Download the printable version of the June 20 issue of GPconnect.
In this edition:ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Magazine traces ‘Bucket’ from Great Plains to hurricane relief
- Recaps of annual conference help you tell story to local churches
- Make space on your smartphone for Great Plains app
- Offices closed for July 4
- Correction
EQUIPPING DISCIPLES
- Trauma-informed congregation workshop set for September in Wichita
- Changing youths' lives, United Methodist Institute begins next month
- Deadline just days away for the Summit Youth Academy
- ‘We Still Believe’ video from annual conference available
- Deadline approaching for Social Justice Seed Money
- Retired UM missionary, native Palestinian asks for support
- SCJ Mission Academy set for Sept. 9-12 in KC
ACROSS THE CONNECTION
- Newly ordained elder makes history for Kansas church
- Junction City pastor publishes ‘Remembering Who We Are’
- In other news
- Resources
- Connect ANEW resources now available
- Blogs and commentary
- The weeks ahead
- Newsletters
- Classifieds
Magazine traces ‘Bucket’ from
Great Plains to hurricane relief
Journey of a Bucket
A story of extraordinary giving made possible by many hands along the way by Christie R. House
The 2017 Atlantic Coast hurricane season, from June 1 to November 1, spawned 17 named storms that affected the United States and Caribbean island nations. The worst of these for the United States were: Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall in Texas on August 26 as a category 4 hurricane; Hurricane Irma, a category 5 storm that affected the Florida Keys, Puerto Rico, Barbuda, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Anguilla, Cuba, and the Virgin Islands early in September; and Hurricane Maria, a category 5 storm that wiped out much of Puerto Rico and Dominica, and also affected Lesser Antilles, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the Virgin Islands, September 18-20.The Call
In August 2017, an emergency call went out from UMCOR Sager Brown to United Methodist conference Disaster Response Coordinators and to United Methodists through social media and the UMCOR website to assemble and ship cleaning kits so that UMCOR could meet the needs caused by an overactive and severe Atlantic hurricane season.
The Response
United Methodists across the country mobilized to collect materials and assemble the kits. In some conferences, bishops pushed out the appeal and challenged their membership to dig in and meet the need.
Bishop Ruben Saenz, Jr., of the Great Plains Episcopal Area, and Hollie Tapley, the Great Plain’s Disaster Response Coordinator, put together a video with a challenge. “Can we do 5000?” the bishop asked. “Of course, we can,” answered Tapley. Each of Great Plain’s 17 districts were challenged to complete 300 kits a piece—in two weeks! Publicity went out on the conference website, Facebook, twitter, and email.
Congregations arranged competitions with one another—big and small. In the tiny rural town of Wilsey, Kansas, population 100, Charlie and Elvie Aikens might see 17-20 people in the Sunday service at Wilsey UMC. As Charlie puts it: “On a good day, 24 show up at church. But we got the call, and in an area like this, neighbors take care of neighbors.” He said that for the income-level of the small town, the value of $65 a bucket seemed big, so they promised to do 15.
Flood buckets are assembled in the offices of United Methodist Publishing House. The buckets were sent to Texas following damage from Hurricane Harvey. PHOTO: MALCOM THOMPSON
Wilsey UMC folks brought what they could. “We set tables up in front of the sanctuary, and that way everyone at church got a hand in loading the buckets,” Charlie continued. “We did 15, and that was no big deal—so we did 15 more, and then a couple in town brought in a loaded bucket.” Charlie and Elvie delivered 31 buckets to the drop-off point in Lincoln, Nebraska. When they got there, they heard that a big semi-truck had to be loaded to go to Sager Brown the next day, so they returned to help and brought another member. “That was a mess of flood buckets,” noted Charlie. “We were wonderfully impressed to see our new bishop up in the truck helping to load the buckets.”At a bigger church in Omaha, Nebraska, the congregation was also preparing to meet their challenge—100 buckets. Vikki O’Hara, Director of Caring Ministries at Faith Westwood UMC in Omaha, said she was hearing from many people in the congregation who wanted to do something in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, so they started pulling together cleaning kits even before they heard about the bishop’s challenge.
Students from Faith Westwood UMC IMPACT afterschool program for middle schoolers in Nebraska have just finished unloading 500 buckets and lids donated to the church. Behind them are just a small number of those buckets. PHOTO: VIKKI O’HARA
O’Hara encouraged her 900+-member congregation to bargain shop, buy in bulk, and ask businesses for donations to beat the $65 average price of a kit. At Lowes, where she worked part-time, she mentioned the challenge to her manager, who mentioned it to his manager, and before long, she had 50 donated buckets and lids. “Social media was huge,” said O’Hara. “We used it to thank people every time we got a donation—and that triggered more donations.”Before long, through congregational connections, a donation of 500 buckets and lids came in—half of which they kept for their kits and half they dropped off at the conference office for other congregations to fill. The students in the IMPACT afterschool program at Faith Westwood helped to unload the buckets. A lot of buzz circled in the community—the Girl Scouts filled buckets, the local school collected supplies to fill buckets.
A free-will offering brought in $10,537 to buy supplies. They filled 259 buckets. They had so many they had to ask for help to transport them to the conference center. A pastor from another church brought a big truck by to take care of that need.
“We were overwhelmed. What we were hearing from our congregation was that they wanted to help. I think it means a lot for people to be part of something like this and to make a difference,” said Vikki O’Hara. “We sent 75 empty buckets to a church in Kansas, and that congregation did a whole community event around filling them.”
After a few weeks, Great Plains Conference collected 6,340 filled buckets to send out as cleaning kits to the UMCOR Depot. “It took 4 semi-trucks, packed top to bottom and to the door,” mused Hollie Tapley. “I believe in being the church and that’s what I teach to my disaster volunteers. We just reached out in a tangible way—telling people how they could help. It is the heart of the Great Plains people; they love to be the church.”
The Double-Checking
Thousands of buckets from across the country packed by thousands of United Methodists were arriving at the UMCOR Sager Brown Depot throughout the fall and into the winter months. Once the cleaning kits make it to the Depot in Baldwin, Louisiana, they’ve reached the half-way point in their journey.
The UMCOR Sager Brown Depot in Baldwin, Louisiana. PHOTO: COURTESY UMCOR SAGER BROWN DEPOT
Each of the kits coming in from congregations must be opened, unassembled, checked for consistency, and reassembled. Uniformity is essential to meet relief-kit standards and prevent problems from occurring on down the line.Then came the volunteers.
They came from Nebraska, and Texas, and Arkansas, and Iowa, and Missouri, and Florida. More came from Tennessee, and Minnesota, and Virginia, and Illinois, and Oklahoma, and Georgia, and New York, and Indiana. In short—they came from everywhere. At the same time, the UMCOR Depot West in Salt Lake City was receiving and double-checking kits, as were eight conference-supported affiliate warehouses in Pennsylvania, Texas, Missouri, Alabama, Illinois, and North Carolina.
The Rev. Brittany Richardson Watson from the Arkansas Conference probably describes this experience the best: “I am spending the week at the UMCOR Sager Brown Depot in Louisiana and I can’t help but to reflect on just how powerful connection can be. In the wake of a dizzying few months of disaster and tragedy, I am working, worshipping, and eating alongside people from all over the country who have gathered together out of a shared call to help. We are organizing and sorting aide materials that have been collected and packed by countless hands in countless churches.”
The Places They’ll Go
Once the cleaning kits are doublechecked, reassembled, and packed up tight, they are stored at the UMCOR Depots and their affiliates until they are needed—and in 2017, many did not spend a lot of time in storage. Once a call for a large number of cleaning kits comes in, volunteers and staff pack the cleaning kits onto pallets, which are then wrapped in plastic to insure they stay together during shipping.
Before the busy hurricane season, there was a busy tornado season in the first half of the year. Thousands of cleaning kits were sent to United Methodist conferences in Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, Georgia, and even a few hundred to Pennsylvania for distribution. After Hurricane Harvey, UMCOR Sager Brown delivered 11,000 cleaning kits to the Texas Annual Conference mission center for distribution in Houston and other areas. The Rio Texas Conference received another 1,400.
Following Irma, more than 5,000 cleaning kits were sent to the Florida Conference—they joined a truckload of buckets that were already in Florida and another truckload that came from Mississippi. The buckets then followed in the wake of Hurricane Maria to Puerto Rico.
Glorymar Rivera, UMCOR worker in Puerto Rico, helps to unload cleaning kits arriving in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria, which devastated much of the island. PHOTO: MISAEL D. RODRÍGUEZ QUIJANO/METHODIST CHURCH OF PUERTO RICO
The Methodist Church of Puerto Rico received 6,712 cleaning kits, along with more than 32,000 hygiene kits (which used to be called “health kits”). Staff members from UMCOR and Global Ministries were in Puerto Rico with Bishop Hector F. Ortiz Vidal of Puerto Rico and UMCOR’s chair, Bishop Thomas Bickerton of New York, when some of the pallets arrived.They were a welcome sight for storm-weary people. The Rev. German Acevedo-Delgado, a former staff and board member of Global Ministries from Puerto Rico, sent out a celebratory social media post in the first week of February 2018—his house finally had electricity restored after Hurricane Maria, after almost six months in the dark.
The Journey’s End Is Its Beginning
In total, more than 31,000 cleaning kits were shipped out of the UMCOR distribution system in 2017. A yearend report showed that more than 250,000 hygiene kits and nearly 90,000 school kits were also distributed, as well as smaller quantities of sewing, layette, bedding, and birthing kits.
As each kit reaches its final destination—from the local distribution points to storm-affected people who come in to pick up needed supplies—it is opened up to begin the hard work of cleaning and recovery on the most basic level. Kits begin new lives—adopted by new families—bringing a little hope, a little love, and a lot of disinfectant to combat dirt and frustration.
A final word about kits from Rev. Richardson Watson: “It is easy to believe that the world is a bad place filled with terrible people. But the reality is that the world is what we make of it and when people live out of hope and love instead of fear and hatred, this world is a pretty magnificent place. God is working at Sager Brown, not just through the kits that are being packed, but through the much-needed hope that is being cultivated and shipped out right alongside the cleaning buckets.”
Kim Provost, Jr., staff of the UMCOR Sager Brown Depot in Louisiana, loads up a semi-truck with cleaning kits that will eventually end up in Puerto Rico. PHOTO: COURTESY UMCOR SAGER BROWN DEPOT
Compiled by Christie R. House, editor of New World Outlook, with the help of Amy Fusilier, director of the UMCOR Sager Brown Depot; Hollie Tapley, Charles Aikens, and Vikki O’Hara of Great Plains Conference; and the Rev. Brittany Richardson Watson of the Arkansas Conference.Copyright New World Outlook magazine, Spring 2018 issue. Used by permission. Email the New World Outlook editor for more information.
Read more about the “Journey of a Bucket.”
Recaps of annual conference
help you tell story to local churches
For those wanting to relive the moments, reinforce the messages or reflect on them to fellow church members, this page at our website has photos and video available for everyone, along with the transcript of Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr.’s episcopal address and the Powerpoint presentation about the Commission on a Way Forward and “Anatomy of Peace” used by Bishop Saenz and the Rev. Nathan Stanton, director of congregational excellence.
Make space on your
smartphone for Great Plains app
The new app features news and information about the conference, contact information for conference and district staff members, the events calendar, easy access to the Great Plains’ Facebook and Twitter accounts, links to many of our website pages and more! You’ll even find a link to weather so you can see what the forecast is for where you are traveling to for conference events.
One all-new component is our Spiritual Fitness Tracker. This feature will help you keep track of how well you are doing with the spiritual disciplines of reading scripture, praying, attending worship, participating in small groups, and providing service to others. But we’re also concerned about your physical health, which is why we also have pieces that allow you to track how much exercise you’re getting and how healthy you are eating each day.
Watch a short video that explains more about the new app.
And all of this is free! Download the app now by searching for “Great Plains United Methodists.” Or follow the links to the appropriate store below.
iPhone – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/great-plains-united-methodists/id1316399232?ls=1&mt=8
iPad – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/great-plains-methodists-hd/id1316401874?mt=8
Android products – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gomobileapptools.greatplainsunitedmethodists
Or scan this QR code:
Offices closed for July 4
Conference and district offices will be closed on July 4 next Wednesday, in observance of Independence Day. Offices will reopen Thursday, July 5.
GPconnect will not be published next week, but will return on Wednesday, July 11.
Correction
Churches in the Great Plains conference paid 90.1 percent of their mission shares, among the highest percentage in the nation, according to Scott Brewer, treasurer and director of administrative services.
An incorrect statement about the mission shares was made in the June 14 AC Daily.
Clergy Excellence
Seminary scholarship application
now live (Priority deadline July 15)
The Great Plains Board of Ordained Ministry scholarship application for Fall/Winter 2018/2019 application is now live.
The Board of Ordained Ministry scholarships for seminary students policy is below:
Scholarships for eligible seminary students will be disbursed at a per-semester credit hour rate reviewed and set annually by the board.
Scholarships will be disbursed twice a year — once for the fall/winter term and once for the spring/summer term.
Priority will be given to applications for fall/winter term that are submitted on or before July 15 and for spring/summer term that are submitted on or before November 15. Applications may be submitted after these deadlines, but will be subject to availability of funds. No Fall/Winter applications will be processed if received after Nov. 30 and no spring/summer applications will be processed if received after April 30.
In other words, once you know how many hours you’re taking for the upcoming semester, please go ahead and apply, preferably by the priority deadline. Applications will close by Nov. 30 (for Fall/Winter) and April 30 (for Spring/Summer). The full GPUMC Board of Ordained Ministry policy is listed on the website.
Also, please note: while most of the scholarships are available for people who are Certified Candidates for ministry in the Great Plains, we do have a scholarship for anyone who is a member of a Great Plains UMC church, regardless of whether you are a certified candidate or not. Please apply at the website listed above. (And in the words of a BOOM Call Team member, “It’s a great time to be a Great Plains seminary student.”)
If you have any questions about the application process, please feel free to contact the Rev. Ashlee Alley Crawford, clergy recruitment and development coordinator.
Equipping Disciples
Trauma-informed congregation workshop set for September in Wichita
One in four people suffer from trauma and/or mental illness. That is a significant number of people whom, lots of times, suffer alone or their families suffer alone. Over the last couple of years, significant strides have been made in how trauma and/or mental illness impacts behavior and relationships.
How does trauma and/or mental illness affect a person and a family? How can the church be more effective in its healing ministry and be with persons who struggle with trauma/mental illness? The Come to the Well event will begin the journey toward broadening this understanding, specifically exploring the implications for local congregations.
“Come to the Well” will feature Rosemary Clarke (pictured), LMFT, LPC as the keynote speaker. Clarke will address the biological, emotional, and spiritual of trauma and mental health as well as share insights about resiliency. She is a counselor, business owner and empowerment coach in Bluffton, South Carolina.
Throughout her career she has worked with highly traumatized populations. She has provided direct care overseas with our military population, with the economically poor, the severely and persistently mentally ill, and with our veteran population at the VA. Rosemary believes in a mind body spirit model and recognizes the healing power when we feel centered and connected. She blends cognitive behavioral therapy, positive psychology and mindfulness models to help facilitate healing. In addition to her counseling practice, Clarke provides trainings, workshops and courses to promote wellness. Her message is one of empowerment as she works with others to still the mind and tune into the heart’s intuition.
The conference will consist of breakout sessions on Saturday in which participates can explore in more detail the ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences Survey), “trauma-informed” worship, suicide and the church’s response, helping relationships, living with a child who suffers from mental illness, calming techniques, tending your soul and exploring the implications for ministry.
Registration is available online. The cost of the event is $50 per person until Sept. 10. After Sept. 10, the cost increases to $75.
If you have questions about this conference, please contact the Rev. Dayna Hauschild at dhauschild@gmail.com.
Changing youths' lives, United Methodist Institute begins next month
This summer or week of UMY Institute is July 16-21 on the Baker University campus (where Institute has met for over 100 years) in Baldwin City, Kansas. Additional details can be found at www.campchippewa.org/institute or on our Facebook page, which is updated daily. The video youth created last year at Institute can be found here.
The cost of attending Institute is $390. There is a coupon code "AC40" that drops that cost to $350. Scholarship inquiries should contact James Rickner, director of Camp Chippewa. Rickner currently has grant money for senior high youth to attend camp and grant money to assist youth who are ethnic minorities in attend camp.
Deadline just days away for
the Summit Youth Academy
The Summit is much more than just career discernment – it’s about hearing God’s voice in everyday life and being a better disciple, now and into adulthood. Students make friends, learn to focus on God, and think about the ways God has uniquely gifted them to make a difference in the world.
Nominate a young person going into their high school junior or senior year for the Summit today, before the June 30 deadline, at www.summityouthacademy.org.
‘We Still Believe’ video from
annual conference available
This is a great way to celebrate not only what God has done for us and with us in the past, but a fantastic way to start conversations about where our denomination, and where each local church, is going with God in the future! (Rev. Mik King, archives and history committee)
Mercy & Justice
Deadline approaching for
Social Justice Seed Money
Projects in the natural world, social community, economic community and world community are eligible.
Grants during the last year included the Interfaith Peacemaking Coalition’s workshop in April at Lincoln First United Methodist, featuring a keynote address by Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts.
More information about the Social Justice Seed Money is available here.
Retired UM missionary, native Palestinian asks for support
Two resolutions were presented and defeated at this year’s annual conference. While there was some constructive discussion regarding the topics of the rights of Palestinian children, and the values that we as United Methodists hold with regards to not supporting companies that profit from the ill treatment of others, some of the comments that were made during discussions surrounding the resolutions indicate that additional education is needed.
Rev. Awad recently wrote an open letter to United Methodist leaders asking the question “Is the Church Committed to Middle East Peace”? He shares information regarding the work that the United Methodist church leaders did in order to bring about the return of him and his wife, Brenda, to Palestine to serve as United Methodist Missionaries. He goes on to say that at that time he and Brenda felt supported by the church and that the church was also being very proactive in defending the injustices faced by Palestinians. However, over the years he has seen the leaders in the United Methodist church become less willing to speak to the issue prophetically and that this has had a direct impact on our denomination’s ability commit time, funds and energy to the cause of peace and justice in the Holy Land.
Please take a few moments to read the full text of Rev. Dr. Awad’s letter. (Carol Ekdahl-Garwood, Holy Land Task Force Chair)
SCJ Mission Academy
set for Sept. 9-12 in KC
This year, attendees have the flexibility to make their own lodging and meal arrangements (although lunch during full days will be provided at the church).
Course offerings include UMCOR Foundations, Multicultural church relations (whose panelists include the Rev. Kalaba Chali, Great Plains Mercy & Justice coordinator), “What’s Next: After the Mission,” disaster team leadership, spiritual growth in mission, mission in the “glocal” context (led by Chali), connecting neighbors, equipping youth and young adults in mission, partnering with Puerto Rico, reconciliation and social justice, and creative disaster response.
The cost is $50, including a $10 discount available for registration before Aug. 1. Register now.
Administration
Guidance on clergy
business expenses and taxes
Most of these benefits, like housing allowance, haven’t been impacted by the new legislation. Miscellaneous itemized deductions, however, are disallowed beginning in 2018 for income tax deductions.
The best way for churches to address the change is to cover their pastor’s expenses through an accountable reimbursement plan. To be considered accountable, a church’s reimbursement arrangement must comply with the following three rules:
- Expenses must have a business connection — that is, the reimbursed expenses must represent expenses incurred by an employee while performing services for the employer.
- Employees are only reimbursed for expenses for which they provide an adequate accounting within a reasonable period of time (not more than 60 days after an expense is incurred).
- The income tax regulations caution that in order for an employer’s reimbursement arrangement to be accountable, it must meet a “reimbursement requirement” in addition to the three requirements summarized above. The reimbursement requirement means that an employer’s reimbursements of an employee’s business expenses come out of the employer’s funds and not by reducing the employee’s salary.
Across the Connection
Newly ordained elder makes
history for Kansas church
Patton (pictured here with her family) will start as an associate pastor at Derby Woodlawn UMC in Kansas on July 1. She stated, “I am very excited about my new appointment. I have been a chaplain for over a year, it will be refreshing to be back doing local church ministry.”
She will also graduate from the clinical pastoral education program at the Wesley Medical Center in Wichita on Aug. 24.
Patton described her call to ministry at a K-State Wesley Campus Ministry retreat in February 2011. “This moment was when I first realized my life was going to turn out different than I had planned and expected. God turned everything upside and just asked for me to trust and follow, so I did!”
While pursuing a degree in hotel and restaurant management and business administration at K-State, Patton took a part-time position as Director of Children’s Ministries at the Junction City First United Methodist Church. After a year and a half, she was promoted to a full-time position as Director of Christian Education. “In this role, I was responsible for the Nursery infants through the High School seniors,” she noted.
After graduating in 2012, she enjoyed traveling to Scotland on a mission trip with her campus ministry team to work in churches alongside missionaries and bear witness to God’s work across the globe. All these events impacted her decision to attend seminary.
She stated, “when I look back over my life, I can see sprinklings and hints of my call throughout my life growing up.”
Patton grew up in the Grantville UMC, attending worship services with her family, Sunday school, Teen UMW, Vacation Bible School and youth group. She was baptized in November 1990 and became a member of the Grantville UMC through confirmation on April 13, 2003.
Her church family showed their support for her decision for her life during a church conference for all members on Jan. 14, 2015. The church conference was called to sponsor Patton as a candidate for ministry to become an ordained elder in the Great Plains Conference. Each candidate for ministry must have a church sponsor to recommend them for ordained ministry. District Superintendent Rev. Kay Scarborough lead the meeting. Patton shared her calling to ordained ministry and the beginning of her studies at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. All members present voted in favor of sponsoring Patton in her spiritual journey. To support Patton’s studies and to encourage others, the Grantville United Methodist Church has developed a scholarship for students pursuing their studies at seminary. (Marijo Wendling)
Junction City pastor publishes
‘Remembering Who We Are’
He then explores four essential marks of the Church in this collection of sermons: “Kerygma,” “Koinonia,” “Diakonia” and “Didache.”
By reminding the church of its call to share the good news of Jesus Christ, live in fellowship as sisters and brothers, teach the wide span of God’s love, and practice self-giving service in the world, Owen gives us the occasion to reclaim an ecclesial identity grounded in the biblical narrative and the story of salvation history. This book can be used as a resource not simply for reading but for praying that the Church might be renewed in our time and place.
In other news- Church seeks release of jailed Philippines missionary
- Glide UMC in San Francisco doesn’t have pastoral appointment
- Georgia gubernatorial candidate has deep UMC roots
- School of Congregational Development is coming
- Immigrant mother of two finds sanctuary in NY Methodist church?
Connect ANEW resources now available
GBHEM recently announced the launch of the CONNECT ANEW campaign, which encompasses initiatives to research the agency’s effectiveness, branding research and refresh, restructuring of the agency’s staff to maximize talents and resources, training initiatives within and outside of the agency and exploration for the physical location of GBHEM’s results-focused leadership center.
CONNECT ANEW Resources Available: Information and Resources on GBHEM’s Strategy to Evolve to Meet the Leadership Needs of the Church
GBHEM recently announced the launch of the CONNECT ANEWcampaign, which encompasses initiatives to research the agency’s effectiveness, branding research and refresh, restructuring of the agency’s staff to maximize talents and resources, training initiatives within and outside of the agency and exploration for the physical location of GBHEM’s results-focused leadership center.
CONNECT ANEW impacts leaders who connect to and benefit from GBHEM's leadership programs, services and processes. The agency has developed many connections to accomplish its supportive work in leadership development and formation across the United Methodist Connection.
In addition to the initiatives under CONNECT ANEW, GBHEM is continuing its current work within leadership development and education. This year the agency will launch the denomination’s first center for Clinical Pastoral Education, along with chaplaincy trainings around the globe (Africa, Asia, Latin America and North America). Additionally, EM360, a tool to help pastors and Annual Conferences set and achieve ministry goals, is available now across the Connection. More information is available at gbhem.org/EM360.
Students will learn if they are recipients of scholarship awards this summer. The award notices include seminarians who applied for the Excellence in Clergy Leadership Scholarship, which not only offers future pastors $2,500 to $12,500 in funding but financial counseling and education. Later this year, campus ministers and chaplains will also have an opportunity to learn ways to support students through a Campus Well-Being program.
“GBHEM remains committed to our service in the leadership area of focus for The United Methodist Church. We are taking on many new initiatives as we expand our service as a resource center for results-focused leadership formation and education across the United Methodist Connection,” said Charles Ray Bailey, deputy general secretary, GBHEM. “We are working to better equip and resource United Methodist clergy and lay leaders, educational institutions and students around the world.”
GBHEM will share updates and results on the initiatives and programs associated to CONNECT ANEW as they become available on the webpage.
To learn more about CONNECT ANEW and GBHEM, visit gbhem.org/connectanew.
About GBHEM: As the leadership development agency of The United Methodist Church, the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry’s mission is to build capacity for United Methodist lay and clergy leaders to discover, claim and flourish in Christ’s calling in their lives, by creating connections and providing resources to aid in recruitment, education, professional development and spiritual formation. Every elder, deacon and licensed local pastor benefits from our training and candidacy programs. Many young adults find help in clarifying their vocation and God’s call in their lives through our leadership and discernment programs. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook: @GBHEM.
Media Contact
Email Office of Communications
(615-340-7383
Read more about Connect ANEW.
Blogs and commentary
Threat of schism hangs over jubilee of church: The constitution of The United Methodist Church faces a critical test, the Rev. William B. Lawrence and Sally Curtis AsKew write in an essay about the crisis facing the denomination. A longer version of their essay appeared in Methodist Review.
The weeks ahead
Blogs and commentary
Threat of schism hangs over jubilee of church: The constitution of The United Methodist Church faces a critical test, the Rev. William B. Lawrence and Sally Curtis AsKew write in an essay about the crisis facing the denomination. A longer version of their essay appeared in Methodist Review.
The weeks ahead
- Today: NUMB ride conclusion: Beaver City to McCook, Nebraska
- Today-Thursday: Young Preachers Festival, Church of the Resurrection, Leawood, Kansas
- Friday-Saturday: UMW executive meeting, Hastings Grace UMC
- Saturday: Lincoln and Wichita conference offices closing
- Submit your event to our calendar.
- Lewis Center for Church Leadership: Leading Ideas
- United Methodist Communciatons: Resources for Ministry
Submit a classified and view other ads at greatplainsumc.org/classifieds.
Lincoln office Topeka office Wichita office
Lincoln, NE 68504 PO Box 4187 Suite 110
(402)464-5994 Topeka, KS 66604 Wichita, KS 67207, United States
(785)272-9111 (316)684-0266
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