The United Methodist Church has a long history of supporting health care efforts, from running clinics to praying for health care workers to advocating for public health measures. We are part of a long history of Christians who have done their best to combat disease, pestilence, and plague.

At this moment, encouraging people to be vaccinated against COVID-19 is one of the most effective things we can do to promote public health. The goal is simple: to have all of our churches encouraging their members, friends, families, and neighbors to get vaccinated or to speak directly with their primary care physician about their vaccine questions. Some people may have questions that can be easily answered, but if people have deeper or more personal questions then we want them to speak with their own physician and not just rely on information from less-informed sources. The largest group of people who are not yet vaccinated don’t need convincing or debating. They simply need encouragement, invitation, and support to take the next step in getting vaccinated.

 Our United Methodist Churches have three great reasons to get involved in this effort:

1. We want to save lives. Our faith aspires not just to equip people for an eternal afterlife but also to improve the quality of people’s lives today. We do this through thousands of ministries across Illinois that provide food, comfort, housing, health care, education, childcare, and other ministries of mercy and compassion. Supporting and encouraging people to get vaccinated is one of the best ways we can help save lives today.
2.  We want to do good. Methodists are active people. When we see a problem, we want to be a part of fixing it. Our faith involves not just avoiding harm, but also actively seeking out ways to do good in the world. Helping our friends and neighbors get vaccinated is a way to bless them by spreading health and well-being. By taking the risk to get involved, we step forward and offer ourselves in service of God’s mission of healing.
3.  We want to safely return to larger ministry gatherings. In our state, vaccinations have been the most effective intervention to decrease our cases, hospitalization, and deaths from COVID-19. We want our churches to be full of people once again and for it to be safe to gather people together for potlucks, Bible studies, vacation Bible school, rummage sales, and picnics. Increasing the number of vaccinated people in our communities is the fastest path to reducing the risk of COVID-19 and safely conducting our ministries.

 
During the week of May 30 – June 6, the Northern Illinois Conference and the Illinois Great Rivers Confernece are teaming up asking every United Methodist Church in the State of Illinois to invite and encourage their members, friends, family, and neighbors to get vaccinated or to speak with their health care provider about their vaccine questions. Over the next few months, hundreds of our churches will be hosting vaccine clinics or supporting partnerships with other vaccine clinics in their community (Check back here for a list of sites, dates and times soon). This is our chance to step up, do good,  and help God’s healing work in ending the COVID-19 pandemic in our communities.

If you have questions, feel free to contact Curtis Brown (IGRC) at cbrown@igrc.org or Arlene Christopherson (NIC) at achristo@umcnic.org.

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