February 22, 2018
Dear Reader,
This morning National Rifle Association Executive Director and CEO Wayne LaPierre said that, “As usual the opportunist wasted not one second to exploit tragedy for political gain.” And he tried to make that a bad thing. This is a classic case of trying to turn a narrative. Let’s be clear about this. YES, people who care about the death of children SHOULD be seizing the pain, suffering, and energy to see that change happens. YES, Christians who believe in loving one another, and Constitutionalists who believe in the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, should seize the opportunity to shout down the voices of fear and violence to protect children. Because it’s obvious that the status quo isn’t keeping our children safe.
We now live in a violent culture where guns kill more people by suicide than murder and we restrict public health officials from studying why. If our culture is going to change, shouldn’t the church be the leaders in that change? What does the United Methodist Church Support? – Universal background checks; sales through licensed dealers; and minimum age, mental health, and domestic violence restrictions. Read the full statement on umc.org and visit umcjustice.org for more resources.
Something is wrong, I pray that the young people can lead us to honest change.
Greg Nelson, Communications Director
CONFERENCE NEWS
Conference hires new LGBTQ advocacy coordinator
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Rev. Dr. Brett Webb-Mitchell has been hired as the LGBTQ Advocacy Coordinator for the Oregon-Idaho Conference, beginning Feb. 23. Webb-Mitchell’s half-time position is fully funded by a grant from The Collins Foundation.
“Having someone with Brett’s skills and experience gives our annual conference the opportunity to live into our vision of being a more fully inclusive community.Through the vision and generosity of The Collins Foundation, and their on-going commitment to the United Methodist Church, we are able to further this important ministry," said Rev. Lowell Greathouse, coordinator of mission and ministry for the Oregon-Idaho Conference.
The Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference has had a long-standing relationship with The Collins Foundation, which has provided the conference with financial support to fund ministry excellence, training and leadership development, and numerous other programs since the 1950s. In 2015, through the encouragement of The Collins Foundation, as well as the support of the Ministry Leadership Team, the conference began including LGBTQ funded projects in the annual grant requests their ongoing work.
Since then, a portion of the grant funding has been used to: build stronger relationships with international partners in the church, provide training for local congregations on welcoming ministries for LGBTQ people, and advocate for full inclusion in The United Methodist Church.
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AROUND THE CONFERENCE
Idahoans protest faith healing exemptions in Boise
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Pastor Brenda Sene from Hillview United Methodist Church in Boise joined other clergy at the front of the long line of marchers on Monday. Sene said she participated in the march because she felt it was important people see a different kind of Christianity and faith.
“I’m always amazed some Christians don’t realize that God can work through doctors and medicine,” Sene said.
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Take a leap with Extension Society
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Rev. Tim Overton-Harris, Cascadia District Superintendent, talks about the ways in which church extension societies, specifically Cascadia district extension society, can help congregations take a leap of faith into new ministry opportunities.
“Stop being scared. Stop being frozen by being risk adverse. Stop believing that you must operate out of a mode of scarcity. Instead embrace the possible, dream the dream, listen to the Spirit and take a chance, a risk, reach out for some help and make a leap and see what might be.”
Read more of Overton-Harris’s blog on the Conference website.
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Ash Wednesday in Twin Falls – a photo gallery
The Magic Valley News covered Ash Wednesday services at First United Methodist Church in Twin Falls.
Take a look at the images from the service.
Clear Appointment openings
A list of churches that are open for appointment can be found on the Greater NW Area website. As appointments are announced and the appointment process unfolds, new clear openings will be added to the list.
AROUND THE GLOBE
Graham influenced many United Methodists
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“No voice or message in the past half century has been more powerful and faithful in pointing clearly to Christ,” said the Rev. Eddie Fox, one of many United Methodists who knew, or were touched by, evangelist Billy Graham.
“He spoke in the plain language of the common person and at the same time was at home with presidents and world leaders.”
Graham died Feb. 21 at his North Carolina home, of natural causes, his family reported. He was 99.
Bishop Bruce R. Ough was among the United Methodists recalling Graham’s influence, and for him it was crucial. Ough, president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, was a 16-year-old working on his uncle’s North Dakota farm when he watched “youth night” of a televised Graham revival crusade.
“I first gave my life to Christ in my uncle’s living room as a result,” Ough said. “I was raised in a United Methodist church, it wasn’t like I wasn’t part of a church, but that was the moment I was conscious of making a decision that I wanted to be an intentional disciple of Jesus Christ.”
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Pastors, churches respond to Florida massacre
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The Rev. Vance Rains had expected that his church’s Ash Wednesday evening service would be just like the noon service.
But in-between, a mass shooting occurred at nearby Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Florida.
So evening worship at First United Methodist Church of Coral Springs, became a time for grieving, consoling and praying, with Rains improvising a new message.
“I talked about Jesus calming the storm and basically said that Jesus obviously doesn’t calm all the storms, but he’s with us in the storms, and he’s bigger than the storms,” Rains said.
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British Methodists open doors to stay relevant
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In the shadow of the Shard — a 21st century building that is part of the modern London skyline — sits a British Methodist church that has been ministering in the Borough of Southwark for more than 125 years.
Bermondsey Central Hall no longer has its grand 2,000-seat sanctuary. But behind a Victorian façade, the congregation’s South London Mission continues to assist the neighborhood’s diverse population as the big-city divide between rich and poor widens.
Peter Buffoe, 35, who grew up in the neighborhood and whose family has been part of the Bermondsey congregation, is a witness to the more recent changes.
“We’ve got extreme wealth — just to the left of us on Bermondsey Street, you’ll see flats going for millions of pounds. And then, just a stone’s throw away, you have the Meakin estates, which is social housing for people with very low incomes,” explained Buffoe, who works for the South London Mission.
Editor’s Note: This is the first of an occasional series of stories, “British Methodism: Staying relevant in Wesley’s homeland,” about today’s Methodist Church in Britain.
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Liberia’s United Methodist University opens new nursing school campus
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GANTA -- United Methodist University in Liberia has opened its new nursing school campus.
The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries’ Global Health unit has provided more than $100,000 for the relocation of the university’s College of Health Sciences to Ganta. The nursing school is the first to open at the new campus, which eases the burden for nursing students and staff who had been sharing space at Ganta United Methodist Hospital.
The move paves the way for more College of Health Sciences departments to relocate from the Monrovia campus. Moving the College of Health Sciences to Ganta is something the administration has been planning for years. Advance project has been set up to help raise $2 million a year over the next four years for the relocation of the entire university.
The College of Health Sciences move will be gradual, with other departments set to begin transitioning to the new campus in March, United Methodist University administration confirmed.
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United Methodists preach peaceful Sierra Leone elections
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At 9:30 a.m. on a sunny Thursday morning about 30 United Methodist young adults dressed in white T-shirts and jeans converge at the home office of the Sierra Leone Conference, in Central Freetown.
Their T-shirts say it all: “UMC Says No to Election Violence” and “We na Wan Famili,” which means “We are one family” in Krio — the most widely spoken pidgin language in Sierra Leone.
With huge speakers mounted on a Toyota truck, the young adults board four other vehicles as the convoy leaves the UMC House on Feb. 8 and heads toward the east and rural Freetown. This is the final day of a two-day community sensitization tour in the city; on Feb. 6, the team headed west reaching out to the Ogoo Farm and Laka communities.
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Churches leaders hear ‘Way Forward’ update
An international group of United Methodist leaders heard more details on three possible models for how the church ministers with LGBTQ individuals.
Three participants in the Commission on a Way Forward presented an update on their work to four denominational leadership bodies holding a joint meeting in this western African country.
Together, the four groups have members who span the denomination’s global membership and theological spectrum. Many came from central conferences — church regions in Africa, Europe and the Philippines.
The update marked the commission’s first public presentation to a multinational group that includes a number of delegates to the 2019 special General Conference — the lawmaking assembly that has final say on what direction the denomination takes.
Read more of this story from United Methodist News Service
RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES
Faith, Justice, Reconciliation Lenten guide available
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Following Dr. Christena Cleveland’s Faith, Justice and Reconciliation workshop at Portland First UMC on Feb. 3, the Columbia District has created a Lenten study guide based off of her day-long workshop for local churches who want to continue the discussion.
“As we enter this Lenten journey, let us recall that Jesus’s first words in the gospel of Mark are as simple as they are demanding: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:15). As we walk together from Ash Wednesday to Easter, we will ponder just what it might mean to “repent and believe the good news” in light of the profound and arduous way of self-emptying that Dr. Cleveland invited us into last Saturday. We will seek to hold together the theme and challenge of Lent—to lay ourselves bare before God—with the theme and challenge of Dr. Cleveland—to empty ourselves of our privilege in order to seek the interest of others above our own. We will dream a little together about the day when the wolf will lie down with the lamb, and about what changes might be necessary in us if we are to join that beautiful and miraculous fellowship.”
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Local church resources available for UMCOR Sunday March 11
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When disaster strikes around the globe—Haiti’s 2010 earthquake or Typhoon Haiyan in 2013—so many watching the drama unfold on our living room televisions feel entirely helpless. How could any one person make a difference in the wake of such widespread devastation?
As responders around the globe scramble to help survivors, the United Methodist Committee on Relief, UMCOR, is prepared to act.
So don’t be fooled by the word committee.
Since 1940, when UMCOR’s forerunner was established to meet the needs of those suffering overseas at the onset of World War II, we’ve continued to respond to those in desperate need—today throughout more than eighty countries around the world.
The response of UMCOR isn’t something “they” do, it’s something “we” do.
Find bulletin inserts, videos to present, photos to share and scripture to read at www.umcgiving.org
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IN MEMORIAM
Rev. David Poindexter
Jan. 30, 1929 – Feb. 8, 2018
The Rev. David Poindexter, a Methodist minister who worked with television and radio producers worldwide to inject story lines into their programs about overpopulation, died on Feb. 8 in Portland, Ore. He was 89.
Over more than 30 years, Mr. Poindexter brought his concerns about population growth to the attention of American network executives and foreign government officials, from the situation comedy producer Norman Lear to Indira Gandhi, the prime minister of India.
Population Communications International, the Manhattan-based nonprofit that he ran in the 1980s and ’90s, cajoled broadcasters to produce soap operas designed to change people’s attitudes toward family planning in countries struggling with rapid population growth.
Mr. Poindexter believed that advancing issues like overpopulation through the media — particularly in soap operas that offered not only entertainment but also clear messages and positive role models — was essential to moving people to use family-planning clinics.
Read more of his obituary featured in the New York Times.
COMMENTARY
By Brene Brown
... “When you grow up hunting you have a very different understanding about the reality of guns. It’s not a video game—you know, and have felt, exactly what they are capable of doing. For my dad and the people we hunted with, the sentiment around automatic weapons and the big guns that people treat like toys today was simple: “You want to shoot those kinds of guns? Great! Enlist and serve.” ...
