Blog from November, 2020

Merry Christmas from the Reliant Central Team! We wanted to reach out about two important things this holiday season.

First, we appreciate your hard work and dedication to your ministry and spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ! In this unique year, we still want to celebrate all of our staff with a Christmas gift and have worked with LeaderPromo to provide some Reliant-branded options that you all can choose from. Click the button below to choose your gift and fill out your shipping information, so we know exactly where you want it sent. As with many things this year, the stock availability has been extremely unpredictable. So in order to guarantee the availability of these specific products and in the hope of getting things shipped out to you on time, you will need to place your order before next week, Friday, December 11th.

This should not take more than a few minutes of your time, and we would love your prompt response. In years past we have done different Christmas gifts for international staff due to shipping restrictions; however, this year all staff can choose from these gift options.

We are excited to bless you with a small token of our appreciation and for the opportunity to serve you and your mission. 

Choose Your Preferred Christmas Gift

We are also mailing our annual Reliant Christmas card and end-of-year giving appeal to your financial supporters in the U.S. this week. For most, it will arrive by December 9th. We know December is a time where many partners give special or additional gifts, making it the largest giving month of the year and a time for many staff to catch up on MTD or prepare for financial needs in the coming year. In a season where we celebrate the Father sending the Son, we're praying that God's people will give generously to the work of sending people out on mission! Our theme for the card and appeal this year is "Prince of Peace." Given how difficult 2020 has been for many, we wanted to focus on Isaiah 9:6 for this year's Christmas card and appeal. You can see a mockup of all of the pieces below. 

"For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

This year has been full of challenges, and we hope that this season brings a unique opportunity to rest in the peace of our Savior come down among us. Thank you for all that you do for the Kingdom. It is an honor to partner with you in ministry. Have a Merry Christmas!

-Tom Mauriello on behalf of the whole Central Team

As you know, Reliant missionaries serve all over the country and around the world in many different types of ministry settings. While the work varies from place to place, what should stay the same is that each staff member experiences a safe and healthy work environment. This is incredibly important to us. 

As a staff member, it's essential that you understand you have both the opportunity and responsibility to report concerns about your ministry and work environment to leaders. The first place to report those concerns would be to your supervisors. However, we understand that there are times, for one reason or another, that you are not able to or not comfortable with reporting directly to your leadership. Because of this, Reliant provides several channels for making a report. You can send a confidential email to notifyHR@reliant.org, call 407-490-0141 to speak to Julie Thomas, the HR Compliance Officer, or reach out to your Program Team Lead at Reliant. We also want to make you aware of a new way to report, if you'd like to do so anonymously. 

Reliant is now partnering with Lighthouse Services, a company that provides reporting hotlines to over 4,000 clients worldwide, to administer Reliant's Employee Reporting Hotline. This "hotline" can be accessed many ways (toll-free telephone number, a website, email, and even fax) and is available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week for anonymous reports of misconduct, fraud, abuse, harassment, discrimination, and other violations of Reliant’s Code of Conduct. Regular ministry and employment matters that do not require anonymity should still be directed to the employee’s supervisor, to the Reliant Program Team Lead, or to Reliant Central (notifyHR@reliant.org) and are not intended to be submitted using this service. You can find a lot more information about Employee Reporting here including a whole set of helpful FAQs.

We have updated two of our policies that are related to this issue. One is the Suspected Misconduct and/or Fraud, and Whistleblower Protection. The major change to this policy is the updated reporting procedures and channels. The second updated policy is the Grievance System. Changes include clarifying what a grievance is and the grievance procedures steps. Please take time to familiarize yourself with both of these updated policies.

If you have questions on any of these updates, or the new reporting hotline, please reach out to Julie. And thank you for your dedication to furthering the Gospel of Christ in a safe and healthy environment.

Julie Thomas, HR Compliance Officer

Tom Mauriello, Executive Director

As this year comes to a close, we want to get you a list of helpful dates and information about end-of-year gift processing, payroll, and reimbursements. We also want to make sure you're aware of when the Reliant Central office will be closed for the holidays, as well as deadlines for sending any year-end gifts from donors. You can review this important information by clicking here. And please remember to mail any checks you receive from donors along with the original envelope so that Reliant can use the postmark to confirm the correct year on the donor's tax deduction receipt.

Best wishes for a blessed holiday season.

We are here to serve you, 

Reliant Finance teams

During these unusual times, we all have to make some adjustments to what were formerly routine activities. Whether it is remembering to grab a mask before heading to the grocery store or trying to decide if you will accept that offer to a dinner party, we now must consider our safety and the safety of others in so many of our daily decisions.

In March, we implemented restrictions on most work- and ministry-related travel. However, to balance legitimate needs for travel with the safety of Reliant staff, missionaries, and ministry partners, we have updated our travel policy and included procedures for approving travel within the U.S. Please find the policy here. This applies to all work/ministry-related travel, whether by car, plane, or other modes of transportation, that takes you outside of your usual ministry context (i.e., where you may travel during your routine day-to-day duties.) You may also want to review the entire page for all of the current Coronavirus Policies and Updates.

Please note that you will need to do a few things before getting your travel approved, including completing a notification form (which is linked on the Solomon page and below), so plan accordingly and give yourself enough time.

Travel Notification Form: If you know you will be traveling within the U.S. outside of your normal ministry/work contexts then please fill out the travel notification form. You will need to "copy" this google sheet, fill it out entirely, and then share it with notifyHR@reliant.org

If you have any questions, you may contact your program team or Julie Thomas, HR Compliance Officer.

We are praying for your safety and well-being during this time.

Julie Thomas, HR Compliance Officer

We are excited to officially release our 2019 Annual Ministry Report that celebrates 30 years of service! We hope that you will find it encouraging and informative as we take a look at all God has accomplished in our 30th year. In previous years, we sent out a physical copy of our Annual Ministry Report to all staff and donors, but in this unique year, we have decided to make it available in a digital format instead. You and your donors can access the 2019 Digital AMR here.

We apologize for the delay in publication this year. Reading it with today's eyes, we know this doesn't address the realities we have gone through in 2020. We do not want the lack of reflection on the defining moments of 2020 to be interpreted as insensitivity to the dramatically different place or pain so many have experienced in 2020.

Our sincere hope is that looking back in this way, with both praise and humility for all that God has done, will only serve to strengthen our faith and embolden our hearts. We know that "he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus".

We encourage you to share this with your supporters and anyone else who might benefit from hearing what God has been doing in our ministry. As we move toward the end of 2020, I pray that each of you is moving closer to Christ, looking to Him for His grace and peace. As always, the Central team is praying for you all and here if you ever need anything. 

Serving together with you,

Tom Mauriello