Aug 14, 2018
Won't You Be My Neighbor?
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Mr. Roger’s sang at the beginning of every episode of his TV show:
It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?...
I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you,
I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you…
Won't you please,
Won't you please,
Please won't you be my neighbor?
On Sesame Street they had a bit around a song “People in Your Neighborhood” that goes:
Oh, who are the people in your neighborhood?
In your neighborhood?
In your neighborhood?
Say, who are the people in your neighborhood?
The people that you meet each day
Now I love both these shows but my point isn’t some stroll down memory lane or an attempt to relive my kids’ childhoods. My point is that knowing your neighbors is vital to effective and thriving ministry. The two questions these songs pose are ones we need to reflect on and answer. Who are the people in your neighborhood? Won’t you be my neighbor? In most of our churches the people that come on Sunday do not accurately represent the people who walk by the church on Monday morning or Wednesday night or Saturday afternoon. They do not reflect those who use our buildings when we aren’t using them. In a lot of places, the neighbors of the church aren’t folks we know at all.
On Saturday September 22nd those serving churches in the Cascadia District and lay representatives of each congregation will gather for a time apart. Those serving the churches will come in the morning for some focused time together. Everyone will gather for a catered lunch and the yearly meeting of the Cascadia District Church Extension Society. The afternoon will have those serving the churches and their lay representatives teaming up for some detailed work around who are your neighbors, who are our neighbors.
Before we can seriously talk about missions and ministries we first need to know who it is that we might be serving, we need to know the people in our neighborhoods and we need to ask, "will you be my neighbor?" Collaboration is fundamental to the future of the church. Cooperation is crucial to our efforts to make disciples and transform lives. Knowing our neighbors gets us a step closer to being the church God calls us to be. We are not meant to be some secret society or even a service organization, we are meant to be the people of God gathered together in worship and service. We aren’t to be holed up in our buildings, we are called to be in the neighborhoods, crossroads and shops that surround us. We are asked by God to cross over into the streets, and cafes and schools that surround us. We are shown by Christ that our neighbor is everyone we meet.
See you on September 22nd and let’s together be neighbors.
Peace,
 
Rev. Tim Overton-Harris
Cascadia District Superintendent
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Cascadia All- District Fall Event - Sat., Sept. 22nd
Won't You Be My Neighbor?
On Saturday, September 22nd the Cascadia District will hold an event in Salem for all clergy and members of our district churches!
- In the morning there will be a time for clergy to gather, the all-district fall kick-off colloquy.
- At noon there will be a catered lunch for lay and clergy with a program by the Cascadia District Church Extension Society (CDCES). The Extension Society is an example of our connectional system, with churches supporting other churches through the Extension Society Asking (has your church paid theirs? Check with your treasurer!) and the legacy of resources from closed churches. The CDCES gives loans for building improvements and grants for new ministry. Check it out by clicking here! CDCES is also the source for the New Places for New People micro-grants given to each Cascadia church and ministry setting. If you haven't heard about that yet, check it out here!
- In the afternoon there will be an event for clergy and laity on engaging in dynamic ministry in our communities! See Tim's column above for the focus of our time together. To prepare to talk about the people in your neighborhood, Tim asks that each local church group come with a report from the demographic resource MissionInsite. Your church has free access to this resource through the Annual Conference. See the Resource Section in the right-hand column of this newsletter for more information.
The cost is only $6 for a single person or $10 for a group of any size from one congregation!
Register Now!!
We look forward to being together on September 22, 2018
Upcoming events in the District Superintendent's Schedule:
Aug 17-Sept. 3 Vacation - contact the Cascadia District office for assistance and to connect with another DS who is covering for Tim.
Sept. 6 Cascadia District Church Extension Society Meeting
Sept. 11 - 12 Ministry Leadership Team meeting
Sept. 15 Healthy Boundary Workshop in Portland
Sept. 22 Won't You Be My Neighbor? Cascadia All-District Event
Sept. 23 Seaside UMC Local Church Assessment
Sept. 25 Annual Conference Sessions Committee Meeting
Sept. 26 - 28 Cabinet Meeting in Portland
Tim will also be meeting with clergy one-on-one throughout September and October.
Please let Tim know about significant events happening in your local congregation. He may or may not be able to attend, but he would like to know about them! You can e-mail him at tim@umoi.org
Looking Toward the Fall
Healthy Boundaries Trainings Are Scheduled!
Clergy members of our Annual Conference and others serving churches in a pastoral role are required by Conference Rule to attend a Healthy Boundaries Training once each quadrennium. The Board of Ordained Ministry has announced trainings scheduled this fall which will meet the requirement for the 2017-2020 quadrennium. Local church staff and SPRC chairs or designate are invited to attend as well. There is no fee for retired clergy. All others are $15 per person.
Registration is now open. Click on a date below for more information and to register:
Portland Area September 15, 2018 10-3 at Lake Oswego UMC
Boise Area October 20, 2018 1-5 at Whitney UMC
Eugene Area December 8, 2018 10-3 at Wesley UMC
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Finance/Stewardship Workshops Offered
Finance/Stewardship Workshops for clergy and local church finance leaders is being offered in conjunction with the Healthy Boundaries Workshop in order to make it available in a convenient fashion. The jointly offered workshops will be offered in the two hours immediately following the Portland-area, Boise, and Eugene Healthy Boundary Workshops. The workshops will be led by Rev. Dan Wilson-Fey, Conference Treasurer, and Cesie Delve Scheuermann, Conference Stewardship Consultant.
Registration is now open. Click on a date below for more information and to register:
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Portland Area September 15, 2018 3-5 at Lake Oswego UMC
Boise Area October 20, 2018 5-7 at Whitney UMC
Eugene Area December 8, 2018 3-5 at Wesley UMC
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Preparing for Fall Charge Conferences
We'll be in touch within the next couple of weeks to begin scheduling the annual fall charge conferences and to let you know which reports will be required. So keep an eye on your e-mail!
But we sent out the new Church Profile form earlier this summer and asked that you begin work on that now. The new form asks a series of questions which will be best answered after some conversation within your congregation and upon reflection. This is a reminder to bring that to your Church Board Meetings this summer and schedule some time to discuss it. Don't leave it until the last minute!
You can find the form here if you have lost track of it.
Tim will also expect at the fall charge conference a report on your progress toward investing the $500 micro-grant in a new ministry with new people in your community, so we hope you are talking, praying, and discerning about that over the summer as well!
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UPCOMING EVENTS
This week in the
Cascadia District
Cascadia District churches are worshiping God and being in community with their neighbors!
Looking Ahead
Aug 20- Sept 3
DS Tim on vacation - call the District Office for assistance or to connect with the DS on call
Aug 23
Communion at the District Office
Aug 24-25
Ordinary Revival Event in Eugene
Sept. 14-15
Ordinary Revival Event in Boise
Sept. 15
Healthy Boundaries Training - Portland
Sept. 22
Cascadia All-District Event
Register Now!
Prayer Calendar
Aug 12-18
Canby UMC
Karen Shimer, Pastor
Aug 19-25
Carus UMC
Rand Sargent, Pastor
Holly Rudie, Lay Leader
Aug 26-Sept 1
Clarkes UMC
Tom Truby, Pastor
See the full prayer calendar
Resources
MissionInsite provides instant access to community information for your church. You'll get desktop,web-based access to demographic data for a variety of geographic levels. As part of the Oregon-Idaho Conference you have free, unlimited access to MissionInsite.
Some things you can do with MissionInsite include:
- Look at the past and projected growth for an area
- Look at the cultural make up of a city or neighborhood
- Look at the income and education basis of an area
- Enter your churches membership and visitor data to see where your members and visitors live
- Find potential area in your community where a church presence is lacking
We'll be using a MissionInsite report for your church's neighborhood at the Won't You Be My Neighbor? event on Sept. 22nd to help you think about the people in your neighborhood. So you need to gather that report beforehand.
Here are the steps:
1. If you don't already have a Mission Insite account, go to www.umoi.org/insite and follow the directions to open your own MissionInsite account.
2. Go to www.MissionInsite.com and log-in
3. There are so many options, it can be overwhelming! These are my suggestions for a basic report:
- When the choice comes up between Next Gen PeopleView or Legacy PeopleView, choose Next Gen PeopleView (the default)
- When it asks "What Would You Like to Do?" select "Generate Demographic Reports"
- You can choose either a zip code/whole city/county or you can choose a radius. I suggest a radius in most instances, but it really depends upon your context.
- If you chose a radius around your church street address, you now have to decide how big a circle to draw. If you are in an urban area, you might want to use a smaller radius. If you are in a rural area you might want to draw a larger radius. What is the size of your catchment area or neighborhood?
- Choose Predifined reports
- Choose QuickInsite and MinistryInsite (you might have to choose these separately to get both of them)
Have fun exploring! You can call me (Linda) in the District Office for support, (503) 581-3969.
Contact us
DS Tim Overton-Harris
tim@umoi.org
District Lay Leader
Paula Sadler
jpcsadler@aol.com
District Administrative Assistant
Linda Grund-Clampit
linda@umoi.org
503-581-3969
Check out the Cascadia District webpage:
www.umoi.org/cascadia
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