THE "TOGETHER-IN FAITH" GROUP

by Virginia R. Ericksen

Entry T40 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

The "Seasonal Window Display" of The "Together-
In-Faith" Group - 1987

In January of 1975 when the United
Methodist Church selected Mrs. Wilbert
Ericksen to be responsible for the Ecumeni-
cal and Interreligious Concerns office for
their church, she began to think about what
would be accomplished in this community if
a sincere feeling of fellowship and unity could
be encouraged among the four churches and
the Christian people of Mullen, NE. The
church boards and ministers of each church
were contacted and asked to choose a mem-
ber of their congregation to represent them.

On March 21, 1975, the first meeting was
held at the Wilbert Ericksen home with the
following committee present: Betty Ginkens
representing St. Joseph's Episcopal Church;
Velma Maire representing the Assembly of
God Church; Mary Lou Schenck representing
the St. Mary's Catholic Church and Virginia
Ericksen representing the United Methodist
Church.

The name "Together-in-Faith" was chosen
for the name of the committee and a second
person was recruited from each church to
bring in more ideas and carry on the work.
These were Patricia Sexton from the Episco-
pal, Betty Hampton from the Assembly of
God, Pauline Macke from the Catholic and
Mariola Mallory from the Methodist. Vir-
ginia R. Ericksen was selected as their
chairman.

The original ideas were to try to find
answers to some common community prob-
lems such as concerns of our youth, the
elderly, families with no church affiliation,
newcomers, coordinating dates for meetings,
dinners, and projects of the different
churches, accepting ideas from the womens
groups, ministers, and church boards, and to
try to carefully build bridges over some of our
differences.

Some of the special projects which have
been accomplished by this committee over
the years are Inter-Faith Thanksgiving
Church Services; joint Good Friday Services;
a birthday party once a month for the
residents of the Pioneer Memorial Nursing
Home with cakes and gifts; visiting shut-ins;
calling on newcomers and presenting a card
showing times of services and pastor's name
and encouraging them to attend the church
of their choice and hosting an annual
"Newcomers Party" each fall to help get
acquainted; supporting special activities,
dinners, bazaars, etc. of other churches;
preparing an antique religious display for the
Bi-Centennial celebration; supporting Men's
breakfasts and Bible study groups; working
with the Christian Youth Exchanges, en-
couraging schools to leave Wednesday nights
open for church related activities and to show
concern about profanity, violence and immo-
rality in TV and other media. For several
years the churches took turns having a
seasonal display window in the Earl Walker
building on main street. Each of the four
churches budgets a sum for our use for the
Rest Home birthday gifts etc. and our only
other source of income is the offering taken
at the annual Thanksgiving service. This
money is generally used for purchasing
needed items for the Rest Home.

Betty Ginkens was elected chairman in
1985, and is still serving in that capacity.
Present members of the Group are: Berniece
Teters, Liz Greenwood, Kathleen Boyer
(alternate), from the Assembly of God
Church; Pauline Macke and Nora Kehr from
the St. Mary's Catholic Church; Helen
Fitzgerald and Marilyn Downing from the
United Methodist Church; and Delores
Wright and Betty Ginkens from the Episco-
pal Church.

Through the combined efforts of the
Together-in-Faith Group and Pioneer Me-
morial Hospital Board, Meals on Wheels
were started in November 1986. The meals
are cooked at the Rest Home kitchen and
each church takes a month to be responsible
for the delivery by their volunteers. The local
Handi-bus and driver are utilized for this
purpose, with volunteers using their own
vehicles when necessaey. The number of
meals served has ranged from 2 to 7, with 4
or 5 the normal. Government financial help
was not used for this project, avoiding a lot
of the red tape.

In 1988 the group promoted a church
survey/census on church preference and
affiliation, conducting all persons in Mullen
and the surrounding rural area.