February 15, 2018
Dear Reader,
The season of Lent is now upon us!
While some might use this time to cut down on those vices they think might be interfering with their connection to God – be it chocolate, Facebook or caffeine – others see this season as an opportunity to add more to the world around them.
In this week’s Connector, you’ll read stories of churches preparing a record-number of health kits to celebrate UMCOR Sunday on March 11. You’ll find a story on United Methodists launching a new university in Sierra Leone. And you’ll notice churches continuing to reach out and support immigrants and refugees, despite a political climate that challenges our call as Christians to do so.
May you find your own way to re-connect to our loving and gracious God as this season begins.
Kristen Caldwell, communications associate
Communications Director Greg Nelson is out of the office this week. Rest assured, he’ll be back in the saddle next week.
CONFERENCE NEWS
Oregon-Idaho churches celebrate UMCOR Sunday by making kits
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Celebrating UMCOR Sunday has become a work of precision and coupon-clipping for the people of Oak Grove United Methodist Church.
On March 11, church-goers in this community just south of Portland will create their own assembly line as they put together 300 health kits for the United Methodist Committee on Relief depot in Salt Lake City.
The church can make a record number of health kits this year because of local coordinator Laurie Yadon’s watchful eyes. The church raises money in August to purchase items for the kits – everything from brushes to hand towels to toothpaste – and buys all the items in bulk at once so that they can make sure each kit is complete.
Fred Meyer has just the right size of towels for these kits and Yadon and her fellow Women in God’s Service (WINGS) group members watch patiently for those towels to go on sale.
Yadon was floored recently when Fred Meyer put their hand towels on sale for not 50 – but 60 – percent off. Plus, she had some extra coupons. The hand towels went from $4.50 apiece to $1.07.
“The more money we save, the more kits we can make,” Yadon said.
Read more of this story and find more ways to get involved on the Conference website.
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Spirit Alive: What it means to be a Dreamer
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In his bi-monthly blog, Rev. Lowell Greathouse introduces us to Yuni, a United Methodist Dreamer under the DACA Act who is thriving in the United States as a college student with the support of her United Methodist Church.
Yuni is taking a risk by speaking out, as the debate in Washington D.C. rages on about deporting immigrants and refugees and building walls.
“The church has just gotten me to this level of knowing God is with me,” she says during her conversation with Greathouse. “And no matter what happens … maybe that’s why I don’t care about sharing my story, maybe that’s why I don’t care what people think or if immigration wants to come. I don’t really care because God is with me …”
Greathouse writes that before taking sides or making political pronouncements, we need to see the faces and hear the stories of the Dreamers in this country.
“The Dreamers stories that I've heard and seen – ones like Yuni's – are so very American. They reflect the experiences of young people who have dreams for their lives, want to contribute to this country they call home – and in the process make a difference in the world. Many of these Dreamers want to become nurses, teachers, lawyers, first responders, and engineers among other things. But this can only happen if our hearts are open and we, as a nation, realize that they are already home. In fact, for many of them, this is the only place they know, having come here as young children.”
Watch the interview with Yuni and read more of Greathouse’s latest installment of Spirit Alive.
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AROUND THE CONFERENCE
Love, like death: A Valentine’s Day/Ash Wednesday message
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Bishop Elaine Stanovsky shares a message of love and death mingling together as the start of Lent began with Ash Wednesday on Valentine’s Day.
“Both love and death erase boundaries that separate us from one another. Receiving ashes smudged on a forehead, or a hand, is a humbling of self and a reminder that we live because God breathes life into dust. We are at once nothing, and one-with-everything.”
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Inspiring Generosity: Taxes, part deux
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In her latest blog, Cesie Delve Scheuermann uses a little bit of French to expand upon her lesson on new tax laws from last week.
She gets help from her longtime mentor Kim Klein who reminds folks that even though the tax laws have changed, we’re still called to give, generously.
“At the end of the day, we don’t know all the ways this plan will affect us and our work, but we do know that the fight for justice and equity is what should shape and propel our fundraising and our giving.”
Read more of Cesie’s blog and Kim’s advice on the Conference website.
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Woodlawn MIC featured on KGW's Portland Today
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In case you missed it, the new Woodlawn MIC (Multicultural Impact Collective) ministry, formed out of the Conference's new Woodlawn Redevelopment Project was highlighted on KGW's Portland Today.
Rev. Jon Umbdenstock and Woodlawn MIC coordinator Olivia Smith chatted with the Portland news station about the People's Poets upcoming Open MIC Night on Saturday.
Check out the story on the KGW website.
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AROUND THE GLOBE
United Methodists in Sierra Leone celebrate launch of university
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FREETOWN, Sierra Leone – Sierra Leone’s newly opened United Methodist University was dedicated at ceremony attended by academics, diplomats, senior government officials and United Methodists who had traveled from near and far.
The Jan. 27 event included the official launching of the first faculty, the Bishop Wenner School of Theology, named after retired German Area Bishop Rosemarie Wenner. The school has been up and running since November, with students and staff in place, said the Rev. Edwin Momoh, the university’s adjunct professor of research and development.
Addressing the gathering, Sierra Leone Area Bishop John Yambasu, chancellor of the university, recalled with joy how his dream of a United Methodist University nine years ago had come to fruition.
“My many travels across the African continent (as a missionary of The United Methodist Church) opened my eyes to the massive illiteracy, poverty, misery, marginalization and exploitation of young people and the helplessness of many of them to take responsibility for their own destiny. Many still live in squalor and go through life-threatening experiences every day because they lack the needed education and skills that will make them employable.”
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United Methodists in DRC get farming help
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The Global Health unit of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries is helping farmers in the East Congo Conference improve agricultural production.
The mission agency has provided a grant to support a food security project implemented by the Tunda Foundation to help fight malnutrition in the area. The Tunda Foundation is a nonprofit that was founded in 2004 by United Methodist Chief Prosper Tunda, whose family welcomed the first Methodist missionaries to the area in 1922.
The 12-month project was launched in September and targets United Methodists from 10 local churches in the Kibombo district, with 200 households participating.
Read more of this story from United Methodist News Service.
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Advocacy agency issues make headlines
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The issues that occupy United Methodist advocacy agencies are grabbing headlines these days.
Immigration, sexual equality and racism have stayed on the front pages of secular newspapers, as have health care, the opioid crisis and poverty. Those headlines affect the work of the denomination’s Board of Church and Society, Commission on Religion and Race and Commission on the Status and Role of Women.
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A 2018 Lenten message from the Council of Bishops
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A love letter from the Council of Bishops, sent on Feb. 12, 2018:
“Our beloved United Methodist Church is in a season of Lent. We are in an intense season of prayer, discernment and exploring what it means to lose one’s life for the sake of the gospel. The Commission on a Way Forward and the Council of Bishops have entered a critical time of reflection, prayer and fasting as we seek to listen deeply and expectantly to the Holy Spirit. We are confident God’s Spirit will guide the Commission and the Council in discerning where God is leading our church and how, through Christ’s grace, we will continue to do ministry and make disciples throughout the world.”
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RESOURCE AND OPPORTUNITIES
Register now for the 2018 workshop on Christian unity
Attention all leaders interested in ecumenism and interreligious engagement! It is time to make your arrangements and register for the 2018 National Workshop on Christian Unity April 16-19.
United Methodists will join together on the Monday of the week to talk together specifically about how we engage with our neighbors from other religions. We are also sponsoring the opening worship service and will participate in one of the morning Eucharist services. A limited number of scholarships are available to first-time attenders and seminarians (request the application through jhawxhurst@umc-cob.org).
Finally, this year's workshop is also timed to allow you to attend some or all of the Ecumenical Advocacy Days events in DC as well. Further information is available on the NWCU website.
To register and reserve your room, go to www.nwcu.org.
RETREAT AND CAMPING CONNECTION
Robert Poe named new director of Sawtooth Camp
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The Board of Camp and Retreat Ministries is pleased to announce the hiring of Robert Poe as the next director of the Sawtooth United Methodist Camp. Throughout his life, Robert has both worked and participated in events at Sawtooth Camp.
Currently, Robert is employed by Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) in Nampa, Idaho, where he is responsible for developing and coordinating community activities in a dormitory. In that role he selects and oversees a group of student leaders who work together to enhance student life on campus.
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