• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Sparta United Methodist Church

A Church For All People, And All Means All!

  • Home
  • Worship
    • Facebook Live Stream
    • Contemplative Worship
    • New to Sunday Worship?
    • YouTube Archive
  • About
    • Welcome Statement
    • What We Believe
    • Meet Our Staff
  • Sunday School Registration
  • Ministries
    • Church and Society
      • Reconciling Congregation
    • Children & Youth
      • Christian Outreach Project Mission Trip
    • CHURCH MOUSE THRIFT SHOP
    • MAD About Missions
    • Sparta Ecumenical Food Pantry
    • UM Women
    • Feed the Body, Feed the Soul
    • Adult Education
    • Rainbows
    • Music Ministry
    • Family Promise
  • Resources
    • Bulletin & Announcements
    • Calendars
      • Ministries
      • Building Usage
    • Building Use Request
    • Newsletter
    • Safe Sanctuaries
    • Baptisms
    • Weddings
  • Contact
  • Give

Family Promise

Family Promise, formerly known as Interfaith Hospitality Network, is a national organization that reaches out to homeless families and, working through churches and other faith-based organizations, provides temporary shelter, food and fellowship. Sparta United Methodist Church is proud to be one of 40 some churches in Sussex County and thousands of churches nationwide that participates in this important mission.

Family Promise is a non-profit organization that gets most of its funding from private donations and local fundraisers. Without congregations like ours – people willing to live out the Gospel and take in the homeless in our midst – Family Promise could not survive.

Twice a year, participating churches are scheduled to host homeless families, or guests as we refer to them, in their church buildings, providing meals and offering our hand in friendship. On weekdays, children attend school and parents travel to the central Family Promise office in their county or region for help with job searches, HUD benefit applications, and counseling. The families are transported back to the church at dinnertime, where volunteers are waiting with a home-cooked meal. Volunteers from the church then spend time with the families and sleep overnight until they leave the morning. A typical schedule for a weekday looks like this:

– 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm Provide and serve dinner

– 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm Visit with guests

– 9:00 pm to 7:00 am Stay overnight

Each shift requires two volunteers, and of course weekend days require more volunteers because guest families stay at the church all day.

Volunteering your time for this important mission is a deeply rewarding experience. This is real time, real world Christian outreach at its best. Come join us. Live out the Gospel 2 hour shifts at a time. The life you touch could be your own.

Please feel free to contact the Family Promise /IHN coordinator at SUMC:

Mike Vrabel: (973) 600-2960

“For I was naked and you clothed me, I was hungry and you fed me, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” -Jesus Christ, Matthew 25: 35

Footer

  • Email
  • Facebook
© 2025 Sparta United Methodist Church | All Rights Reserved | 71 S Sparta Avenue, Sparta, NJ 07871

Copyright Sparta United Methodist Church (A Peace Site: Designated by New Jersey Peace Action in 2012)© 2025 | All Rights Reserved | 71 Sparta Avenue, Sparta, NJ 07871