April 19, 2018
Dear Reader,
As I review this week’s UM Connector two stories leap out at me.
The first is about the amazing turn out for the first sessions of our area-wide Table Talk events. It’s wonderful to see that so many people are willing to engage in the conversation about how the United Methodist Church should relate to LGBTQ people. That discussion included hearing about possible plans for changing rules in the Book of Discipline and even changing the organization of the church. A special session of General Conference has been called to consider the issue in February 2019.
Further down in today’s issue is a story about how, 50 years ago this month, The United Methodist Church was formed by merger. Along with that, the racial segregation that had existed since 1939 was abolished – at least it was on paper. Still today, the church struggles with acceptance of racially diverse leadership.
While these issues are not the same, they share similar components. Most notably today, they share the issue of considering whether to divide the church as a way to keep the church together. That choice was made in 1939. We will see what choice is made 80 years later.
Greg Nelson, Communications Director
CONFERENCE NEWS
Greater NW Table Talks bring curiosity, hope to human sexuality discussion
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Some came curious. Some came concerned. Some were embarrassed.
But they came and sat around tables on Saturday and Sunday in churches in Portland; Lewiston, Idaho; and Anchorage and began to talk. And listen.
“I really didn’t know what to expect. It was kind of a last-minute thing that I decided to go along with my wife,” said David Rudawitz.
He came on Sunday to Portland First United Methodist Church from Lake Oswego United Methodist Church to participate in the first round of Table Talks being hosted in the Greater Northwest Episcopal Area.
“I don’t know if I was changed any, but I did find it very valuable to have more than just my own generation in our discussion group,” he said.
Read more about the Greater NW area Table Talks on the Conference website.
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10th Legislative Assembly brings 16 petitions forward to Annual Conference
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As spring showers fell outside, 28 members of the Legislative Assembly stayed inside and reviewed the petitions to the upcoming Annual Conference session. Bishop Elaine Stanovsky presided over the group meeting at Lake Oswego United Methodist Church.
In 2009 the conference adopted the Legislative Assembly process to increase the attention given to legislative items, while also shortening the Annual Conference session and allowing more time for learning opportunities at conference. The assembly is a sub-committee of Annual Conference members representing differing geography, age levels, racial/ethnic groups, and conference committees.
This year, six action requests and ten standing resolution proposals will be forwarded to the Annual Conference. The Legislative Assembly reviews the legislation and works to perfect it with discussion, debate, and amendments. They then vote on a recommendation to the full session. Those that received a 90 percent or higher recommendation will be presented on a consent calendar and voted on as a group. Those with less will be considered individually. Some items are not eligible for consent calendar and will be reviewed individually regardless of recommendation.
Legislation is available for review on the conference website at www.umoi.org/legislation. Currently the petitions are listed as they were submitted. By May 15 the updated versions will be posted with revisions and recommendations of the Legislative Assembly. |
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Youth pages sought for Annual Conference
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Youth in grades 9-12 you can apply to be a page during Annual Conference 2018 in Boise. Pages are youth who are friendly, reliable, and love to serve others.
Pages are a vital part of the Annual Conference sessions, helping to get information to members exactly when it’s needed. Pages will get to see how Annual Conference works, and worship, learn, and play with youth from all over Oregon and Idaho.
Rev. Dan Benson is the page coordinator and floor manager at the Annual Conference session. He is known for his big heart and sense of humor. He enjoys teaching the Pages their duties and hangs out with them during the plenary (business) sessions. Contact him at director@collinsretreatcenter.org.
Apply to be a page and learn more about youth participation during Annual Conference on the Conference website. |
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AROUND THE CONFERENCE
Inspiring Generosity:
Digital giving – the new normal, Part I
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In this week’s blog, Cesie Delve Scheuermann talks about the four things she learned recently at a workshop on digital giving trends.
“I recently attended the webinar, “Four Digital Giving Trends that will Shape Your Church in 2018.” It was produced by echurch in conjunction with the Dunham Company. Echurch is a branch of the mobile giving company, Pushpay. Fortunately, no hard sales pitch. Here’s what I learned:”
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EMPLOYMENT
Bookkeeper/office assistant – Sherwood
Family and program ministry director – Salem
Find these jobs and more at https://www.umoi.org/classifieds.
AROUND THE GLOBE
50 years on, Central Jurisdiction’s shadow looms
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The April 1968 merger that created The United Methodist Church not only birthed a new denomination, it abolished a painful part of Methodist history: The Central Jurisdiction, which segregated African-Americans from their Methodist brethren.
It was an earlier 1939 merger that created The Methodist Church from the Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Episcopal Church South and Methodist Protestant Church. The Southern church only agreed to union after a compromise created a jurisdiction based exclusively on race — not geography.
Nineteen black annual conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church were placed in the Central Jurisdiction and the white conferences were placed in five regional jurisdictions. Seventeen of the 19 black conferences voted against the 1939 Plan of Union.
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Judicial Council announces special session
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The United Methodist Judicial Council has confirmed it will meet May 22-25 to consider one or more petitions related to the special session of General Conference in February 2019.
General Conference 2019 will focus solely on one topic — the church’s position on homosexuality.
In an April 16 letter, Lui Tran, Judicial Council secretary, told Bishop Cynthia Harvey that the United Methodist Council of Bishops’ request for a special meeting of the denomination’s top court “has been granted.” Harvey is the secretary of the Council of Bishops.
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UMCOR allocates $46 million for disaster recovery
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A new round of grants from the United Methodist Committee on Relief — including $16.8 million to the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico — will build upon the denomination’s response to Hurricanes Maria, Irma and Harvey.
Approved April 13 by UMCOR’s board of directors, the more than $46 million in grants also will further assist recovery efforts related to last year’s Northern California fires and the historic 2016 flooding in Louisiana.
Hurricane Maria, which struck Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, was the worst storm to hit the island in 80 years, and its aftermath created a humanitarian crisis.
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Mission agency makes King 50th a focus
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Human beings sometimes “just need someone to hate on.”
That impulse is what allows the cycle of violence, alienation and rage to continue, said West Ohio Bishop Gregory V. Palmer.
But the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. fought against the hate, he added, not as a singular voice but as someone who had the privilege to do so on behalf “of the hopes and the hurts of a particular group of people” in that space and time.
“He was able to stand in that breach and be a sign of God’s intention, to be used by God, to be a repairer of the breach,” the bishop proclaimed during the opening worship of the April 12-14 meeting of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.
Read more of this story from United Methodist News Service.
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Group preaches Christian unity to Congolese women
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The Church of Christ in Congo, an ecumenical Christian organization that includes United Methodists, is taking its message of Christian unity to women, raising awareness in communities often divided by tribal, ethnic or religious conflicts.
United Methodist Bishop Gabriel Yemba Unda of the East Congo Area was elected the national moderator of the Church of Christ in Congo in 2017. The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries is a founding member of the organization.
The Church of Christ in Congo brings together more than 60 Congolese Protestant denominations with the goal of uniting all communities into one body and ensuring the peace of Christ between the many tribes and families present in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Register now for Young Preacher’s Festival
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection announced this week that registration is now open for the Young Preachers Festival (YPF), being held June 27 – 28, 2018 at its Leawood, Kansas campus. The Church of the Resurrection has partnered with the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry as part of the Young Clergy Initiative to encourage and equip the next generation of leaders for The United Methodist Church.
The gathering is designed specifically to engage and empower young people across the country to pursue their call to ministry and to help further inspire and develop preaching gifts in those who have already answered that call. The Festival is intended for persons age 18 – 34 who are graduating high school seniors, college-aged ministry participants, seminary students, declared candidates for ordination, youth directors and young clergy already serving in churches.
Learn more about, and register for, the event at the Young Preacher’s Festival website, contact sharechurchevents@cor.org or call 913-232-4139.
COMMENTARY
By Rev. Donna Claycomb Sokol
… The church saved me — not by offering a first-class ticket to heaven in exchange for my sin — but by naming racism and helping me understand my privilege. …
