Thursday, October 31, 2013

United Methodist News ~ Thursday, 31 October 2013


United Methodist News ~ Thursday, 31 October 2013
~~~~~~~
“(God’s) children showed up to help us. That’s how we looked at it.”~—Rick Hall of Atlantic City, N.J., talking about the United Methodist relief workers after Hurricane Sandy.
Sandy recovery: Rick’s story
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (UMNS) — After enduring a leaky roof for months, Sandy survivor Rick Hall and his mother were thankful to United Methodists for volunteer assistance through the initiative A Future with Hope. Watch his story in a video produced by the United Methodist Greater New Jersey Annual (regional) Conference.
<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>
Anatomy of a United Methodist disaster response
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.”
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.
~~~
WCC 10th Assembly opens in Busan, Korea
BUSAN, Korea (UMNS) — United Methodists are among the 1,000 official delegates and also are present as visitors and staff at the Oct. 30-Nov. 8 World Council of Churches 10th Assembly. Learn more about the assembly and how to follow the action.
Opening prayer service Oct. 30
United Methodists will be among the 5,000 people joining in the Oct. 30 opening prayer service of the World Council of Churches 10th Assembly in Busan, South Korea, which continues through Nov. 8.
“Each of the previous nine assemblies has proven to be, in one way or another, a pivotal event in the history of the ecumenical movement,” said the Rev. Stephen J. Sidorak Jr., top executive of the Office of Christian Unity and Interreligious Relationships, United Methodist Council of Bishops. “This tenth assembly promises to be no less significant or more momentous.”
Take a peek at past assemblies
A 15-minute video includes a short synopsis of each of the council’s nine previous assemblies, including historic footage of the first assembly in 1948 in “war-ravaged Amsterdam.”
Participants
A thousand official delegates, representing most of the council’s 345 denominations in 110 countries, will attend. Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, ecumenical officer for the Council of Bishops, is leading the official United Methodist delegation.
The delegation includes Antonia Jose Lucas, Angola; Jeannette Aneyé, Ivory Coast; Jonathan Ulanday, Philippines; Bishop Christian Alstead, Europe; and Bishop Sally Dyck, Cynthia Kent, the Rev. Youngsook Kang, the Rev. Ivelisse Quinones, the Rev. Matt Laferty and the Rev. John McCullough, United States. Other United Methodists, along with representatives of worldwide Methodist churches, are attending as visitors or in various capacities.
“This assembly is a very important one,” wrote Bishop Rosemarie Wenner, president, Council of Bishops, in a letter to the delegation. “The world yearns for the Christian witness for peace, justice and care for the creation.
“In the near neighborhood of Busan there is a border that divides a nation. Families and churches are separated from each other and in one part of Korea people are suffering from hunger and oppression,” she continued. “This is one example of many, where you together with all delegates and participants will hopefully speak up in solidarity with those who are not able to make their voices heard.”
Assembly theme: God of life, lead us to justice and peace
The theme of the assembly, according to the WCC, was inspired by the diversity of Asian contexts and by a growing sense of urgency to care for life and seek justice.
The fact that the theme is a prayer “is a very hopeful sign that the member churches of the WCC are deeply committed to discerning the promptings of the Holy Spirit in their midst as we convene in Busan,” said Sidorak, who is serving as an adviser to the United Methodist delegation.
“There is a clear recognition of the need within the oikoumene, the whole inhabited earth, for justice and peace,” he added. “May it be so—that the very things we pray for together will come to pass and that the imperative for the churches to be actively engaged in helping to bring as much about will be very evident during and after Busan.”
How to follow the assembly
 The WCC has posted a number of preparatory documents on the assembly website, including pre-assembly reflections, reports from commissions and working groups, policy documents and an introduction to the ecumenical conversations that will take place.
The WCC Assembly website will feature daily news stories and updates about the assembly.
For tablets and mobile phones, a downloadable free mobile application that will feature daily stories, photos and links to videos from the assembly is available through the iTunes Store and Google Market.
Each day a 15-minute video broadcast, Madang Live, will be available on You Tube and show highlights and feature stories from the assembly.
And the assembly will be trending through social media networks such as the WCC Twitter site, @oikoumene, @OlavTveit and the assembly Twitter site, @wcc2013.
The WCC Assembly Facebook event is now a running space on social media, engaging some 600 people from around the world through sharing of information, articles and links about the assembly.
Information on the visitors’ program organized by the Korean Host Committee of the WCC has been made accessible through wcc2013.kr (in Korean).
Pre-assembly Korean protest
Protesters opposed to WCC gather in Busan, South Korea, before the ecumenical organization’s assembly there. UMNS Photo by Gladys Mangiduyos.
Although the assembly represents a worldwide body, Korean Christians are very involved in the event. Some 2,500 Koreans were expected to take part in the opening worship service.
The assembly’s Korean Host Committee, which represents both WCC member and non-member churches, has said Koreans want to offer a strong Christian witness to the council’s mission for peace and justice.
On Oct. 29, a group of about 2,000 Korean Christians gathered in front of the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center in protest of the assembly, claiming the WCC emphasizes dialogue instead of witnessing that Jesus is the only way to salvation.
One protester, who would only identify himself as Pastor Moon from the conservative Presbyterian church, told UMNS correspondent Gladys Mangiduyos that the WCC is too liberal.
# # #
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
~~~
WCC assembly opens with prayers, reflections and great hopes *by J Ayana McCalman
The 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) opened on Wednesday, 30 October in Busan, Republic of Korea under the theme “God of life, lead us to justice and peace.”
The opening service of common prayer on the first day of the assembly honoured diverse faith traditions from around the world. The gathering prayer included deeply moving litanies of lamentations, cries and hopes from the churches in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and the Pacific.
The first plenary session of the assembly welcomed delegates and participants to Busan. The mayor of Busan, Hur Nam Sik, moderator of the Korean Host Committee of the WCC assembly the Rev. Dr Kim Sam Whan and the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit welcomed all the assembly participants.
Tveit expressed thanks to the Korean churches, the city of Busan and the government for their gracious hospitality and welcome. Tveit addressed participants of the assembly which includes some 3000 participants representing 345 member churches of the WCC, including youth, WCC staff members, stewards, co-opted staff, interpreters and more than 1,000 Korean church members and day visitors. All these participants represent more than 100 countries.
Tveit also welcomed three churches accepted into the WCC fellowship since its 9th Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2006. These churches are the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil, which joined in 2008; the Lao Evangelical Church, 2008; and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, 2013.
The moderator of the WCC Central Committee, Rev. Dr Walter Altmann, formally declared the assembly open.
Expectations of the assembly
At the opening, four young people were invited by WCC president Rev Dr. Ofelia Ortega Suárez to share their expectations of the WCC assembly. These young people included Sonia Tzvozanni from Cyprus, Thomas Kang from Brazil, Thabile Lolo from South Africa and Takape Baleiwai. They shared short videos showing their home contexts and expectations, which included calls for the WCC assembly to address issues of poverty and climate change. The assembly received video and written greetings from the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church.
In its first business session, the assembly received for action and discussion the reports of the moderator of the Central Committee and the WCC general secretary which reflected on the journey to Busan since the Porto Alegre, Brazil assembly of 2006.
The 10th Assembly will continue through 8 November, with thematic plenaries on Asia, mission, unity, justice and peace. The assembly also includes an exhibition and encounter space featuring exhibitions and displays from Korea and beyond, book events and more than 20 workshops during the day in the Madang hall at the BEXCO Center, the WCC assembly venue in Busan. Madang is a Korean word that denotes a courtyard in a traditional Korean house, village or palace.
The assembly is the highest governing body of the WCC and brings the fellowship of churches together in prayer and celebration. The assembly has the mandate to review the work of the WCC, and to determine the overall policies, to issue public statements and to elect new members of the WCC Central Committee.
*J. Ayana McCalman is a lawyer and a missionary for the Council for World Mission (CWM). She works for the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa as communications and justice advocacy officer.
Peace with justice is central to WCC’s work (WCC news release of 30 October 2013)
High resolution photos available via photos.oikoumene.org
~~~
Good News calls for accountability following same-sex union by Kathy Gilbert
THE WOODLANDS, Texas (UMNS) — Calling retired Bishop Melvin Talbert’s officiation of a same-sex wedding Oct. 26 “an egregious act of defiance” of United Methodist law, the Good News group has urged the church’s Council of Bishops to hold Talbert accountable.
Good News is an unofficial United Methodist group that advocates maintaining the denomination’s current definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. The organization issued a statement Oct. 28 calling on the Council of Bishops to hold Talbert accountable for performing a ceremony uniting two men, Joe Openshaw and Bobby Prince in Birmingham, Ala.
The executive committee of the Council of Bishops and Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett, leader of the North Alabama Annual (regional) Conference, asked Talbert not to preside over the service.
The committee said, “The bishops of the church are bound together in a covenant and all ordained elders are committed to uphold the Book of Discipline. “Conducting ceremonies which celebrate homosexual unions; or performing same-sex wedding ceremonies” are chargeable offenses in the United Methodist Church. (¶2702.1.b)”
The Book of Discipline states that marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman, and it forbids United Methodist clergy from performing same-sex ceremonies. It also bars such services from being performed in United Methodist sanctuaries. The Birmingham service was performed in a United Church of Christ sanctuary.
After the wedding, Wallace-Padgett said, “My heart and prayers are with all of us as God leads us through this difficult time.”
Good News said Talbert “flagrantly violated the covenant that binds United Methodists together by officiating” at the service. “We understand the emotional and sensitive nature of the sexuality debate within The United Methodist Church,” the group said. “At the same time, same-sex marriage is not legal in the state of Alabama, nor is it permitted by the United Methodist Discipline.  Not only did Bishop Talbert defy church law, he ignored the urging of both Bishop Wallace-Padgett, bishop of Northern Alabama, and of the executive committee of the Council of Bishops not to preside over the service.”
In an interview with United Methodist News Service before the wedding, Talbert said, “I just believe deep in my heart that this (church policy) is wrong and someone needs to speak out. I am fully aware of the role of bishops in The United Methodist Church, but I am reminded that the role of a bishop is not only to do certain things for the church, it has the responsibility to do some things to the church.
“We have allowed ourselves to be subsumed to the law of the church no matter what it is, even when we know in our heart of hearts it is wrong. We have decided our loyalty is to obey the Book of Discipline rather than speak to the church about this wrong.”
In calling upon the council to exercise discipline, Good News said that “failure to hold accountable Bishop Talbert and other clergy who are flaunting our church’s policies will result in the unraveling of our church’s covenant and order.  Formal separation may not be far behind.”
Good News’ full statement follows:
Good News Responds to Same-Sex Union Performed by Bishop Talbert
In an egregious act of defiance, Bishop Melvin Talbert has publicly and flagrantly violated the covenant that binds United Methodists together by officiating at a service of holy union between two men in Birmingham, Alabama.  We understand the emotional and sensitive nature of the sexuality debate within The United Methodist Church.  At the same time, same-sex marriage is not legal in the state of Alabama, nor is it permitted by the United Methodist Discipline.  Not only did Bishop Talbert defy church law, he ignored the urging of both Bishop Wallace-Padgett, bishop of Northern Alabama, and of the executive committee of the Council of Bishops not to preside over the service.  Elected and sworn to an office of unity, Bishop Talbert has instead chosen to use his position to foment greater division within the UM Church.
As Bishop Michael Coyner has recently stated, “A bishop of the church, whether active or retired, has a special responsibility to teach the faith, to guard the church, and to order the administration and discipline of the church… I don’t think we can be ‘church’ together without a commitment to such order.”
Good News calls upon the Council of Bishops to exercise discipline and hold Bishop Talbert accountable, as they have publicly promised to do on several occasions.  A failure to hold accountable Bishop Talbert and other clergy who are flaunting our church’s policies will result in the unraveling of our church’s covenant and order.  Formal separation may not be far behind.
~~~
With needs on rise, religious leaders warn against food stamp cuts by Linda BrOwn
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (UMNS) — United Methodists were among the Southeast religious leaders speaking out Oct. 30 against proposed cuts in Congress to the food stamp program. “As the SNAP (food stamp) benefits are decreasing, we’re seeing an increase in individual needs in our area,” said Alabama-West Florida Bishop Paul Leeland. “The majority of these people are children and older adults.”
If Congress drastically cuts the federal food stamp program, religious institutions will not be able to fill the gap for hungry families.
That was the message delivered by religious leaders from southeastern states who participated in an Oct. 30 media briefing.
The leaders expressed their concerns the same day as the first public meeting of the Congressional farm bill conference committee in Washington. The U.S. House version of the farm bill would cut the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nation’s primary food assistance program, by $39 billion.
In addition, on Nov. 1, the benefits of all 48 million people in the SNAP program are going to be cut across the board, for an average of 8 percent, said James Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center in Washington.
Every southeastern state exceeds the U.S. national child poverty rate of 22.6 percent, according to the action center’s latest analysis. The SNAP caseload in eight southeastern states has increased 65.9 percent over the past five years.
“As the SNAP benefits are decreasing, we’re seeing an increase in individual needs in our area,” said Bishop Paul Leeland, who represents 650 congregations in the United Methodist Alabama-West Florida Annual (regional) Conference. “The majority of these people are children and older adults.”
Taking up the slack
Religious leaders criticized the assumption of some federal lawmakers that faith communities can pick up the cost of cuts to SNAP. To make up for the proposed reductions, each religious congregation in the U.S. would need to increase its food assistance by nearly $15,000 a year for the next 10 years, totaling more than $145,000, according to Bread for the World.
“Florida is undergoing a tremendous impact from unemployment,” said the Rev. Russell Meyer, executive director, Florida Council of Churches, and a clergy member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. “If SNAP is cut, as proposed… the estimate is one out of three Florida families will face food insecurity at some point during the week.”
Religious groups in Florida, particularly suburban churches, would have to pick up the added responsibility for feeding the hungry in what “represents a tax on people of faith,” he argued.
The pricetag on feeding America’s poor doesn’t change just because the government shirks its duties and expects religious groups to fill in, Meyer pointed out. “It’s shifting a real cost in society onto a particular subset of society who feels the burden,” he explained. “Many people who don’t go to church feel the burden as well.”
Some lawmakers eager to slash food stamp funding seem to have a disconnect with what is happening in their own communities, the religious leaders noted.
North Carolina Bishop Hope Morgan Ward believes the key is to work on relationships with those in need.
Even some church members, she admitted, do not know the name of one child in living in poverty. United Methodists in her state, she said, “are engaged in increasing relationships with people who need SNAP assistance. We do not allow people we know and live with to go without food.”
Unable to meet the demand
The Rev. D. Scott Weimer, senior pastor, North Avenue Presbyterian Church in downtown Atlanta, said there is plenty of interfaith cooperation to assist those in need but an “increased strain in our ability to feed hungry people.”
His own congregation hosts a day care center and preschool for homeless children and they have discovered that many of the children who take advantage of free school lunch programs “are not eating on weekends and holidays.” Although religious leaders are encouraging churches to adopt schools to provide weekend meals, “what we are discovering is we can’t keep up even with that demand.”
The Rev. Connie Shelton, director of communications for the United Methodist Mississippi Annual Conference, told how the congregation at Heritage United Methodist Church in Hattiesburg discovered the importance of their backpack food ministry when a teacher described the excitement of one fifth-grade boy about having the gift of food for the weekend.
Mississippi residents already are generous to those in need, she said, but can’t absorb the gaps the proposed food stamp cuts will create. “Cutting a program without changing a system and culture is not the answer.”
Seniors also are suffering, said the Rev. Eric Mount, of the Kentucky Council of Churches’ Justice Advocacy Commission, who has observed both senior citizens and the programs that help feed them struggling to stay afloat. Some seniors, he added, are “having to choose between paying their (medical) co-pay and buying food.”
*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.
~~~
Chuck Knows Church: Halloween
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — The Board of Discipleship series Chuck Knows Church continues with a short film intended for use by churches during Halloween Week, be it in a worship service, Bible study or fellowship time.
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/xpxo4GbXUsM?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Chuck's first short film! Perfect for Halloween week, the film illustrates the nature of God. Play this at your next worship service, Bible study, or fellowship time and discuss the nature of God. Perfect for Halloween or Thanksgiving week.
~~~
Publishing House head to retire in 2016
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — Neil Alexander, president and publisher of the United Methodist Publishing House, has announced plans to retire by or just after the April 2016 General Conference. His agency's board has initiated a process that will lead to a search for a new publisher in 2015 and provide for overlap with Alexander’s tenure early in 2016. Alexander started as president and publisher in February 1996.
~~~~~~~
United Methodist News Service
United Methodist Communications
810 12th Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203 United States
Phone: (615)742~5400
~~~~~~~
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)