Tuesday, October 29, 2013

United Methodist News ~ Tuesday, 29 October 2013


United Methodist News ~ Tuesday, 29 October 2013
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“He was standing there, but what I saw was God standing there in the midst of the destruction. The outreach of The United Methodist Church has overwhelmed me. It was our lifeline.”~~Long Island resident talking about a United Methodist pastor who helped in the Hurricane Sandy recovery.
Hurricane Sandy: Anatomy of a disaster response
NEW YORK (UMNS) — It has been a year since Hurricane Sandy left its mark from Cuba to the upper east coast of the United States. In a report on the unceasing work of United Methodist disaster response and recovery teams, UMNS reporter Linda Bloom and photographer Mike DuBose explain why the recovery has been slow. For those who have been helped, there is gratitude, perhaps best summarized in the words of Nancy Werner, 61, of Seaford, Long Island. One day, the Rev. Jeffry Wells, pastor of Community United Methodist Church in Massapequa, stopped by and changed the lives of Werner’s family. “He was standing there, but what I saw was God standing there in the midst of the destruction. The outreach of The United Methodist Church has overwhelmed me. It was our lifeline.”
Year 1: Sandy recovery — The work of many hands
Sandy assumed several forms – tropical storm, hurricane, even “superstorm” – as it charted a path of destruction from the Caribbean to New York State at the end of October 2012. Whatever the description, the results were the same for hundreds of thousands. Everywhere in Sandy’s path, the people known as Methodists have been there to help survivors. Read how the force of Sandy unfolded and learn about those in its path.
For months after a storm named Sandy swept through Atlantic City, N.J., Rick Hall got wet if he slept in his bedroom on rainy nights.
Winds ripped up sections of the roof of the home he shares with his mother, Elise. Floodwaters on the streets of their Bungalow Park neighborhood, near a cove and an inlet where fishing boats bring their fresh catch to delivery trucks, were chest high on Hall, who is 6-foot-2.
They lost carpeting, furniture, appliances and books. Six days after evacuating, they were back, but recovery has been slow.
“I had a tarp up over the tub, thumbtacked to the roof, so the rain could go into the tub, because it was raining in the bathroom,” he pointed out.
“My mom and I, we roughed it,” Hall said.
<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/77158210" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/77158210">Rick's Story - Atlantic City, NJ</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user21834799">A Future With Hope</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
On Long Island, life already was rough for Lisa Mentges, a single mother who had undergone a double mastectomy for breast cancer just a few days before the Sandy-churned ocean broke over the Long Beach dunes and roared up the street to her one-story bungalow.
“The water came up so fast, I couldn’t even leave,” she recalled. “I was scared.
“The house was actually moving when the water came up.”
The water in the house subsided after several hours.
But Mentges could not get her mastectomy stitches and drains wet, so she, her boyfriend and her son were stranded for a few days, grateful for a food and water delivery from the National Guard. “We stayed here and we slept up in the attic,” she explained. “Then we couldn’t stay anymore because it was cold.”
Sandy assumed several forms – tropical storm, hurricane, even “superstorm” – as it charted a path of destruction from the Caribbean to New York State at the end of October 2012. Whatever the description, the results were the same for hundreds of thousands of other Sandy survivors.
Hall and Mentges do have one advantage. Both have received assistance from United Methodist volunteers through the denomination’s Greater New Jersey and New York annual (regional) conferences and the support of the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
UMCOR received $10,162,797 in direct donations for Sandy relief and an additional $2.5 million from the Red Cross, said the Rev. Gregory Forrester, UMCOR’s U.S. disaster response coordinator.
The New York Conference has relied upon UMCOR’s guidance, noted New York Area Bishop Martin McLee. “UMCOR has been a great partner in this continued recovery effort,” he said.
“As we go forward, we want to continue to enable folks to get back into healthy homes and safe homes.”
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Greater New Jersey launched a separate nonprofit organization to coordinate case management, construction and volunteers.
“We created ‘A Future with Hope’ so that we could commit to long-term recovery,” explained Bishop John Schol.  “Our staff members and volunteers work with the long-term recovery groups of every impacted county and are the primary referral for people who need help.”
Sandy’s timeline
Even before it surged up the East Coast, Sandy struck Cuba on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012. Then nearly a Category 3 hurricane, it destroyed much of the historic city of Santiago de Cuba, damaging more than 200,000 homes in the area. A Methodist house church with a generator began to provide backup power to the community.
Three days later, on Sunday, Oct. 28, an unusual convergence of weather factors propelled Sandy into a “superstorm” with winds that covered about 1,000 miles. President Obama signed emergency declarations for New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Connecticut and the District of Columbia.
The Jersey Shore town of Belmar was under a mandatory evacuation order as Sandy approached, but the Rev. Eugene Chamberlin opted to remain in the United Methodist parsonage with his 16-year-old daughter, Olivia, to take care of their pets.
His wife and co-pastor, Ellen Chamberlin, took their two younger children to a relative’s home in a nearby town.
As Sandy lay siege,  the waters rose.
Chamberlin and his daughter were forced to leave, using a section of their white picket fence as a makeshift raft to evacuate two cats, a dog, turtle and fish.
New Jersey United Methodists tackling the long-term after Sandy by Shanta Bryant Gyan*
Until pipes burst, causing the dining room and kitchen ceilings to collapse, the Rev. Eugene Chamberlin thought he could stop the churning waters of Hurricane Sandy from causing major damage to the parsonage of First United Methodist Church in Belmar, N.J.
The Belmar parsonage was one of seven deemed uninhabitable by the denomination’s Greater New Jersey Annual (regional) Conference  after the storm struck the state in late October. More than 80 churches experienced some form of damage from Sandy, ranging from minor repairs to major structural work.
“We have quite a bit of work ahead of us,” said Bishop John Schol about the long-term impact of one of the most destructive storms in New Jersey’s history .
“Members were dispersed and sent to shelters across the state. Many are having to find rental housing. We’re trying to hold congregations together,” he said.
In early December, Schol estimated the relief phase after Sandy — meeting the immediate human needs of shelter, food, and clothing for people in storm-affected communities — would last 100 more days.
“There’s been an incredible effort to get out into the community for relief efforts and clean out homes,” he added.
The Greater New Jersey Conference is working closely with the United Methodist Committee on Relief  and other relief agency partners on a long-term strategy for rebuilding homes, lives and communities impacted by Hurricane Sandy that focuses on four “Rs”: relief, repair, rebuild, and renew.
Trying to ride it out
Belmar  was under a mandatory evacuation order as Sandy approached, but Chamberlin opted to remain in the parsonage with his 16-year-old daughter, Olivia, to take care of their pets. His wife and co-pastor, Ellen Chamberlin, took their two younger children to a relative’s home in a nearby town.
As the storm picked up speed Oct. 29, the power went down around 8:30p.m. Periodic gusts of wind swirled around the home. “I would hear big gusts of wind and then nothing,” he said. “Then the howling kept coming and coming and coming… The sounds were creepy.”
Chamberlin planned to take his dog for a walk, but discovered that water had reached the front stoop of the house. As neighbors’ cars filled with ocean water coming from blocks away, car alarms randomly started honking nonstop. “I thought to myself, ‘that’s not good’,” he recalled.
He assumed the worst was over after the basement flooded, ruining the boiler and electrical panel. By the next morning, the storm water in the street had not yet flooded the first floor of the house. When the radiators began spraying out water, Chamberlin and his daughter were able to fashion a system to drain the water onto the porch or into buckets.
But, once the pipes burst, Chamberlin knew he had no choice but to vacate the parsonage. “We threw clothes in garbage bags and threw them on a neighbor’s porch,” he said.
A section of their white picket fence served as a makeshift raft to evacuate two cats, a dog, turtle and fish from the parsonage. Chamberlin and his daughter waded for blocks until they reached a safe spot. “We went through the water, which by then was a rainbow of colors from the oil and water,” he said. “We just kept on going.”
In Bay Head, the Rev. Scott Bostwick and his family also are displaced from the parsonage of St. Paul United Methodist Church, which suffered extensive damage.
But the church building itself has remained dry and open to the community. “We’re calling ourselves the ‘Bay Head Bistro,” said Bostwick with a chuckle.
St. Paul continues to operate as an emergency relief center seven days a week from 7am to 7pm. The church offers Bay Head residents a warm place to charge their electronic devices, a hot meal, and space to be “in community” with other residents.
Bostwick said church volunteers once considered closing the church, but soon realized that it had become a place for storm-affected residents to find comfort. “This was a place to gather… and find healing,” he explained.
Assess and repair
The conference’s “repair” phase focuses on assessing storm damage and repairing homes, parsonages and churches. UMCOR and mission relief teams from across the U.S. are assisting and some 150 individuals from the Greater New Jersey Conference have been trained in emergency response.
To date, more than 15 United Methodist Early Response Teams from New Jersey and more than 18 teams from other states have assessed and cleaned New Jersey homes and churches, according to conference officials. The teams also have distributed thousands of clean up buckets, water, school kits and health kits.
A multi-church network is distributing seven tractor- trailer loads of disaster relief kits, clothing, non-perishable food, pet food, space heaters, flashlights, batteries, linens and other items. Church-related feeding programs collectively serve some 400 meals daily, including those delivered to local volunteer workers.
The conference recently hired a director, project manager and administrative assistant. Case managers, volunteer coordinators and construction managers are expected to be hired at a later date.
The “rebuild” phase is a community-building effort that seeks to establish a “new normal” that can be adjusted for the long-term.
In Atlantic City, Hamilton Memorial United Methodist Church  — where the parsonage also was damaged — is creating “a new normal” for Sunday worship services. The Rev. Jevon A. Caldwell-Gross, Hamilton’s senior pastor, invited area congregations that could not worship in their own churches to worship at Hamilton.
“We opened our church up for Pentecostal, Baptist and United Methodist congregations to worship together – not in separate services,” said Caldwell-Gross. Sunday schools and choirs joined together and each pastor alternated preaching each Sunday, he said.
“It was ‘radical hospitality’… We opened ourselves up for God to move in a mighty way,” he explained. “We’re a small congregation, but we are inspiring other congregations to do something radical.”
Caldwell-Gross sits on a newly-formed citywide board that helps to set priorities and direct relief aid to Atlantic City communities most impacted by the storm. He said the board also will help city residents navigate the system to receive relief assistance and identify contractors for construction projects.
The “renew” phase concentrates on the emotional and spiritual toll that the storm has taken on people’s lives and plans are being made to provide counseling and other support.
“Some ask: ‘Why does God allow a storm like this to happen?’” Schol pointed out. “It’s a significant challenge.”
Funding needed
The bishop said about $20 million needs to be raised across the United Methodist connection to effectively respond to the relief and recovery needs in New Jersey. The conference set up a GNJ Sandy Relief Fund  to raise money from the 600 United Methodist congregations and others in New Jersey. The denomination also is asking for donations to UMCOR for the overall response.
The conference fund will help repair homes of the elderly and low-income families as well as church buildings and parsonages. As of early December, that fund had raised $400,000.
FEMA does not provide assistance for church buildings. “Most churches did not have flood insurance because it was cost prohibitive,” Schol explained. “A storm like this in New Jersey has not been known ever before.”
The Chamberlins currently are living in a vacant parsonage in Avalon, and their children are attending their local schools. The Belmar church sanctuary received extensive damage, so the congregation is worshipping at a fire station. But the family is gradually settling in and they hope to be back in the parsonage by Easter.
“You never know what folks go through until you’ve gone through it yourself. We can relate,” Chamberlin said. “Now, we get it like (others who experienced) Hurricanes Katrina and Andrew. For us, we see God’s power and anything can happen… so He can be glorified.”
* Bryant Gyan is a writer based in the New York City metropolitan area and is a member of Morrow Memorial United Methodist Church in Maplewood, NJ.
By Monday, Oct. 29, high winds and rains had cut off electrical power from Washington to points north, eventually affecting more than 50 million people.
Sandy’s center hit landfall near Atlantic City at 8 p.m., with its winds, rain and flooding continuing throughout the night. New York harbor experienced a record storm surge — nearly 14 feet — that topped the seawall in lower Manhattan. Staten Island, where half of the New York Sandy-related deaths occurred, also was hard hit.
Days later, John Stonick, a 60-year-resident of New Dorp Beach on Staten Island, raised his arms high above his head to show relief workers where the water was. “It just swept up the street,” he said. “I was in the house…got out in time.” (Watch John Stonick’s story)
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The backside of the storm continued to pound the Northeast on Tuesday, Oct. 30,
By early November, it was clear the recovery was going to be a long one. In New Jersey, many of the 113 church properties impacted by Sandy had no flood insurance. For Schol, who had moved to New Jersey just two months earlier, “it was a steep learning curve” as he began asking advice from bishops and others who had been through disasters.
“What I learned in that first week from talking to a lot of people really set the tone and direction for my leadership,” he said.
In areas where Sandy’s winds disrupted power, even those whose homes were not damaged found it difficult to cope. A new ministry was born as churches that had retained electricity or had access to generators opened their doors for improvised community living rooms and work areas.
Members of Morrow Memorial United Methodist Church in Maplewood, N.J., started by gathering in neighbors to share wi-fi access and multiple cups of coffee from a large, ancient coffeemaker. Two days later, the number of daily visitors had ballooned to 500. (Read more about what happened at Morrow Memorial.)
Up to 500 a day turning to N.J. United Methodist church as it opens doors for community space by Linda Bloom
With help from church volunteers, Hurricane Sandy has transformed Morrow Memorial United Methodist Church in Maplewood, N.J., into a living room, office, play space and kitchen for the entire neighborhood.
“It’s really become a community center,” said the Rev. Chris Heckert, senior pastor.
Remembering the power outages that afflicted the area during Hurricane Irene and the October snowstorm in 2011, Heckert made the pre-hurricane announcement during Sunday worship on  Oct. 29: If the power remained on at Morrow Memorial, those without “had a place to come.”
Soon, Sandy’s winds toppled trees and utility lines. A Monday morning Facebook invitation from Heckert started the stream of visitors.
By 11 a.m. that day, church members were bringing in neighbors to share Wi-Fi access and multiple cups of coffee from a large, ancient coffeemaker. Volunteers from the congregation of more than 640 lined up to assist. Parents came with kids. An evening movie showing in fellowship hall drew 70 viewers.
By Wednesday, the number of daily visitors had ballooned to 500.
“I made the call that we had this huge building, this resource, and we needed to open it to those who needed it,” Heckert said.
Sometimes, the pastor acknowledged, the enormous size of the traditional stone church building near a section of local shops in Maplewood Village feels like a burden, but, he added, “This week, it’s a ministry asset.”
Church members have organized the effort, Heckert said. Volunteers monitor a sign-up sheet at the door, keeping track as visitors come in and out.
Certain rooms were designated for specific activities. “The library became a quiet working room for adults (and) fellowship hall was a general place for people to work or eat,” Heckert explained. “Downstairs, we pulled out big play toys from our preschool and that’s where kids played. Our youth room became a place for older kids to play and watch movies.”
Cooking became part of the equation after Heckert took in rice and beans and soup on Monday. ”I thought maybe if we got a little food started…people could bring food in. Now, our refrigerator and freezer are filled,” he said. “People are eating and feeding each other and sharing.”
Because much of the community is still without power, some residents are departing to hotels or to stay with relatives. Still, Morrow church was keeping its doors open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday. “From day to day, we’re making decisions about what we’re offering,” Heckert said.
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.
After any major disaster, UMCOR-trained Emergency Response Teams form the first line of United Methodist relief.
In the first six weeks after Sandy, Community United Methodist Church on Long Island coordinated the dispatching of more than 700 volunteers to respond to 172 calls from residents, with more than half of the initial relief work completed.
One of the beneficiaries was Henry Enders, a member of Freeport United Methodist Church. The four-to-five feet of water from Sandy flooded the house where he had lived since 1954 and ruined his garden “which I worry about as much as anything else.”  (Watch Henry Enders talk about surviving Hurricane Sandy.)
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Crisfield, a town of 2,600 in Maryland, had been hard hit by Sandy. By December, the Rev. Rich Walton, disaster response coordinator for the Peninsula-Delaware Annual Conference, had compiled a list of 60 homes that needed repairs and estimated that at least 350 homes were damaged. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which originally did not approve federal aid for Crisfield, was re-evaluating its decision.
A shift in emphasis from emergency relief toward recovery began with the start of a new year.
In preparation, the New York, Greater New Jersey, and Peninsula-Delaware conferences opened registration for long-term recovery volunteer teams in January 2013.
Demands for basic cleanup were beginning to decrease. As of Jan. 22, volunteers organized by Greater New Jersey had spent 13,500 hours mucking out homes and about 15,000 hours on food programs for Sandy survivors.
The New York Conference began to consider how to find help for the five pastors who had managed the Sandy relief sites in Massapequa, Rockville Center and Freeport on Long Island, on Staten Island and Brooklyn.
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Through Jan. 31, 1,459 volunteers from New York and 17 other states had worked on 270 homes of New York Sandy survivors.
They contributed 13,320 hours of work, with 69 homes pending.
In Crisfield, where Sandy had disrupted the oyster season, Walton and Ken Wermuth, Eastern Virginia Unit of Mennonite Disaster Service, worked as construction managers and expected 11 volunteer teams in February.
As case managers for A Future with Hope begin working with New Jersey homeowners, Bobbie Ridgely, director, characterized the timing as the “very edge” of the recovery process. “Our biggest challenge is identifying the townships that really are ready to start rebuilding,” she explained.
In March, A Future with Hope started repairs on two homes, with contracts for six additional homeowners.
During their April meeting, UMCOR directors approved $3 million grants to both the New York and Greater New Jersey conferences and $500,000 to Peninsula-Delaware. In addition, $825,759 was allotted to New Jersey and $42,000 to Peninsula-Delaware for repairs to church property damaged by Sandy, representing 10 percent of the funds raised for Sandy relief.
On June 28, the American Red Cross awarded a $1.5 million grant to A Future with Hope and the Greater New Jersey Conference for Sandy recovery work with the elderly and disabled and low-income families. (Read more about Red Cross grant.)
United Methodist Receive $1.5 mil. Grant for Sandy Recovery
The American Red Cross today awarded a $1,500,000 grant to the Greater New Jersey United Methodist Church for Superstorm Sandy recovery work with the elderly, disabled and low-income families.
“We are so pleased to partner with the Red Cross to help the most vulnerable populations within New Jersey who were affected by Sandy,” said Bobbie Ridgely, director of A Future with Hope, Inc. and the Sandy recovery efforts of GNJUMC. “Thanks to this generous funding, we will be able to identify and work with Sandy survivors who require special care, and help them build a new future over the next 18 months.”
The Greater New Jersey United Methodist Church has close to 600 congregations in the New Jersey area. It established an independent non-profit organization, A Future with Hope, Inc., to focus on relief and recovery, most notably in construction/repair and disaster case management. This grant will help an estimated 190 New Jersey families and repair 75 homes, as well as assist the organization train and deploy up to 1,000 volunteers in Atlantic, Bergen, Cape May, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean Counties.
“Sandy recovery in New Jersey is far from over, and by working together with organizations like the United Methodist Church, the Red Cross is able to extend its reach to families with specific needs across the state,” said Nancy Orlando, regional CEO, American Red Cross South Jersey Region. “Providing funding to partner organizations with the ability and experience to help our communities rebuild is an important part of our long-term recovery strategy in New Jersey.”
Following Sandy’s devastating impact last October, the Red Cross immediately launched a large-scale emergency relief effort – the largest U.S. disaster response by the Red Cross in more than five years. After weeks of providing emergency relief, the Red Cross has been and continues to help people affected by the storm through its long-term recovery operation. Every day, trained workers are meeting one-on-one with families to assist with their recovery plans and provide financial support to help them move back into their homes or into longer-term rental housing.
Donations to the American Red Cross after Superstorm Sandy have led to clear signs of progress and hope through New Jersey and New York eight months after the storm. As of June 2013, the American Red Cross has partnered with numerous organizations to support the recovery of individuals and families affected by Sandy, such as the National VOAD, Operation Hope, the Points of Light Foundation, the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, the Food Bank of NYC, the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island, the Brooklyn Community Foundation and the United Methodist Conference of New Jersey. The Sandy recovery efforts include housing assistance, case management, mental health services and volunteer coordination. Additional community grants will be announced in the weeks ahead.
More information on the Red Cross Sandy relief and recovery efforts can be found at www.redcross.org/sandy-response.
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.
About the Greater New Jersey United Methodist Church:
The Greater New Jersey United Methodist Church is part of an 11 million strong global United Methodist Church that opens hearts, opens doors, and opens minds through active engagement with our world. GNJUMC started A Future with Hope, Inc. in response to the devastation brought on our community by Superstorm Sandy. The goal of A Future with Hope, Inc. is to collaborate with NJ VOAD partners and county long term recovery groups to use volunteers from around the country to rebuild 500 homes in the next 5 years. Volunteer groups will be housed at our hosting sites in the region and help us rebuild the homes and lives of the most vulnerable populations affected by the storm. For more information, please visit www.afuturewithhope.org.
By summer, the calls to the Massapequa, Long Island, office asking for help had slowed a bit, said Peggy Racine, Long Island site coordinator, but work had continued. “In Massapequa alone, we had between 8,500 and 9,000 volunteer hours up through July.”
In Highlands, N.J., the former United Methodist Church building, which was flooded, was renovated by hundreds of volunteers and opened on July 15 as a hosting site for volunteer teams. The conference averaged 70 to 120 volunteers a week from June to early August.
On Aug. 12, the Rev. Tom Vencuss, returning from Haiti after three years of coordinating volunteer teams for earthquake relief there, became the Sandy recovery manager for the New York Conference.
UMCOR received its own Red Cross grant of $2.5 million in August to provide financial or housing assistance to 700 households in New York, Connecticut and Maryland.
By early September, New Jersey case managers were working with 130 families and had started rebuilding 26 homes and two churches, partnering with 10 organizations.
The conference had hosted more than 1,200 volunteers since late March at its 13 host sites.
Back at the Hall home in Atlantic City, volunteer teams repaired the ceiling and floor and repainted.
Elise Hall, a 64-year-old social worker, had gotten a referral to A Future with Hope.
In early October, Rick Hall, 46, a Federal Aviation Administration employee then on furlough because of the U.S. government shutdown, was happily surveying the progress.
“All of the people who come through, from Ohio, Pennsylvania, this group here (working as he spoke) from South Carolina, they’re beautiful. I couldn’t believe how kind and warm these people really have been.
“(God’s) children showed up to help us. That’s how we looked at it,” he said, displaying a small cross one volunteer had carved out of cedar.
“I’m not telling the story, I’m singing it.”
In Long Beach, Mentges, 48, is thankful that her cancer prognosis is good.
Recovery from the storm, which also affected her parents’ home on the same street, has been rocky. A recent$50,000 renovation from a second mortgage was lost, particularly after she was told by her insurance company not to do anything until an adjuster could come.
“When we took the hardware floor up, the subfloor was loaded with mold,” said Mentges, who has been staying at her sister’s house in nearby Lido Beach with her son, Brandon, 15, and daughter, Brianne, 21. “The wall was loaded with mold. We disinfected for almost a month.”
Bad experiences with two out-of-state contractors have left her with little money and a large amount of work still to be done. The house, now elevated, is still a work in progress.
But, thanks to a referral from another organization, Mentges has a connection with United Methodists now. A volunteer team from the California-Pacific Conference was helping insulate and hang drywall recently, and she’s hopeful the house will be functional enough before Christmas to allow the family to move back.
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service multimedia reporter based in New York. Follow her at http://twitter.com/umcscribe. Contact her at (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
Year 1: Sandy recovery — Different needs everywhere
From Santiago, Cuba, to Criswell, Md., to Far Rockaway, Queens, Staten Island, Brooklyn, Long Island and the Jersey shore, the recovery efforts began. The survivors shared common threads of need: immediate relief, assessment, repair, rebuilding and renewal from the emotional and spiritual toll. Learn what United Methodists did.
Year 1: Sandy recovery — Management the key
A rebuild averages four to five months and could take up to a year, but The United Methodist Church has become well known for disaster case management. “UMCOR is the gold standard,” said Bobbie Ridgely, director of A Future with Hope, Greater New Jersey’s Sandy relief organization. Read about how it works.
Year 1: Sandy recovery — Volunteers a lifeline
“If it wasn’t for them (the volunteers), believe me, it wouldn’t be the same,” said Hazel Gordon, who welcomed United Methodist volunteer teams from Tennessee, Ohio, Virginia and Alabama. “A lot of people, even in this block here, still aren’t finished.” Learn about ways in which the church made a difference.
Year 1: Sandy recovery — ‘Love Methodist volunteers’
Volunteers are the backbone of United Methodist disaster response and nobody knows that better than the people who set up the work opportunities. “I love my Methodist volunteers,” declared Gillian Prince, who works in the New York Conference’s Brooklyn relief office. “They are the best…they come in ready and willing to work.” Meet some of those volunteers.
Year 1: Sandy recovery — Mission teams needed
Since many volunteer in mission teams plan six months in advance, the advertisement and recruitment for spring and summer of 2014 is crucial right now, says UMCOR’s disaster relief coordinator for the U.S. Recovery from Sandy is expected to take years, so relief coordinators have to keep Sandy on the front-burner for a long time. Volunteers a critical need.
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Bishop Talbert performs Alabama wedding for two men by Kathy L. Gilbert*
CENTER POINT, Ala. (UMNS)—At 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 26, the doors shut out the disagreements about church law as United Methodists Joe Openshaw and Bobby Prince vowed to love each other for the rest of their lives in a wedding ceremony performed by retired Bishop Melvin G. Talbert.
Before the wedding. television cameras from several news stations rolled outside Covenant Community United Church of Christ. The two men and Bishop Talbert faced questions about why, and what it would mean for them to disregard their denomination’s stance that the practice of homosexuality is not compatible with Christian teaching and that ordained clergy are forbidden to perform a same-sex marriage.
For Openshaw and Prince, the answer to why was simple. They love each other, they said.
For Talbert, the answer to why and what lies ahead is more complicated.
“On May 4, 2012 (during the 2012 United Methodist General Conference), I declared that the church’s official position is wrong and evil …it no longer calls for our obedience.”
The United Methodist Book of Discipline, the denomination’s law book, since 1972 has proclaimed the practice of homosexuality “incompatible with Christian teaching.” The book prohibits United Methodist churches from hosting and clergy from performing “ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions.”
The 2012 General Conference, when it met April 24-May 4 in Tampa, Fla., rejected efforts to change that language, including a proposal to say the church was in disagreement about homosexuality. General Conference, the denomination’s top lawmaking assembly, will next convene in 2016.
When he made the statement in May, Talbert said he would be willing to perform a same-sex marriage if asked. He said he did not envision going to Alabama to perform a wedding but, when asked, he accepted.
Talbert said this is the first same-sex marriage he has officiated.
“When I met the couple I realized they were deserving of this and they needed it, and I felt honored to be asked. I am very pleased, at peace and ready to face the future — whatever that holds — as well as complaints being filed against me. I didn’t go into this with my eyes closed,” Talbert said.
Officiating at same-sex unions is a chargeable offense under the Book of Discipline. Clergy convicted in a church court can face a loss of clergy credentials or lesser penalties. However, church law does not censure those who disagree with church teaching on this matter — only those who actually take actions that violate church law.
Controversy within the church
Talbert’s decision to perform the ceremony has created much controversy within The United Methodist Church since the announcement of plans for the ceremony.
The executive committee of the United Methodist Council of Bishops issued a statement Oct. 23 urging “Bishop Melvin Talbert not to perform the same-gender marriage in Birmingham” and noting that the resident bishop, Debra Wallace-Padgett, had “requested him not to come to the Birmingham Area for this purpose.”
The Book of Discipline affirms “the sanctity of the marriage covenant that is expressed in love, mutual support, personal commitment, and shared fidelity between a man and a woman.”
At the start of the ceremony Talbert thanked the Rev. J.R. Finney, pastor of Covenant Community, for opening his church to the couple for their wedding. Same-sex marriage is not legal in Alabama, and Talbert signed a certification of marriage that is not binding by state law but significant to the couple who wanted a holy ceremony. The couple were legally married Sept. 3 in Washington.
“These are two men, created in the image of God, loyal United Methodists, servants of Jesus Christ and in love with each other,” said Talbert as he pronounced them united in marriage.
“It is a great privilege to host this momentous event,” he said. “Every day is a good day to celebrate. Let’s celebrate Bobby and Joe’s love.”
Home church says no to ceremony
It was a traditional wedding with a flower girl, love songs and a harpist. Instead of bridesmaids and groomsmen, the couple were flanked by United Methodist pastors in white robes and stoles of different colors.
Becky Mantooth was the liturgist. She and her daughter, Joy, who was the flower girl, are members of Openshaw’s and Prince’s church, Discovery United Methodist Church in nearby Hoover.
Openshaw and Prince said their pastor at Discovery said she could not marry them and the wedding could not be in their church because of denomination’s lawbook.
The Rev. Michele Johns, a deacon and hospice chaplain in Washington, said she was at Openshaw and Prince’s legal wedding  and “it was important for me to be at this wedding.” She is a member of the California-Pacific Annual (regional) Conference.
“For me, the risks in not acting are more significant than the risks of acting. It is about living into my baptism, my confirmation, my ordination. It is about being faithful to a loving God,” she said.
Support from pastors
Several United Methodist pastors from the North Alabama Conference as well as from other states attended the wedding to stand in solidarity with Talbert. Before the ceremony, Talbert gathered them together to thank them for being there and to pray for their protection.
Talbert spoke to the clergy before the wedding.
“I understand who you are as clergy who have come from this conference and across the connection. Thank you for coming and thank you for having the courage to be present for this. I hope we are going to experience a shaking of the foundation of our church as a result of what is happening here today,” he said.
“I think the spirit of God is at work, and I believe more people within our connection think the way we do than are speaking about it. It is the fear that is keeping them from speaking out. We have to stop letting fear guide our prophetic witness.”
During the emotional ceremony Openshaw and Prince faced each other, voices breaking from tears as they exchanged vows, rings and roses.
At the end of the ceremony, the wedding guests stood and applauded as the couple walked down the aisle holding hands.
* Gilbert is a multimedia reporter for the young adult content team at United Methodist Communications, Nashville, Tenn. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org. 
~~~
Upper New York pastor expects to face church trial by Heather Hahn*
The Rev. Stephen Heiss, a pastor in the Upper New York Annual (regional) Conference, officiated at the same-sex ceremony of his daughter in 2002 and more such unions since New York legalized same-sex marriage in 2011.
Now, Heiss announced in a blog post Oct. 26, he likely will face a church trial on charges that he has violated church law. Heiss is the pastor of Tabernacle United Methodist Church in Binghamton, N.Y.
Officiating at same-sex unions is a chargeable offense under the Book of Discipline, The United Methodist Church’s law book. Clergy convicted in a church court can face a loss of clergy credentials or lesser penalties.
Bishop Mark J. Webb, who leads the Upper New York Conference, announced in a statement Oct. 28 that he has referred a complaint against Heiss to the counsel of the church, the equivalent of a prosecutor.
The counsel will determine whether enough evidence supports Heiss has committed a chargeable offense or recommend to the bishop that the matter be dismissed.
“After much discussion and prayerful discernment, I am sorry to announce that we have been unable to reach a mutually agreeable resolution to this matter,” Webb said.
“We know all United Methodists are not in agreement about same-sex marriage. However, there must be universal agreement that the covenant between the church and its clergy is sacred and must be upheld by both,” the bishop said. “Clergy take their oath freely and with the knowledge they must fulfill the promises they make. By the same covenant, the annual conference and I, as a bishop, must fulfill the obligation to fully and fairly administer church law.”
Heiss is at least the fifth clergy member this year facing church legal action related to the denomination’s stance on homosexuality.
Church law and Heiss’ perspective
Since 1972, the book has stated that all people are of sacred worth, but “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” Church law bans United Methodist clergy from performing, and churches from hosting, “ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions.”
In his blog post, Heiss said, “I have never officiated at the wedding of people who were homosexuals as homosexuality was understood by most church folk when the ‘incompatibility’ language was added to the Discipline in 1972.”
He also said he has not officiated at a wedding that violates the Bible’s teachings about homosexuality. “For Bible writers, heterosexuality was a given reality — true for all people —no exceptions. All people are heterosexual,” Heiss said. He went on to say the Bible writers did not have the notion of sexual orientation as people understand the concept today.
His blog post was taken from an email he sent to Webb and the Rev. Richard Barton, superintendent of the Finger Lakes District. Barton, Heiss’ district superintendent, filed the complaint.
Heiss wrote, “if one believes homosexuality is best understood in 2013 as a normal and harmless expression of sexuality, as received unbidden, as neither morally superior nor inferior, not better, not worse than heterosexuality, then I am not in violation” of church law.
Since this summer, Heiss has spoken out in local and national media accounts about his willingness to perform same-sex weddings. Members of his congregation have rallied in support of the pastor and same-sex marriage.
He told Religion News Service that when the bishop asked him to no longer officiate at such unions, he refused.
Heiss, Barton and Webb did not immediately return requests for comment for this story.
One of many challenges
Heiss’ case comes as more United Methodists publicly are defying church policy.
On Oct. 24, Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church in Cambridge, Mass., announced that its church building is available for same-sex weddings and the congregation would support its pastor, the Rev. Scott Campbell, if he performs such services there.
At least three other clergy are now facing complaints related to the church’s stance on homosexuality.
On Nov. 18, the Rev. Frank Schaefer in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference will go before a church trial for performing the same-sex wedding of his son in 2007. A complaint was filed one month before the statute of limitations ran out and word of the trial became public Sept. 20. In a show of solidarity with Schaefer, more than 30 of his fellow United Methodist pastors plan to participate in the wedding of a same-sex couple ahead of the trial.
The Rev. Thomas Ogletree, a retired seminary dean and elder in the New York Conference, is facing a formal complaint after officiating at the same-sex wedding of his son in 2012. Some clergy filed the complaint against Ogletree after his son’s wedding announcement appeared in The New York Times.
The Rev. Sara Thompson Tweedy, also in the New York Conference, is facing a formal complaint that she is a “self-avowed practicing” lesbian, a chargeable offense under church law.
The complaints against Heiss, Ogletree and Tweedy are in roughly the same stage in the church’s complaint process.
Call for prayer
At the end of his statement, Bishop Webb urged “all of us to continue in a spirit of prayer for Rev. Heiss and all involved in this difficult and painful matter.”
“May we continue to live with one another in a manner worthy of being sisters and brothers in Christ,” the bishop continued. “May we continue to seek God’s wisdom, direction and vision as we strive to live our mission to ‘make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world’ and be a witness of light to the world around us.”
His statement also noted that only General Conference — the denomination’s top lawmaking assembly — has the authority to change the church’s stance on homosexuality.
A majority of United Methodist delegates to General Conference have voted consistently against altering that stand for 40 years. The 2012 General Conference, when it met April 24-May 4 in Tampa, Fla., rejected efforts to change the language, including a proposal to say the church was in disagreement about homosexuality.
The next General Conference will convene in 2016 in Portland, Ore.
*Hahn is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
~~~
Top court says Texas bishop must rule on process question for lesbian clergy candidate by Linda Bloom*
BALTIMORE (UMNS) — The denomination’s top court has decided that a United Methodist bishop in southwest Texas must rule within 60 days “on the merits” of a process-related question regarding the elimination of a lesbian clergy candidate, Mary Ann Kaiser, from the ordination track.
The United Methodist Judicial Council also declared that a petition adopted by the 2012 Western Jurisdictional Conference suggesting a light penalty for bishops convicted of ordaining  self-avowed practicing homosexuals is “null, void, and of no effect.”
Those were among the decisions reached during the Judicial Council’s Oct. 22-26 fall meeting in Baltimore.
The Rev. Timothy K. Bruster, first clergy alternate, filled in for the Rev. Dennis Blackwell, a Judicial Council member, at the October meeting. First lay alternate Sandra Lutz and second clergy alternate John Harnish also participated in parts of the meeting.
Southwest Texas ordination ruling
Bishop James E. Dorff ruled in June that a question about the decision by the board of ordained ministry of the Southwest Texas Annual (regional) Conference to drop Kaiser from the ordination process was “as presented, moot and hypothetical.”
Although The Book of Discipline, the denomination’s law book, bans “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from “being certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church,” Kaiser and her supporters say due process was not followed in her case. An elder raised that point during a clergy session of the 2013 Southwest Texas Conference.
The top court reversed Dorff’s ruling that the question “had nothing to do with the discussion, consideration or business of the annual conference.” The bishop is now required to issue a new ruling on the question’s merits within 60 days.
While taking up the specifics of the Southwest Texas case in Decision 1244, the council also considered a constitutional issue that applied to several of the October docket items.
This concerned an amendment to Disciplinary Paragraph 2609.6, which requires one fifth of the annual conference present and voting to make an appeal of a bishop’s decision of law for Judicial Council review. The council found, effective immediately, that the amendment is unconstitutional “and therefore, null and void and of no effect.”
Paragraph 2609.6 gives Judicial Council the authority to “pass upon and affirm, modify or reverse the decisions of law made by bishops in central, district, annual or jurisdictional conferences…”
The court found the amendment, adopted by the 2012 General Conference, the denomination’s top legislative body, “unconstitutionally vague,” restrictive and limiting to the council’s constitutional authority. General Conference cannot modify a constitutional process and procedure without amending the constitution, the decision says.
Western Jurisdiction resolution
The 2012 Western Jurisdictional Conference adopted a petition stating that “the sense” of the jurisdiction — based on its welcoming attitude to people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity — was to impose only a 24-hour suspension on any bishop convicted of ordaining or appointing a self-avowed practicing homosexual.
A lay member presented a question of law to Bishop Robert Hoshibata, who was presiding, over the resolution’s legality but the question was ruled “moot” because of a typographical error. At its April 2013 meeting, the council, which previously has said such an error in a question does “not necessarily negate the legitimacy of the questions,” remanded the question of law back to the bishop.
Hosibata then ruled that resolution is aspirational in nature and “does not legally negate, ignore or violate the penalty provisions of Para. 2711.3 of the Discipline.”
Judicial Council disagreed, reversing the ruling and voiding the resolution. “The Discipline grants to the trial court the exclusive power to set a penalty in a church trial which results in a conviction and the full legislated range of options must be available to a trial court in its penalty phase,” the court states in Decision 1250.
“A jurisdictional or annual conference may express disagreement with other bodies of The United Methodist Church, but it is still subject to the Constitution, the Discipline and the decisions of the Judicial Council,” the ruling says.
“The current controlling principle is that a conference — jurisdictional, central or annual — resolution may express disagreement with the current language of the Discipline and may express aspirational hopes, but a conference may not legally negate, ignore or violate provisions of the Discipline, even when disagreements are based upon conscientious objection to those provisions.”
California-Pacific and New York resolutions
That principle was applied to the decisions of two other bishops before Judicial Council.
A 2013 resolution by the California-Pacific Annual Conference prompted a request for a bishop’s decision of law, resulting in an automatic review by Judicial Council.
The California-Pacific Annual Conference adopted a resolution on “Biblical Obedience” that supports the call from the Western Jurisdiction, in its 2012 Statement of Gospel Obedience, “to operate as if the statement in Para. 161F does not exist.” That disciplinary paragraph prohibits the ordination of homosexuals.
Judicial Council affirmed the ruling while not specifically addressing the content of the 2012 Western Jurisdictional Conference resolution, which it has not been asked to review.
Decision 1254 notes the bishop’s focus on the fact that the church’s Social Principles are not considered church law “but a prayerful and thoughtful effort” to speak on human issues.
The decision points out that individual United Methodists and organizations choose to ignore the guidance of the Social Principles on various issues, such as health care and gun control, and that “while doing so might theologically imperil or weaken the church,” such action is not illegal under church law.
“The request for a decision of law asked simply, ‘Is it legal…?’ In essence, the bishop said, ‘It is legal.’ We concur.”
In a dissent, three Judicial Council members — N. Oswald Tweh, the Rev. J. Kabamba Kiboko and Ruben T. Reyes — noted “that the Social Principles is the foundation of most, if not all, legal requirements of church law in respect of sexuality. Therefore, ignoring the Social Principles undermines all the corresponding requirements of church law, as stipulated in the Discipline.”
A New York Annual Conference resolution, upheld by Bishop Martin McLee, commended both named and unnamed clergy, laity and congregations “whose bold actions and courageous statements help to provide for the pastoral needs of same-sex couples within The United Methodist Church.”
In Decision 1255, Judicial Council affirms that ruling: “The resolution as adopted is permissible because it is primarily a historical recounting of actions by others, is aspirational, and does not call for action that is contrary to The Book of Discipline.”
Greater New Jersey disaster ministry
Decisions 1256-1259 from the October Judicial Council meeting relate to A Future with Hope, the nonprofit organization created by leaders of the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy “to handle the long term recovery of people in need in New Jersey.”
The council disagreed with the Bishop John Schol’s decision allowing conference leadership to establish A Future with Hope as a nonprofit corporation and elect a board of directors without prior annual conference approval.
“To rule that A Future with Hope corporation is null, void and without effect is impractical and probably impossible as it is now a separately incorporated entity meeting a great humanitarian need,” states Decision 1257.
But the decision “serves as a pronouncement” to the conference regarding the importance of maintaining the role of the annual conference in making such decisions.
Concern over clergy triad process
Although Judicial Council upheld two rulings of law from the Texas Annual Conference regarding a question on a pastoral appointment, Decision 1251 notes that the matter raises “legitimate concerns” over a process used by the conference known as the “clergy triad process.”
A concurrence written by the Rev. William B. Lawrence, a Judicial Council member, refers to a document submitted by the conference describing the design and procedures of the triad process.
He points to “a substantial imbalance of power” in the process design; concerns over how the triad honors boundaries defined by the Discipline and possible confusion over how it handles pastoral appointments.
Judicial Council members signing on in agreement with the concurrence were Beth Capen, Katherine Austin Mahle, Angela Brown and Bruster.
Other business
In other business, the Judicial Council
Affirmed a ruling by Bishop Patrick Streiff that the mandatory retirement age is 72 for Congo Central Conference bishops who continue in active ministry beyond their 68th birthday.
Agreed with Bishop Hope Morgan Ward that the North Carolina Annual Conference’s Council on Finance and Administration had properly investigated and insured that providing funds to the North Carolina Council of Churches would not violate church laws related to homosexuality.
Requested more information in a case involving election rules in the Philippines Central Conference.
Ruled on organization and structural matters related to annual conferences
Declined to reconsider previous decisions related to the Philippines, East Africa and a former bishop.
Judicial Council Decisions
(19 Decisions Found)
#
TITLE
DATE
TYPE
1241 
10/26/2013 
Memorandum  
1242 
10/26/2013 
Memorandum  
1243 
10/26/2013 
Memorandum  
1244 
10/26/2013 
Decision  
1245 
10/26/2013 
Decision  
1246 
10/26/2013 
Decision  
1247 
10/26/2013 
Decision  
1248 
10/26/2013 
Decision  
1249 
10/26/2013 
Memorandum  
1250 
10/26/2013 
Decision  
1251 
10/26/2013 
Decision  
1252 
10/26/2013 
Decision  
1253 
10/26/2013 
Decision  
1254 
10/26/2013 
Decision  
1255 
10/26/2013 
Decision  
1256 
10/26/2013 
Decision  
1257 
10/26/2013 
Decision  
1258 
10/26/2013 
Decision  
1259 
10/26/2013 
Decision 
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service multimedia reporter based in New York. Follow her at http://twitter.com/umcscribe or contact her at (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
~~~
Many weigh in as church sees escalating struggle over homosexuality by Sam Hodges
The United Methodist Church’s long controversy over homosexuality has intensified of late, because of a retired bishop’s decision to perform a same-sex wedding; a pastor’s imminent church trial for having performed such a ceremony and a planned protest from clergy colleagues sympathetic to that pastor; and the General Council on Finance and Administration’s decision to extend benefits to same-sex spouses and domestic partners who work for general church agencies.
With news of these developments have come statements and commentary from across the church, reflecting a range of views.
Bishop Melvin Talbert’s decision to go against church law by performing a same-sex wedding in Birmingham, Ala., this Saturday, Oct. 26, prompted the most reaction.
Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett, of the North Alabama Annual (regional) Conference, issued a statement, explaining her request to Talbert that he not follow through. The Council of Bishops executive committee issued its own statement asking that Talbert refrain.
But retired Bishop Mary Ann Swenson dissented and offered strong support for Talbert through a letter posted on the web site of Reconciling Ministries Network, an unofficial caucus that works to change church law on homosexuality.
The men Talbert is to marry in Birmingham, Bobby Prince and Joe Openshaw, issued their own response to the Council of Bishops executive committee’s statement, as did the Methodist Federation for Social Action.
The Rev. Rob Renfro, president of Good News, an unofficial caucus that supports church law in this regard, wrote in support of Wallace-Padgett and criticized the Council of Bishops for not speaking out. His piece was posted before the Council of Bishops executive committee issued its statement.
Bishop Bill McAlilly of the Tennessee and Memphis Conferences offered support for the executive committee’s statement and Bishop Mike Coyner of the Indiana Conference commented on both the Talbert controversy and the decision by the General Council of Finance Administration (of which he’s president) to extend benefits to same-sex spouses or domestic partners employed by general church agencies.
The Rev. John Meunier used his blog for a post titled Why I Cannot Applaud Bishop Talbert, and the Rev. Tim McClendon, a district superintendent in the South Carolina Conference, posted that the Talbert episode raises questions that the United Methodist Church must answer if it’s to hold together.
Meanwhile, the Rev. Bruce Robbins expressed appreciation for Talbert, and the Rev. Jeremy Smith looked to civil rights history for context in assessing the controversy.
~~~
Historic first meeting of African Methodist school leaders occurs in Kenya by Joey Butler
More than 45 participants from 10 countries and 15 institutions of higher education gathered on the Kenya Methodist University campus in Nairobi Sept. 18-21 for the First International Conference for Educational Leadership of Methodist Universities and Institutions of Higher Education in Africa.
The meeting, organized by the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry, brought the leaders together to share information, discuss possible fundraising initiatives and explore partnership opportunities.
The leaders also talked about obstacles they have in common, such as lack of infrastructure and educational materials, the need for better faculty training, technological limitations and the ever-present need for fundraising.
Staff from both the Board of Higher Education and Ministry and the United Methodist Board of Discipleship were present to inform attendees on best practices for fundraising.
The higher education agency’s involvement in educating Africans began with  General Conference legislation that led to the 1992 creation of Africa University in Zimbabwe, the first United Methodist university on the continent. Other autonomous Methodist and British Methodist schools have emerged since.
“The original seeds planted by AU generated fruit we didn’t even realize,” said board staff member Amos Nascimento. “Many other Methodist universities were being created in other parts of Africa, both United (Methodist) and autonomous. But we had no communication or interaction among them.”
A 2010 conference in Kampala, Uganda, led to the formation of an association of United Methodist-related theological institutions in Africa, which first met in 2012. At that meeting, it was decided to have the September meeting in Nairobi.
“(GBHEM) planted one school — Africa University — but now the fruits being generated by that one school are much more and have a higher impact than we could have ever anticipated,” Nascimento said.
During the course of the Nairobi meeting, a strategic alliance among the schools — the African Association of Methodist Institutions of Higher Education was created. The association will enhance networking, provide support for member institutions and collective bargaining power for Methodist institutions in Africa.
As the meeting wrapped up on Sept. 21, word spread of the Westgate Mall siege that took place in Nairobi. Board of Discipleship executive director for fund development Scott Gilpin, who was at the meeting, wound up staying behind to volunteer with the Kenyan Red Cross. He was asked by the newly formed association to serve as a consultant on fundraising endeavors, a task he looks forward to pursuing.
“What happened at the Westgate Mall will not overshadow the great work this church accomplished in Kenya,” Gilpin said.
~~~
Ecumenical community mourns Bishop Thomas L. Hoyt Jr.
Washington, October 27, 2013 – Friends and colleagues of Bishop Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr. received word of his death Sunday with “deep regret and sadness.”
Hoyt, Senior Bishop and Presiding Prelate of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, was president of the National Council of Churches from 2004 to 2005.
“All who knew him remember Bishop Hoyt as a warm and loving man and a great leader,” said NCC President Kathryn Lohre.
“He was an intellectual with a common touch, a champion for millions of struggling people who needed the special attention of the church, including oppressed agricultural workers, victims of natural disasters, and persons living below the poverty line,” Lohre said.
Hoyt was NCC President when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Council’s Special Commission on the Just Rebuilding of the Gulf Coast, which organized aide to hurricane victims and monitored government assistance to the stricken area.
Hoyt was also the NCC’s chief spokesperson in the boycott of Taco Bell in 2004 and 2005 to win rights and greater benefits for agricultural workers.
Before being ordained as a bishop in 1994, Hoyt had established a reputation as a distinguished scholar in theological education. He was Professor of New Testament at Hartford Seminary, Hartford, Ct. (1980-1994); Howard University School of Religion, Washington, D.C. (1978-1980); and Interdenominational Theological Center (1972-78). Earlier he pastored CME churches in North Carolina and New York. He also served as pastor in United Methodist and Presbyterian congregations.
Renowned as a preacher, lecturer and leader of Bible studies, he spoke at innumerable events across the country, including the prestigious Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale Divinity School in 1993. He wrote three books on New Testament themes, co-authored three other books, and contributed to many more. He was one of two senior editors for the American Bible Society’s 1999 Jubilee Bible, and he worked on The New Testament and Psalms: An Inclusive Version, sponsored by Oxford Press. He also has written more than 40 articles for academic and church publications.
Bishop Hoyt served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research in Collegeville, Minn., from 1977-2001, when he was elected an Honorary Life Member. At the Institute, he chaired the project that led to the publication of Stony the Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation (Fortress Press, 1991). The Institute offers the Bishop Thomas Hoyt, Jr., Fellowship for a North American person of color writing a doctoral dissertation.
Hoyt received many awards and accolades throughout his career. He received honorary doctoral degrees from Memphis Theological Seminary, Memphis, Tenn.; Lane College, Jackson, Tenn.; Rust College, Holly Springs, Miss.; Trinity College, Hartford, Ct.; and the Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta, Ga. Among recent honors, he was elected in 2001 to a five-year term as president of the World Methodist Council, North American Region. The Council links the family of Methodist churches and related churches in the “Wesleyan tradition” in 135 countries.
Bishop Hoyt is survived by his widow, Ocie Harriet Hoyt; two adult children, Thomas Edward III and Daria Michelle, and a granddaughter, Ayanna Lanier Harvey. 
Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA has been the leading force for shared ecumenical witness among Christians in the United States. The NCC's 37 member communions -- from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African American and Living Peace churches -- include 45 million persons in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities across the nation.
NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, 646-853-4212 (cell), cruzandjenks@gmail.com
GC2012: Pan-Methodists celebrate together by Linda Bloom*
After several hundred years of separation, members of six Pan-Methodist denominations have committed to ministry together.
The United Methodist Church is the last of the denominations to adopt the full communion agreement, which was celebrated May 1 during the 2012 General Conference.
The affirmation establishes a new relationship among the African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, African Union Methodist Protestant, Christian Methodist Episcopal, Union American Methodist Episcopal and United Methodist denominations.
Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader, ecumenical officer for the United Methodist Council of Bishops, noted that acknowledging past difficulties is part of the process. “We believe this is a significant moment in all of our histories,” she said during a news conference preceding the celebration.
For the CME church, an outgrowth of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, this moment is one of lasting significance, said Bishop Thomas Hoyt Jr., who has a long history of involvement with United Methodists through the Pan-Methodist Commission and ecumenical organizations.
“To be in full communion is to be related to one of the great churches of American society and the world,” he declared.
“I believe the best for Methodism is yet before us,” added AME Bishop John White. “This full communion gives us an opportunity to make our witness around the world.”
The Rev. W. Robert Johnson III, top executive of the AMEZ church, which split from John Street United Methodist Church in 1796 “for reasons of injustice,” welcomed the chance to heal the relationship. “It is a long way from John Street Methodist Church in New York City to Tampa, Fla.,” he said.
There is a temptation to look at the new relationship of the United Methodist Church and smaller black Methodist denominations as a situation of the big fish swallowing the smaller fish, said United Methodist Bishop Alfred Norris, but that is not so. “In this case,” he explained, “the big fish and the little fish will be swimming together.”
Norris, who has led the Pan-Methodist Commission for the past two years, pointed out that his esteemed colleagues — Hoyt, White and Johnson — “are as much a part of the Methodist family as I am.”
The denominations, which already cooperate on issues such as children and poverty, will now have an opportunity to pursue a broader mission agenda together. “I think this will breathe new life into the commission itself,” added the Rev. Stephen Sidorak, Jr., top executive of the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns.
But the “real work” happens at the local church and community level, the denominational leaders agreed.
Hoyt suggested the need for a “sacrament of the coffee cup” to build individual friendships and commit to finding ways to break down barriers and promote justice together.
Issues of race and class are not just sociological but theological, he said, because dealing with such issues “teaches us to get along together.”
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service multimedia reporter based in New York. Follow her at http://twitter.com/umcscribe.
News media contact: Tim Tanton, (813) 574-4837 in Tampa, Fla., through May 4; after May 4: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
~~~
Retired pastor starts house church in nursing home by Beth DiCocco*
Rev. Fred Jackson, retired, says you don't need a church to have worship – you can have "house church."
In fact, he said, you don't even need the house part.
Rev. Jackson, 89, has started a house church at Oneida Healthcare's Extended Care Facility (ECF), where he's lived for about a year.
His first worship, which he plans to hold weekly, took place at 3 p.m. on Oct. 17, 2013. There were 10 people in attendance – a number that pleased Rev. Jackson; "It's a good start," he said.
"I’m looking forward to it with anticipation," he said of the coming weeks. "It’s going to grow; they are going to feel vitally involved and get so much from it that they’re going to tell their friends."
In posters hung around the ECF, Rev. Jackson described his house church this way:
"This is going to be a NEW STYLE OF WORSHIP SERVICE for those who are unable to get to a regular Church Service on Sunday mornings, those who want a simpler form of worship, for those who are looking for more fellowship and real discipleship of our Lord Jesus."
While Rev. Jackson said house church can take place anywhere and "in any one of a dozen different ways," there are four essential elements:
You have to eat.
You have to fellowship.
You have to pray for one another.
You have to read the Bible.
"You can go with the flow," he said. "But make sure you do those four things: eat, fellowship – which can be singing, all kinds of stuff – pray for each other, and search the Scriptures."
Rev. Jackson started out as an accountant, answering the call to ministry when he was 30. He attended Utica College and Syracuse University for his undergraduate degree, followed by Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School. That's where a professor, teaching about the Old Testament, introduced the concept of "searching the Scriptures."
"You don't just read the Scriptures, you search the Scriptures," Rev. Jackson said, "and you let the Scriptures search you."
And reading the Bible, talking about it and asking questions will be a big part of his house church, he said. This new way to worship is something he says people and the denomination need.
Even when Rev. Jackson first retired in 1989 (he served churches as a retired elder on and off until 2011), he said he thought "things have got to change."
"In churches today, a majority of the focus is on maintenance; look at the budgets: buildings, heat, lights, insurance ... Church can’t go on like that. ... God made the Church to be mission-focused."
A volunteer drives him to the Sunday morning service at First UMC in Oneida each week, but he said he sees that is not the only way to do church in America where mainline Protestant denominations are "shutting down, falling apart, dying."
But that doesn't mean people don't want and need a spiritual component in their lives, he said.
"People everywhere in our town, our country, across the world need the gospel," he said. "They're just wide open to it."
After being diagnosed with diabetes, Rev. Jackson decided to move into the ECF.
"I came in here (to live), and thought 'What will I do here?'" Rev. Jackson said. "The aides would come in and say, 'It's time for bingo, Fred.' No thanks. I've got to have some action. The Lord equipped me for ministry; I may have stopped parish ministry, but I have not stopped being a pastor. ... having lived here a year, I know they need it."
He heard about the concept of house church, and did some Internet research. When he found the House Church Manual by William Tenny-Brittian, he figured out what he was going to do at ECF.
"The church needs to (focus) not on itself, but on people outside the church," Rev. Jackson said. "Here I’m doing it. A couple (of those who attended the house church) belong to First UMC, but others are not church affiliated: that’s mission."
And while this may seem to be a new way to do church, it has its roots in the beginning of Christianity, in the New Testament Church, Rev. Jackson said, where people would gather to seek the wisdom of the apostles.
Word is out about Rev. Jackson's house church. Walking down the hall, Rev. Jackson stops to talk with a volunteer who asks about how things went at the first meeting, and the social worker at the nurses' station comments she heard there was a good turnout.
Rev. Jackson said he's always been an optimist, and he's encouraged by the buzz. He has a vision of what he'd like to see a couple months from now.
"I hope they will have grown in their faith, their understanding of Scripture; that it's not just an out-of-date book, but is as alive as anything today," he said. "I hope they have the newspaper in one hand a Bible in the other hand and (see that) they relate. ... I hope they’ll have a wicked sense of mission."
*Beth DiCocco is the writer/editor for the Upper New York Conference.
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United Methodist News Service
United Methodist Communications
810 12th Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203 United States
Phone: (615)742~5400
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