We take to heart the New Testament teachings that being in good relationship with God looks like being in good relationship with our neighbors and creation. We wish to be a voice in our local and global communities, and advocate for the poor and oppressed and be actively involved in ways that address those needs. SHARE Commission is the commission within CMC that oversees the outreach ministries of the church and encourages the congregation to work for justice and peace, locally and globally.
MINISTRY TEAMS
A Ministry Team is a small group of CMCers supporting a SHARE-related activity. Most are open to new people; email or call the contact person for information and to volunteer.
BREAD (contact: Julie Hart) – BREAD’s mission is to draw together people of faith to act powerfully on local issues of justice and fairness through processes of relationship building, direct action, and negotiation with decision-makers. Members are racially mixed, economically diverse, and geographically dispersed, and pursue Building Responsibility Equality and Dignity.
Columbia Sister Church (contact: Debra Martin) Our church maintains regular contact with our sister congregation in Armenia, Colombia, including exchanging visits from time to time. Supporting our sister church encourages us to share faith stories and to be aware of conflict in Colombia and the effect US policies have on the people of Colombia.
Refuge Housing Support Team (contact: Cindy Fath) – CMC provides support and housing to individuals seeking asylum in the USA. Support comes from the Refuge Housing Fund. In 2024, CMC began partnering with CRIS to provide housing to those coming on the Rainbow Path (LGBTQ-alligned). In 2025, the relationship switched because of the cessation of resettlement in Columbus, and instead, Riverview International Center began referring immigrants they came across who needed housing.
SHARE ACTIVITIES
SHARE Activities are CMC projects that occur during the year to support local and global organizations. Some are coordinated by one person. Others brings together a small group of volunteers to plan and carry out the activity. Sometimes requests are for volunteers. Other times the requests are for donations of specific items.
Community Peacemaker Teams (contact: Julie Hart) – CPT witnesses for nonviolence in situations of violence around the world. Volunteers may step between warring parties in an effort to halt the violence, or may function as neutral third-party observers who document abuses. CPT is a project of the Mennonite churches, Church of the Brethren and Friends United Meeting. Every year, CMC holds a rummage sale to support CMCers who are members of CPT or participate in CPT delegations.
Clintonville-Beechwold Community Resource Center (contact: Debra Martin) – CRC, a local settlement house, is located four blocks from our church. It offers a variety of programs in the community for the economically challenged, including a Food Pantry, after-school and summer programs for children, services for the elderly and housebound, and emergency assistance.
Crop Hunger Walk (contact: Krisann Applegate) – CROP assists the grassroots, hunger-fighting development efforts of partner agencies in more than 80 countries. CROP provides seeds and tools, wells and water systems, technical training and micro-enterprise loans. Each local CROP Walk can choose to return up to 25 percent of the funds it raises to local hunger-fighting programs. The Columbus CROP Walk usually occurs the second Sunday of October.
Mennonite Action (contact: Mary Yoder) – Mennonite Action is a movement of Mennonites bonded by a common belief that we have a responsibility to use our voices as powerfully as possible for the cause of peace and justice. Mennonite Action is mobilizing fellow Mennonites and Anabaptists across the United States and Canada to use creative nonviolent actions to demand a ceasefire, end the US- and Western-funded occupation of Palestine, and build for a lasting peace.
Mennonite Central Committee (contact: Fred Suter) – MCC is a relief, service, community development, and peace agency of the North American Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches. With over 800 workers in 58 countries around the world, MCC seeks to demonstrate God’s love by working among people suffering from poverty, conflict, oppression and natural disaster. Beyond financial contributions from our church, the Piecemakers small group makes comforters which are distributed in refugee camps, disaster areas, and other places of need. In March, hygiene kits are collected and in August, we provide items for school kits.
Mennonite Men Planting Trees is responding to God’s call to address the climate change crisis through a large-scale tree-planting campaign. Mennonite Men is locating land, forming a network of partners and resources, assisting with tree planting, and receiving contributions for this program. Their campaign is to plant one million trees by 2030.
SHARE-SUPPORTED MINISTRIES
SHARE-Supported Ministries are nonprofits, projects, or missions that CMC is connected to. Most are supported primarily through the CMC annual budget or other funds. Sometimes there are opportunities to volunteer or to make a special donation.
Anabaptist Disabilities Network (contact: Tracey Lehman) – connects and supports people who have disabilities, their families, and faith communities to create a culture of belonging for everybody.
Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary – AMBS is located in Elkhart, Indiana. At AMBS they are committed to teach and learn (trans)formational and intercultural readings of the Scriptures to better understand the character of God revealed in Christ and how we are called to be the Body of Christ in the world today.
Central District Conference – Columbus Mennonite Church is one of roughly 45 churches that make up the Central District Conference (CDC). The purpose of Central District Conference, a member conference of Mennonite Church USA, is to, promote community among congregations, to serve as a resource for pastors and congregations, and to facilitate the reign of God by providing channels through which congregations and pastors may work.
Corinthian Plan Part C – A mutual aid fund which subsidizes health, life, and disability insurance coverage for full-time staff in participating churches who cannot afford the full premiums. It is based on average congregational attendance times $10 per person for an annual contribution.
International Friendships (contact: Yasir Makki) – International Friendships is a Christian organization near OSU that promotes friendship and hospitality for international students. Volunteers from local churches greet, provide temporary housing, and develop friendships with newly arriving students from all cultural and religious backgrounds.
Justapaz (contact: Phil Hart) – Partnering with MCC in Colombia, it helps train individuals for peace building, human rights advocacy, conscientious objection, conflict transformation, collective leadership and community organization under theoretical and theological perspective.
MC USA – Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) is the largest Mennonite denomination in the United States with 16 conferences, approximately 530 congregations and 62,000 members. An Anabaptist Christian denomination, MC USA is part of Mennonite World Conference, a global faith family that includes churches in 86 countries. MC USA has many cooperative ministries, including colleges and seminaries, mutual insurance programs, health service and service organizations. We specifically support the executive board.
Mennonite Disaster Service (Contact: Rodney Suter) – MDS is a volunteer network of Anabaptist churches that responds in Christian love to those affected by disasters in Canada and the United States. While the main focus is on clean up, repair and rebuilding homes, this service touches lives and nurtures hope and faith.
Mennonite Education Agency – MEA walks alongside Mennonite educational institutions to provide resources, programming and support to Mennonite schools, empowering teachers and administrators to continue the life transforming work of Anabaptist Mennonite education. MEA ties church and school together with the intention of maintaining a mutually edifying identity, while working together to ensure students receive a quality Anabaptist Mennonite education.
Mennonite Mission Network – Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, supports ministries in more than 50 countries. It exists to lead, mobilize and equip the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Mennonite Mission Network envisions every congregation and all parts of the church being fully engaged in mission – across the street and around the world.
Mennonite Voluntary Service – MVS, which lives under the umbrella of Mennonite Mission Network, is a domestic volunteer program for folks 20 years of age and older. MVS is an intentional community of peers, who serve at local nonprofits, and plug into the local congregations. Placements include social or health services, education, immigration law, restorative justice, business and more.
Racial/Ethnic Leadership Education – A leadership body formed by representatives from each of the racial/ethnic groups across MC USA. The council works together to voice common concerns and ideas that advance equitable access to church programs and resources. Racial/ethnic groups and constituency groups are able to appoint representatives to the Constituency Leadership Council and Delegate Assembly.
Mennonite World Conference – MWC exists to be a global community of faith in the Anabaptist tradition that facilitates relationships between Anabaptist-related churches worldwide, and other Christian world communions and organizations. Mennonite World Conference meets every six years in different parts of the world to bring together members of congregations around the world.
Semilla (contact: Phil Hart) – The Latin American Anabaptist Seminary located in Guatemala, is for biblical and theological formation of Anabaptist/Mennonite churches in Central America. Its focus is to prepare men and women to follow Christ faithfully living out the reign of God with justice and peace.
Supportive Communities Network – a program of the Brethren Mennonite Council that exists to offer support, resources and opportunities for dialogue among congregations which welcome LGBTQ+ members.
YWCA Family Center – provides emergency shelter and services for families without homes. Many are working poor and unable to meet high housing costs; many are women raising children alone. The 50-room center offers these families safety and support, a place where they can get three healthy meals a day and a warm, secure place to sleep. With their basic needs provided, parents can concentrate on moving forward, using the job-and-housing-search resources, transportation services and the five-star Step Up To Quality rated Safe & Sound child care program.
ADHOC TEAMS
Reparative Debt Team Every year we release 4% of our annual budget to two local organizations: The Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio (NAICCO), and Land of the Freed. We do this in the spirit of reparation, recognizing that we have benefitted from the theft of land and labor of Native and Black peoples. NAICCO has an ongoing Landback campaign, and Land of the Freed is creating public storytelling of the Randolph Freedpeople. In November 2022 we decided to put this line item within the Facilities budget instead of SHARE to recognize that this is a debt we owe instead of charity. However, SHARE still serves as the contact for the team overseeing these monies.
ADJACENT ORGANIZATIONS WE HAVE WORKED WITH IN RECENT YEARS
Community Refugee and Immigration Services
Riverview International Services
Updated August 2026