Vol. 4 • No. 12
April 27, 2005
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Lay Leadership Academy Nominations Now Being Accepted
Nominations are now being accepted for the fall 2005 Lay Leadership Academy. The purpose of the academy is to call forth and train the next generation of lay leadership for service in the Church. The class will consist of persons who are 45 years and younger. If you or someone you know is interested, click here to find out more information and to download the nomination form.
Workshops Provided for Moving Pastors
When pastors move from one church to another they are often moved into a type of church in which they have little or no experience. To assist pastors in making this transition, the Cabinet is sponsoring three day-long sessions. For more information on these workshops, click here.
Monday, May 16
Pittman Park UMC
Statesboro , GA
9:45 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. |
Tuesday, May 17
Park Avenue UMC
Valdosta , GA
9:45 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. |
Wednesday, May 18
Perry UMC
Perry , GA
9:45 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. |
2005 Annual Conference Special Offering
Local congregations are asked to collect a special offering to be presented at the opening worship service of Annual Conference. This year's special offering will be evenly distributed to South Georgia's Epworth By The Sea and the Southeastern Jurisdiction's Lake Junaluska for special building projects at both locations.
“I am excited about our congregations and our Annual Conference having this opportunity to recognize the vital ministries offered at both Epworth By The Sea and Lake Junaluska and to generously support their ministries of Christian hospitality,” said Bishop Watson.
A bulletin insert explaining this special offering is now available for use in your local church.
Disciple Bible Study Training Offered in Macon
Cokesbury is offering one-day and two-day Disciple training seminars at Vineville United Methodist Church in Macon on June 23-24, 2005. One-day training seminar options include three programs: Disciple 1: Becoming Disciples Through Bible Study , an in-depth 34-week study of the Bible (June 24), Disciple IV: Under The Tree of Life , a 32 week study of the Writings, the Gospel of John and Revelation (June 23), and Jesus in the Gospels , a concentration on the portraits of Jesus that emerge from the four Gospels (June24). A two-day training seminar option for Disciple 1 is also available (June 23-24). This longer training is designed for those who have never participated in the Disciple program or who would like a more hands-on training experience. Each one-day seminar is $100 and the two-day Disciple 1 seminar is $150. All seminars include lunch and training materials. For more information about Disciple or to register for training, please visit the Disciple website, www.disciple.cokesbury.com , or call toll free at 800-251-8591.
National Hunger Awareness Day: Get your Church Involved!
June 7 is National Hunger Awareness Day, sponsored by the Society of St. Andrew. Find out how your church can be involved.
Smile for the Camera!
Clergy and diaconal ministers will have their pictures taken at the 2005 Annual Conference Session in Macon for a pictorial directory. Pictures will be taken Monday morning through Wednesday afternoon.
2005 San Francisco FUMMWA Convocation
The biennial national convocation of The Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts, July 10-14, 2005, is less than three months away. They have already surpassed the original maximum number of registrations allowed, but are now making plans for additional hotel rooms and busses to accommodate another 100 registrations. These will be filled quickly, so if you're interested in attending, don't delay -- register now! Visit www.fummwaconvo.org to find out more information.
Devotional celebrates 70 years of connecting people, God
(UMNS) For 70 years, The Upper Room has been bringing people together to experience Christ. The daily devotional guide is a spiritual companion for more than 2.5 million Christians seeking to know and experience God more fully.
In 2005, the magazine is celebrating 70 years of helping people make space for God in their daily lives and of teaching ways to faithfully respond to God's calling, says the Rev. Stephen Bryant, editor and publisher for Upper Room Ministries, a division of the United Methodist Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church. More>>
Church provides help to clear Mozambique of land mines
(UMNS) Children are running and playing in a soccer field that a few days earlier was a minefield. Women are washing clothes in a clear channel of water that until recently was too dangerous to approach. Hundreds of young Mozambicans are sitting in classrooms at the Escola Professional Domingos Savio, a technical school, built on the site of a former rebel stronghold that is riddled with mines.
Seeing former death traps turn into places of hope is "magic," says Jacky D’Almeida, director of the Accelerated Demining Program, the team working to clear the land mines. But the work is not over. Just one day after touring a cleared land mine field, D’Almeida hears of a group of villagers herding their cattle to water and stumbling upon an undiscovered minefield. Four are killed and eight are seriously injured.
The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is working in partnership with the demining program, and since 2003, more than 3 million meters of land have been cleared in Mozambique. More>>
United Methodist group to promote dialogue with Muslims
(UMNS)—United Methodists hope to initiate a dialogue with Muslims through the denomination's interfaith agency. Members of the Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns voted during the April 21-24 spring meeting to pursue such a dialogue, either through the National Council of Churches or on their own. Given the current climate of terrorism and religious violence, “the way in which Christians and Muslims related is significant,” the Rev. Larry Pickens, the commission's chief executive, pointed out in his address to members. More>>
United Methodist missionary killed in accident in Nepal
(Newscope) Karuna Bhujel, a UM missionary and native of India, was killed in a motorbike accident in Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 23 as she was on her way to church. Her husband, Devi Bahadur Bhujel, also a missionary, and the couple's twelve-year old son, Eben, had gone ahead to the church. Karuna Bhujel was to follow but never arrived. The father and son found her dead on the street as they returned home following the activities at the church. The motorbike on which she was riding was struck by a truck, according to hospital, police, and autopsy reports provided by Mark Zimmerman, a UM missionary on the staff at Patan Hospital.
Non-U.S. clergy face ‘urgent' need for pension help, leaders say
(UMNS) As the widow of a Liberian pastor, Minerva Kekeh is barely eking out a living. She is one of hundreds of clergy spouses in her country who are surviving on pensions that are less than paltry. “Right now, a bag of rice is about $35—United States dollars,” she said. “And with what we are getting, you cannot afford a bag of rice.”
Leaders of a United Methodist pension initiative are working to change that, and they are looking to U.S. churches for help. As United Methodists in America prepare for annual gatherings in May and June, the denomination's top pension executive has an important message for them.
“We need their help to address a basic issue of justice with regard to enabling clergy in developing countries—their brothers and sisters, really—to retire with dignity and hope,” said Barbara Boigegrain, chief executive of the United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits. More>>
College students live among the homeless for spring break
(UMNS) While many college students head for the beach for spring break, a group from a Texas church spent the time off shivering under a bridge and scrounging for food, learning about life as homeless people. Six young men and women from First United Methodist Church of Round Rock spent three days on the streets of nearby Austin and several area communities. Each started with only $7 and faced the daily challenges of finding food, transportation and a place to sleep.
The experience was "definitely life-changing," says Kimmy Beitelshees, 18, a student at Texas Tech University. David Petersen, a student at Austin Community College, agrees. "I'd have to say that I ignored (the homeless) enough, that I didn't actually know how bad the problem really was," he says. More>>
Methodists advocate for Christian unity with new pope
Several Methodist leaders are hopeful that the new Roman Catholic pope, Benedict XVI, will support efforts toward Christian unity. The Rev. Geoffrey Wainwright, who has been chairman of the dialogue between the World Methodist Council and the Roman Catholic Church since 1986, called the new pope “a first-rate theologian, with a subtle and penetrating mind” and said he was delighted by his election. More>>
UMC 101: The six ‘Restrictive Rules’
(Interpreter Magazine) The United Methodist Constitution (Par. 1-61 in the Book of Discipline) has two rules designed to keep General Conference from tinkering with the Articles of Religion of the former Methodist Church and the Confession of Faith of the former Evangelical United Brethren Church. Those articles affirm the resurrection and the sufficiency of Holy Scriptures for salvation, and oppose speaking in tongues "in a language not understood by the people" (this was a reaction to the Roman Catholic Latin masses of the times) and teachings about purgatory.
Another rule forbids any changes to the “General Rules of Our United Societies.” The General Rules forbid charging unlawful interest, buying or selling “spirituous liquors,” “profaning the day of the Lord, either by doing ordinary work therein or by buying or selling,” “speaking evil of magistrates or of ministers” and the “putting on of gold and costly apparel.”
Three additional restrictive rules prohibit General Conference from doing away with bishops, eliminating the clergy’s right to trial and using United Methodist Publishing House income for anything other than the benefit of retired or disabled preachers and their families.
These rules can be changed by a two-thirds vote of General Conference delegates followed by an affirmative vote of three-fourths of all voting annual conference members. A two-thirds majority of General Conference and a two-thirds affirmative vote of the aggregate number of annual conference members can change other items in the Constitution.
Pension agency seeks to influence corporations
(Interpreter Magazine) The United Methodist Church’s pension agency is supporting about 20 shareholder resolutions aimed at getting corporations to address a wide range of issues.
“We want to focus corporate management’s attention on issues such as HIV/AIDS, climate risk, global warming, workers’ rights on an international level and issues of diversity at home,” said Vidette Bullock Mixon, director of corporate relations and social concerns for the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits, based in Evanston, Ill.
With more than 66,000 participants, the United Methodist Church has the nation’s largest faith-based pension plan with assets of nearly $12 billion. It practices socially responsible investing in more than 3,000 companies and seeks to influence corporate behavior in a manner consistent with the United Methodist Church’s Social Principles and Book of Discipline.
In 2005, the board is sponsoring or co-sponsoring resolutions that will be considered at annual shareholder meetings of companies such as Rite Aid, Kellogg, Corning, Dow, Safeway, Best Buy, Office Depot, Apple Computers, Merck, Pfizer, Wal-Mart and Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Fresh Call for Health Kits, School Kits
Health kits and school kits top UMCOR's wish list right now, and some generous donors are responding. This year, UMCOR field offices have requested nearly 193,000 health kits for distribution in 2005 - a record. New operations in Indonesia and Sri Lanka have placed demands on supplies of kits. Elderly refugees and children who have been displaced from their homes in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia are also beneficiaries. The kits provide much-needed daily hygiene supplies for vulnerable people.
Requests in 2005 for school kits are also at a record high - some 78,000 school-age children will receive school kits, but only if supplies allow. Health kits and school kits are fun to assemble and can introduce even young children to the satisfaction of hands-on mission. Visit UMCOR's website for specifications and shipping information. Please consider these in-kind gifts as expressions of your care or let a cash gift "say it for you." Please give to UMCOR Advance #901440, Material Resource Ministry, and be sure to designate "Health Kits" or "School Kits" in the memo line of your check.
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