a joint responsibility of church and school. They share in the costs of facility maintenance, utilities, insurance and mission vehicles. Donors who appreciate the costs of day-to-day operations may want to support this area of need.
* The “Winds of Change” Capital Campaign: The Mission will soon be embarking on a major capital funds campaign—the first one in its 100 year history—to build new facilities for the school, church, and staff housing. See the link to the Winds of Change for more information.
How to Give
Please be assured that the school and church are NOT in competition with one another for funds! They operate as complementary arms of the same mission effort, but have developed separate financial mechanisms to facilitate each ministry’s particular focus.
Notes:
* If you wish to give to the church, a check or on-line contribution should be written or directed to Zuni Christian Reformed Church.
* If you wish to give to the school, a check or on-line contribution should be written or directed to Zuni Christian Mission School.
* Checks written to Zuni Christian Reformed Mission are divided equally between church and school.
* Electronic transfers (both recurring or one-time) can be set up via this form. Please mail the form and a voided check to P.O. Box 445, Zuni, NM 87327
* Donations for either church or school can be mailed to:
P.O. Box 445
Zuni, NM 87327
If you need help in clarifying any of the above-outlined giving options or processes, please contact Pastor Mike Meekhof at the church (505-782-5649) or Kent Bosma at the school (505-782-4546) or simply e-mail the Mission at ZCMS@mac.com. We’ll be sure you are connected with the right person to assist you and answer your questions.
How to Volunteer at Zuni:
Although limited housing options (and no RV hook-ups) on the Reservation restrict the number of on-site volunteers that can be used at any one time, the Mission has developed variety of ways in which Christians outside Zuni can be integrally involved in ministry to the Zuni people.
Zuni Ambassadors:
People who have visited or worked in Zuni can join (or start) groups of fellow Zuni supporters in specific corners of the country to communicate the Zuni story and advocate for prayer, funds and involvement on behalf of Zuni Mission.
Short-Term Volunteers:
The Mission uses a limited number of volunteers who have special skills to fill specific, short-term, on-site roles such as teacher assistants, tutors, technology consultants, and building/maintenance workers. Short-term volunteers generally stay from two weeks to two months.
Work Team Volunteers:
Typically, the Mission has hosted 2-3 groups of volunteer work/mission teams per year and hopes to increase that number as facilities and resources can be expanded to accommodate more groups. Work teams generally come for one week in the summer.
Cultural Tour Groups:
The Zuni Ambassador group in Michigan plans to organize small groups to visit Zuni and the surrounding area in order to expose people to the unique cultural environment and ministry programs at Zuni.
Student-to-Student Connections:
There are opportunities for elementary students from Christian schools to link up with students in classrooms at ZCMS through the cross-cultural exchange of letters, e-mail, and videos.
If you would like to learn more about how you can visit or volunteer at the Mission, please contact Kent Bosma at 505-782-4546.