wfn.org | Safety Net Prayer Ministries reaching out to farm families

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Aug. 19, 1999 News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.  10-24-71B{430}

By United Methodist News Service

Farm families who have helped build churches and support Christian mission
are now finding themselves being squeezed out of their livelihoods because
of low crop, pork and dairy prices.

Given that harsh reality, the Rev. Karl Goodfellow, a United Methodist
pastor in Guttenberg, Iowa, is trying to show farmers that the church cares
about  them.  Through a five-year-old project called Safety Net Prayer
Ministry, he is reaching out as far as he can to tell farmers of the nation
that the church is standing with them. 

Families receive letters telling them that during the 60 day harvest season
they will be prayed for.  "The letter doesn't ask people to come to our
church but simply says that we care," Goodfellow said.

During the past five years the prayer ministry has linked praying
individuals and local farm families. In 1998, more than 6,000 individuals in
Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Ohio were praying for 60,000 farm families.

Goodfellow said the project, recognized by the Iowa Annual Conference of the
United Methodist Church, is about more than prayers.  "It has become a
channel through which churches have found a tool for reaching out, building
prayer disciplines and saying to people in their own community that they
care," he said.  "The gospel is about caring for our brothers and sisters as
they face the stresses of life." 

For more information, contact Goodfellow at P.O. Box 706 Guttenberg,  IA
52052;  (319) 252-3380. Information also may be obtained from the ministry's
Web site at www.netins.net/showcase/snprayer.

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