NOTE: This is a digest of news features provided by United Methodist Communications for April 27-May 1. It includes summaries of United Methodist News Service stories and additional briefs from around the United Methodist connection. Full versions of the stories with photographs and related features can be found at umc.org/news.
Top Stories:
Responding with prayer, aid after Nepal earthquake
NEW YORK (UMNS) —
Photo by ACT Alliance, DCA
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25, the most powerful quake in 81 years to hit the region, caused significant damage in Patan Durbar Square in Kathmandu.
Responding with prayer, aid after Nepal earthquake by Linda Bloom
NEW YORK (UMNS)
United Methodists joined Christians around the world in a prayerful response to the earthquake that has claimed thousands of lives in Nepal and neighboring China and India.
BBC News reported the death toll at 4,000 people, with at least 7,000 injuries by Monday evening as the Nepalese army and police undertook massive search and rescue operations. Many were living in “vast tent cities” in the capital of Kathmandu as aftershocks from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake continued.
Five missionaries working in Nepal for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries were reported safe.
PARTNERSHIP IN NEPAL
The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries “has been in mission with the people of Nepal a long time, and that is a great grace in this time of need,” says Thomas Kemper, the board’s top executive.
United Mission to Nepal, a long-time partner, assigned an officer to in a recent disaster readiness and response training held by the United Methodist Committee on Relief in the Philippines last February.
The Rev. J. Denise Honeycutt, who leads UMCOR, pointed out that the regional trainings “fortify our partners’ capacity to respond quickly and efficiently to crises.”
Read full story from the Board of Global Ministries
In a joint statement, the World Council of Churches and the Christian Conference of Asia called churches around the world to pray for those affected by the earthquake and “extend every possible support for humanitarian aid assistance in Nepal and other affected areas in the neighboring countries.” The World Methodist Council also offered its prayers for the people of Nepal.
The United Methodist Committee on Relief is planning to offer assistance through international and local partners, including the United Mission to Nepal, a longtime church partner. UMCOR approved a $90,000 grant April 27 toGlobalMedic, which will help earthquake survivors access clean water by providing household and public water-filtration units.
Church organizations begin work
UMCOR is part of the ACT Alliance, a coalition of more than 140 churches and affiliated organizations associated with the WCC or Lutheran World Federation, some of whom already have a presence in Nepal.
The Lutheran World Federation, for example, has an emergency team on the ground and is coordinating its efforts through the ACT Alliance Nepal forum with the Nepalese government and the United Nations.
Over the weekend, the federation distributed tarpaulins, hygiene kits and ready-made food to about 400 families in Kathmandu and is working on emergency shelter and water, sanitation and hygiene materials.
DanChurchAid, which has a local office in Kathmandu, is building a temporary tent camp where survivors could safely stay.
The United Nations refugee agency is sending plastic sheets, 4,000 solar lanterns and tarpaulins for shelter, while UNICEF, the U.N. Children’s Fund, is mobilizing to help children and families affected by the earthquake.
Missionaries survey damage
Dr. Mark Zimmerman, a United Methodist missionary and medical doctor serving in Kathmandu as director of the Nick Simons Institute, which trains rural health care workers, was with his family in church when the earthquake struck at noon Saturday Nepal time.
At first, he said, the damage seemed minimal. But Zimmerman and his wife, Deirdre Zimmerman, a missionary who serves as advisor for nutrition programs, soon learned that was not the case.
The more serious concern is in the rural areas, where communication and relief support are sparse,”he wrote in an April 26 letter. “No one knows the extent of the loss of life and the hardship out there.”
TO DONATE
Donations to support the response to the earthquake in Nepal and other international disasters can be made online through UMCOR Advance # 982450. Checks also can be made out to your local United Methodist church. Write UMCOR Advance #982450 on the memo line and put in the offering plate.
Missionary Katherine T. Parker expressed appreciation for the outpouring of concern by church members and made specific prayer requests as the earthquake recovery began. Parker deals with issues of water, sanitation and hygiene as a member of the health team of United Mission to Nepal.
“Our relief focus will be primarily in Dhading and planning for this has started,” she wrote about the mission’s plans in a Facebook post. “Two doctors from Tansen left from Pokhara this morning to go to Gorkha. We are coordinating all of our efforts with other local partners.”
Thousands of homes and most schools reportedly were destroyed in Gorkha, one of the closest districts to the earthquake’s epicenter.
No damage was reported at Tansen in western Nepal, where a hospital related to the United Mission to Nepal was established in 1954 as a partnership between the people of Nepal and a coalition of 20 Christian organizations on four continents.
A United Methodist missionary couple has worked at Tansen hospital since 2012. Dr. Lester Dornonis a senior physician and Deborah Dornon is coordinator of expatriate services. They also served in Nepal and Tansen from 1990 to 2002.
Bloom is a United Methodist News Service multimedia reporter based in New York. Follow her athttps://twitter.com/umcscribe or contact her at (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25, the most powerful quake in 81 years to hit the region, caused significant damage in Patan Durbar Square in Kathmandu.
Responding with prayer, aid after Nepal earthquake by Linda Bloom
NEW YORK (UMNS)
United Methodists joined Christians around the world in a prayerful response to the earthquake that has claimed thousands of lives in Nepal and neighboring China and India.
BBC News reported the death toll at 4,000 people, with at least 7,000 injuries by Monday evening as the Nepalese army and police undertook massive search and rescue operations. Many were living in “vast tent cities” in the capital of Kathmandu as aftershocks from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake continued.
Five missionaries working in Nepal for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries were reported safe.
PARTNERSHIP IN NEPAL
The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries “has been in mission with the people of Nepal a long time, and that is a great grace in this time of need,” says Thomas Kemper, the board’s top executive.
United Mission to Nepal, a long-time partner, assigned an officer to in a recent disaster readiness and response training held by the United Methodist Committee on Relief in the Philippines last February.
The Rev. J. Denise Honeycutt, who leads UMCOR, pointed out that the regional trainings “fortify our partners’ capacity to respond quickly and efficiently to crises.”
Read full story from the Board of Global Ministries
In a joint statement, the World Council of Churches and the Christian Conference of Asia called churches around the world to pray for those affected by the earthquake and “extend every possible support for humanitarian aid assistance in Nepal and other affected areas in the neighboring countries.” The World Methodist Council also offered its prayers for the people of Nepal.
The United Methodist Committee on Relief is planning to offer assistance through international and local partners, including the United Mission to Nepal, a longtime church partner. UMCOR approved a $90,000 grant April 27 toGlobalMedic, which will help earthquake survivors access clean water by providing household and public water-filtration units.
Church organizations begin work
UMCOR is part of the ACT Alliance, a coalition of more than 140 churches and affiliated organizations associated with the WCC or Lutheran World Federation, some of whom already have a presence in Nepal.
The Lutheran World Federation, for example, has an emergency team on the ground and is coordinating its efforts through the ACT Alliance Nepal forum with the Nepalese government and the United Nations.
Over the weekend, the federation distributed tarpaulins, hygiene kits and ready-made food to about 400 families in Kathmandu and is working on emergency shelter and water, sanitation and hygiene materials.
DanChurchAid, which has a local office in Kathmandu, is building a temporary tent camp where survivors could safely stay.
The United Nations refugee agency is sending plastic sheets, 4,000 solar lanterns and tarpaulins for shelter, while UNICEF, the U.N. Children’s Fund, is mobilizing to help children and families affected by the earthquake.
Missionaries survey damage
Dr. Mark Zimmerman, a United Methodist missionary and medical doctor serving in Kathmandu as director of the Nick Simons Institute, which trains rural health care workers, was with his family in church when the earthquake struck at noon Saturday Nepal time.
At first, he said, the damage seemed minimal. But Zimmerman and his wife, Deirdre Zimmerman, a missionary who serves as advisor for nutrition programs, soon learned that was not the case.
The more serious concern is in the rural areas, where communication and relief support are sparse,”he wrote in an April 26 letter. “No one knows the extent of the loss of life and the hardship out there.”
TO DONATE
Donations to support the response to the earthquake in Nepal and other international disasters can be made online through UMCOR Advance # 982450. Checks also can be made out to your local United Methodist church. Write UMCOR Advance #982450 on the memo line and put in the offering plate.
Missionary Katherine T. Parker expressed appreciation for the outpouring of concern by church members and made specific prayer requests as the earthquake recovery began. Parker deals with issues of water, sanitation and hygiene as a member of the health team of United Mission to Nepal.
“Our relief focus will be primarily in Dhading and planning for this has started,” she wrote about the mission’s plans in a Facebook post. “Two doctors from Tansen left from Pokhara this morning to go to Gorkha. We are coordinating all of our efforts with other local partners.”
Thousands of homes and most schools reportedly were destroyed in Gorkha, one of the closest districts to the earthquake’s epicenter.
No damage was reported at Tansen in western Nepal, where a hospital related to the United Mission to Nepal was established in 1954 as a partnership between the people of Nepal and a coalition of 20 Christian organizations on four continents.
A United Methodist missionary couple has worked at Tansen hospital since 2012. Dr. Lester Dornonis a senior physician and Deborah Dornon is coordinator of expatriate services. They also served in Nepal and Tansen from 1990 to 2002.
Bloom is a United Methodist News Service multimedia reporter based in New York. Follow her athttps://twitter.com/umcscribe or contact her at (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org
Donate now
Nepal earthquake survivors in dire need of food, shelter
Nepal earthquake survivors in dire need of food, shelter
NEW YORK (UMNS) —
Photo courtesy of ACT Alliance
Community kitchens set up around Kathmandu to feed earthquake survivors. Here, volunteers from Marwari Sewa Samiti distribute cooked meals in the Tudikhel section, serving about 5,000 a day.
Community kitchens set up around Kathmandu to feed earthquake survivors. Here, volunteers from Marwari Sewa Samiti distribute cooked meals in the Tudikhel section, serving about 5,000 a day.
Nepal earthquake survivors in dire need of food, shelter by Linda Bloom
NEW YORK (UMNS)
In rural Nepal, the number of casualties from the April 25 earthquake was lessened by the fact that many people were outside of their homes when the disaster occurred, reports a United Methodist missionary couple who are based there.
Dr. Lester Dornon and Debbie Dornon, missionaries with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, have been in the United States on home assignment since last month but have been in touch with family, colleagues and friends in Nepal since the earthquake occurred.
The fact that the earthquake struck at noon on a Saturday lowered the casualty count in rural villages, the Dornons said.
“The traditional home is a mud home with not much lighting and small windows,” Lester Dornan explained. “If the weather is nice, people go outside during the day. I think that saved a lot of people in the villages.”
TO DONATE
Donations to support the response to the earthquake in Nepal and other international disasters can be made online through UMCOR Advance # 982450. Checks also can be made out to your local United Methodist church. Write UMCOR Advance #982450 on the memo line and put in the offering plate.
Four days after the earthquake, however, the death toll has risen beyond 5,000 and emergency needs of food, water and shelter remain dire. The United Methodist Committee on Relief is working with the United Mission to Nepal and other local and international partners to help respond to the need.
Statistics compiled through the U.N. Resident Coordinator’s Situation Report estimate 8.1 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Nepal and 3.5 million in need of food assistance, with more than 10,000 injured.
On Instagram and Facebook, the Nepal Photo Project has helped document what life has been like since the earthquake.
#UMC missionary says people in Nepal go outside in nice weather."I think that saved a lot of people in the villages.”
TWEET THIS
Timing helped lower death toll
In Kathmandu and other cities, the houses are taller and people tend to stay inside more, factors that contributed to the loss of life there, Lester Dornan said.
The Dornans first served in Nepal from 1990 to 2002, then returned in March 2012 to Tansen Hospital run by United Mission to Nepal, where he is the senior physician and she is coordinator of expatriate services.
The couple’s youngest daughter, Hannah, currently is volunteering as a music teacher at the Katmandu International Study Center, a school started by missionaries. She happened to be at the school when the earthquake occurred, her mother reported.
Some 200 to 300 people lived in tents or under other temporary shelters in the school’s courtyard but many have moved back inside as the aftershocks and tremors have diminished.
“Most schools in the valley are closed for the week,” she added. “I don’t know what the long-term prognosis will be.”
The back wall of the center’s auditorium building fell in and will have to be rebuilt and the foundation of the guesthouse where their daughter lives has cracked, so she is staying elsewhere for now.
VIDEO REPORT FROM ACT ALLIANCE
Watch a short video of Erik Johnson, emergency coordinator of ACT Alliance member Danchurchaid, reporting from a food distribution in a school in Jharuwarashi in Lalitpur - 45 kilometers outside Kathmandu.
Food, drinkable water and shelter remain a critical concern for all.
Contamination and electrical outages have contributed to the clean water shortage. “Most people have water that is in underground tanks,” Debbie Dornon explained. “But in order to pump it up to use it, you have to have electricity. None of the water is safe to drink. You have to boil it or put it through a filter.”
Nepal’s weather ranges from year-round snow in the highest mountains to a tropical feel on the border with India, Lester Dornon said. Although most of Nepal is fairly warm now, “shelter still is important” for cold evenings and thunderstorms.
Tansen hospital was undamaged
Methodists were among the founders of the United Mission to Nepal, which established Tansen Hospital in 1954. The165-bed facility for general medical and surgical care has a staff of 400, including 10 to 12 missionaries.
The hospital is one of six projects in Nepal supported by The Advance of The United Methodist Church, a voluntary giving program.
Because of the hospital damage in Kathmandu, Lester Dornon expects some medical care to be transferred to Tansen Hospital, which is a nine-hour bus ride away on a curvy but paved road.
Reaching rural areas will be more difficult. “Getting help to the people where they are is going to be an issue,” Lester Dornon acknowledged. He noted that medical camps are being organized in more remote districts to deal with ongoing complications from earthquake-related injuries.
Tansen Hospital sent two doctors to Gorkha, near the earthquake’s epicenter, and will send an orthopedic team to assist Anandaban, a mission hospital in the Kathmandu valley.
Bloom is a United Methodist News Service multimedia reporter based in New York. Follow her athttps://twitter.com/umcscribe or contact her at (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org
Alternative process offered for sexuality debate
NEW YORK (UMNS)
In rural Nepal, the number of casualties from the April 25 earthquake was lessened by the fact that many people were outside of their homes when the disaster occurred, reports a United Methodist missionary couple who are based there.
Dr. Lester Dornon and Debbie Dornon, missionaries with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, have been in the United States on home assignment since last month but have been in touch with family, colleagues and friends in Nepal since the earthquake occurred.
The fact that the earthquake struck at noon on a Saturday lowered the casualty count in rural villages, the Dornons said.
“The traditional home is a mud home with not much lighting and small windows,” Lester Dornan explained. “If the weather is nice, people go outside during the day. I think that saved a lot of people in the villages.”
TO DONATE
Donations to support the response to the earthquake in Nepal and other international disasters can be made online through UMCOR Advance # 982450. Checks also can be made out to your local United Methodist church. Write UMCOR Advance #982450 on the memo line and put in the offering plate.
Four days after the earthquake, however, the death toll has risen beyond 5,000 and emergency needs of food, water and shelter remain dire. The United Methodist Committee on Relief is working with the United Mission to Nepal and other local and international partners to help respond to the need.
Statistics compiled through the U.N. Resident Coordinator’s Situation Report estimate 8.1 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Nepal and 3.5 million in need of food assistance, with more than 10,000 injured.
On Instagram and Facebook, the Nepal Photo Project has helped document what life has been like since the earthquake.
#UMC missionary says people in Nepal go outside in nice weather."I think that saved a lot of people in the villages.”
TWEET THISTiming helped lower death toll
In Kathmandu and other cities, the houses are taller and people tend to stay inside more, factors that contributed to the loss of life there, Lester Dornan said.
The Dornans first served in Nepal from 1990 to 2002, then returned in March 2012 to Tansen Hospital run by United Mission to Nepal, where he is the senior physician and she is coordinator of expatriate services.
The couple’s youngest daughter, Hannah, currently is volunteering as a music teacher at the Katmandu International Study Center, a school started by missionaries. She happened to be at the school when the earthquake occurred, her mother reported.
Some 200 to 300 people lived in tents or under other temporary shelters in the school’s courtyard but many have moved back inside as the aftershocks and tremors have diminished.
“Most schools in the valley are closed for the week,” she added. “I don’t know what the long-term prognosis will be.”
The back wall of the center’s auditorium building fell in and will have to be rebuilt and the foundation of the guesthouse where their daughter lives has cracked, so she is staying elsewhere for now.
VIDEO REPORT FROM ACT ALLIANCE
Watch a short video of Erik Johnson, emergency coordinator of ACT Alliance member Danchurchaid, reporting from a food distribution in a school in Jharuwarashi in Lalitpur - 45 kilometers outside Kathmandu.
Food, drinkable water and shelter remain a critical concern for all.
Contamination and electrical outages have contributed to the clean water shortage. “Most people have water that is in underground tanks,” Debbie Dornon explained. “But in order to pump it up to use it, you have to have electricity. None of the water is safe to drink. You have to boil it or put it through a filter.”
Nepal’s weather ranges from year-round snow in the highest mountains to a tropical feel on the border with India, Lester Dornon said. Although most of Nepal is fairly warm now, “shelter still is important” for cold evenings and thunderstorms.
Tansen hospital was undamaged
Methodists were among the founders of the United Mission to Nepal, which established Tansen Hospital in 1954. The165-bed facility for general medical and surgical care has a staff of 400, including 10 to 12 missionaries.
The hospital is one of six projects in Nepal supported by The Advance of The United Methodist Church, a voluntary giving program.
Because of the hospital damage in Kathmandu, Lester Dornon expects some medical care to be transferred to Tansen Hospital, which is a nine-hour bus ride away on a curvy but paved road.
Reaching rural areas will be more difficult. “Getting help to the people where they are is going to be an issue,” Lester Dornon acknowledged. He noted that medical camps are being organized in more remote districts to deal with ongoing complications from earthquake-related injuries.
Tansen Hospital sent two doctors to Gorkha, near the earthquake’s epicenter, and will send an orthopedic team to assist Anandaban, a mission hospital in the Kathmandu valley.
Bloom is a United Methodist News Service multimedia reporter based in New York. Follow her athttps://twitter.com/umcscribe or contact her at (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org
Alternative process offered for sexuality debate
PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS) —
A file photo by Kathleen Barry, UMNS
An alternative process for legislation related to the denomination’s stance on homosexuality is aimed at fostering more open dialogue. Demonstrations in support of full inclusion of gays and lesbians in the life of church were held at the 2012 General Conference.
Alternative process offered for sexuality debate by Heather Hahn
PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS)
Organizers of The United Methodist Church’s top lawmaking assembly plan to offer an alternative process for considering legislation related to the denomination’s stance on homosexuality.
To go forward, General Conference delegates will need to approve rule changes when they meet May 10-20, 2016, in Portland, Oregon.
The Commission on General Conference, which plans the legislative gathering, hopes its Group Discernment Process might provide a template for dealing with other contentious issues in the life of the church.
But right now, the commission’s focus is on finding a different way to address a debate that has raged at each General Conference since 1972 and has led some United Methodists to raise the possibility of a denominational split.
The goal is for United Methodist decision makers to discuss the proposals through the lens of “the values of centrality of mission, unity for the sake of mission and our identity as Christians and as United Methodists.”
“What we’ve been doing hasn’t been working, so let’s look at an alternative,” said Judi M. Kenaston, the commission’s chair and conference secretary of the West Virginia Conference.
One goal is to bring out the “middle voices” — those who typically don’t sign up for the legislative committees that deal with human sexuality and don’t speak up once debate gets going.
Commission members, who themselves have varying theological views on homosexuality, don’t have a particular outcome in mind for the process, Kenaston stressed.
“My dream would be that at the end of it, you would have a decision we could all live with,” she said.
PETITION GOING FORWARD
The Commission on General Conference is submitting legislation to the 2016 General Conference that, if approved, would limit petitions at future legislative gatherings.
Basically, the commission’s legislation would require petitions have the endorsement of at least one official United Methodist body to be considered by General Conference. Those entities include alocal church council, charge conference, annual conference, jurisdictional or central conference, church agency, the Council of Bishops or one of the denomination’s official racial/ethnic caucus.
“This is a response to the number of petitions we receive that are not meant to be adopted,” said the Rev. L. Fitzgerald “Gere” Reist II, secretary of the General Conference. “They are meant to make statements, but they still require the cost of translation, publication and time.”
As an example, he pointed to a petition to stone children if they talk back to their parents.
“Realistically,” he added, “if something cannot get the support of a chargeconference or a Sunday school class or some other level of church life, it probably doesn’t need to have the General Conference spend money and time on it.”
How it will work
Under the plan, the first stop of all sexuality-related petitions would not be legislative committees. Instead, all 864 delegates would review the petitions in small groups with no more than 15 members.
The groups would each have geographical, linguistic, ethnic, gender and age diversity, along with a mix of clergy and lay people.
Even before General Conference begins, each conference delegation may nominate up to three delegates to serve as the small-group leaders. The executive committee of the Commission on General Conference will appoint the leaders from this pool.
The leaders will go through training at the same time legislative committee officers do.
The commission asks each small group to make recommendations on the petition. Members will have the opportunity to review and sign the recommendations.
The groups will meet during the first week of General Conference. The Rev. L. Fitzgerald “Gere” Reist II, secretary of the General Conference, said he expects the process to give more people a chance to be heard.
“If we take time in a small-group setting, everybody has an opportunity to speak,” he said. “You get 120 people in a legislative committee room, and only the people who are dominant and passionate get to the microphone.”
Next stop: Facilitation group
The next stop for the recommendations will be what the plan calls a “facilitation group,” which will meet the Sunday of General Conference.
This group of six will have the task of crafting a comprehensive petition or group of petitions based on the recommendations. The full plenary will then take up the petition or petitions, likely on Tuesday.
Commission members want facilitation group members to have a particular skill set — including the capacity to discern trends in the response sheets, solid writing ability and knowledge of legislative process and language. Impartiality also will be important.
The Council of Bishops’ Leadership Discernment Committee will nominate one man and one woman from each U.S. jurisdiction and central conference (church regions in Africa, Asia and Europe) for the facilitation group.
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From this slate of 24, the General Conference commission’s executive committee will select six who will be presented for election by the full General Conference.
Delegates will have the option of nominating additional facilitation group members from the original pool of 24. Ultimately, the delegates will elect six by plurality.
The process is similar to how General Conference delegates elect members of the Judicial Council, the denomination’s top court, and the University Senate, an accrediting body that oversees how seminaries and other schools relate to The United Methodist Church.
In any case, General Conference delegates will have at least 24 hours to review the facilitation group’s work in the Daily Christian Advocate before debating it in plenary.
The Daily Christian Advocate is sort of the General Conference version of the U.S. Congressional Record.
Origins of the alternative process
The alternative process came about from the commission members’ desire to find a way to make decisions that might be more easily understood and to build consensus rather than use the usual parliamentary procedure.
“Robert’s Rules (of Order) isn’t working for us all the time. There should be other alternatives,” Kenaston said.
The idea to use small groups for discernment came from the Connectional Table, a United Methodist body of clergy and lay people from around the world.
The Connectional Table acts as a sort of church council for the denomination, connecting its ministries and resources. The body is also working on its own legislation related to the denomination’s stance on homosexuality.
The idea for a facilitation group originates with fellow World Methodist Council member, the Uniting Church in Australia. The Rev. Terence Corkin, general secretary of that denomination’s Assembly, gave a presentation on how the Uniting Church uses a similar group to help with especially contentious issues.
WHAT THE CHURCH SAYS
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.” Officiating at same-sex unions is a chargeable offense under the Discipline.
The 2012 General Conference rejected efforts to change that language, including a proposal to say the church was in disagreement about homosexuality.
The Book of Discipline states that marriage is between a man and a woman. It also affirms that all people are of sacred worth, that all are in need of the church’s ministry, and that God’s grace is available to all. The church implores congregations and families not to reject gay and lesbian members and friends.
Read full coverage of sexuality and the church.
Need to build trust
The commission approved a basic outline of the process, but also authorized the executive committee to continue refining the rules as needed.
Kenaston acknowledged that at least for some United Methodists, an alternative process might be a tough sell.
“No matter what we try to do, I think we battle the trust level,” Kenaston said.
Delegates and observers often suspect a hidden agenda behind every part of General Conference.
But ultimately, trusting and listening to each other may be critical to holding a fruitful legislative assembly, commission members said.
Reist said he believes the alternative process will pass constitutional muster with the Judicial Council, the denomination's top court. As a constitutional body in the denomination, General Conference has the authority to set its own rules.
He also is hopeful this process will help more people feel like they have been heard.
As secretary of General Conference, he said, he has held more than one person who was crying after a vote.
“We don’t have to agree, but we have to stop hurting each other.”
Hahn is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
Gay marriage opponents protest at United Methodist church
An alternative process for legislation related to the denomination’s stance on homosexuality is aimed at fostering more open dialogue. Demonstrations in support of full inclusion of gays and lesbians in the life of church were held at the 2012 General Conference.
Alternative process offered for sexuality debate by Heather Hahn
PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS)
Organizers of The United Methodist Church’s top lawmaking assembly plan to offer an alternative process for considering legislation related to the denomination’s stance on homosexuality.
To go forward, General Conference delegates will need to approve rule changes when they meet May 10-20, 2016, in Portland, Oregon.
The Commission on General Conference, which plans the legislative gathering, hopes its Group Discernment Process might provide a template for dealing with other contentious issues in the life of the church.
But right now, the commission’s focus is on finding a different way to address a debate that has raged at each General Conference since 1972 and has led some United Methodists to raise the possibility of a denominational split.
The goal is for United Methodist decision makers to discuss the proposals through the lens of “the values of centrality of mission, unity for the sake of mission and our identity as Christians and as United Methodists.”
“What we’ve been doing hasn’t been working, so let’s look at an alternative,” said Judi M. Kenaston, the commission’s chair and conference secretary of the West Virginia Conference.
One goal is to bring out the “middle voices” — those who typically don’t sign up for the legislative committees that deal with human sexuality and don’t speak up once debate gets going.
Commission members, who themselves have varying theological views on homosexuality, don’t have a particular outcome in mind for the process, Kenaston stressed.
“My dream would be that at the end of it, you would have a decision we could all live with,” she said.
PETITION GOING FORWARD
The Commission on General Conference is submitting legislation to the 2016 General Conference that, if approved, would limit petitions at future legislative gatherings.
Basically, the commission’s legislation would require petitions have the endorsement of at least one official United Methodist body to be considered by General Conference. Those entities include alocal church council, charge conference, annual conference, jurisdictional or central conference, church agency, the Council of Bishops or one of the denomination’s official racial/ethnic caucus.
“This is a response to the number of petitions we receive that are not meant to be adopted,” said the Rev. L. Fitzgerald “Gere” Reist II, secretary of the General Conference. “They are meant to make statements, but they still require the cost of translation, publication and time.”
As an example, he pointed to a petition to stone children if they talk back to their parents.
“Realistically,” he added, “if something cannot get the support of a chargeconference or a Sunday school class or some other level of church life, it probably doesn’t need to have the General Conference spend money and time on it.”
How it will work
Under the plan, the first stop of all sexuality-related petitions would not be legislative committees. Instead, all 864 delegates would review the petitions in small groups with no more than 15 members.
The groups would each have geographical, linguistic, ethnic, gender and age diversity, along with a mix of clergy and lay people.
Even before General Conference begins, each conference delegation may nominate up to three delegates to serve as the small-group leaders. The executive committee of the Commission on General Conference will appoint the leaders from this pool.
The leaders will go through training at the same time legislative committee officers do.
The commission asks each small group to make recommendations on the petition. Members will have the opportunity to review and sign the recommendations.
The groups will meet during the first week of General Conference. The Rev. L. Fitzgerald “Gere” Reist II, secretary of the General Conference, said he expects the process to give more people a chance to be heard.
“If we take time in a small-group setting, everybody has an opportunity to speak,” he said. “You get 120 people in a legislative committee room, and only the people who are dominant and passionate get to the microphone.”
Next stop: Facilitation group
The next stop for the recommendations will be what the plan calls a “facilitation group,” which will meet the Sunday of General Conference.
This group of six will have the task of crafting a comprehensive petition or group of petitions based on the recommendations. The full plenary will then take up the petition or petitions, likely on Tuesday.
Commission members want facilitation group members to have a particular skill set — including the capacity to discern trends in the response sheets, solid writing ability and knowledge of legislative process and language. Impartiality also will be important.
The Council of Bishops’ Leadership Discernment Committee will nominate one man and one woman from each U.S. jurisdiction and central conference (church regions in Africa, Asia and Europe) for the facilitation group.
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From this slate of 24, the General Conference commission’s executive committee will select six who will be presented for election by the full General Conference.
Delegates will have the option of nominating additional facilitation group members from the original pool of 24. Ultimately, the delegates will elect six by plurality.
The process is similar to how General Conference delegates elect members of the Judicial Council, the denomination’s top court, and the University Senate, an accrediting body that oversees how seminaries and other schools relate to The United Methodist Church.
In any case, General Conference delegates will have at least 24 hours to review the facilitation group’s work in the Daily Christian Advocate before debating it in plenary.
The Daily Christian Advocate is sort of the General Conference version of the U.S. Congressional Record.
Origins of the alternative process
The alternative process came about from the commission members’ desire to find a way to make decisions that might be more easily understood and to build consensus rather than use the usual parliamentary procedure.
“Robert’s Rules (of Order) isn’t working for us all the time. There should be other alternatives,” Kenaston said.
The idea to use small groups for discernment came from the Connectional Table, a United Methodist body of clergy and lay people from around the world.
The Connectional Table acts as a sort of church council for the denomination, connecting its ministries and resources. The body is also working on its own legislation related to the denomination’s stance on homosexuality.
The idea for a facilitation group originates with fellow World Methodist Council member, the Uniting Church in Australia. The Rev. Terence Corkin, general secretary of that denomination’s Assembly, gave a presentation on how the Uniting Church uses a similar group to help with especially contentious issues.
WHAT THE CHURCH SAYS
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.” Officiating at same-sex unions is a chargeable offense under the Discipline.
The 2012 General Conference rejected efforts to change that language, including a proposal to say the church was in disagreement about homosexuality.
The Book of Discipline states that marriage is between a man and a woman. It also affirms that all people are of sacred worth, that all are in need of the church’s ministry, and that God’s grace is available to all. The church implores congregations and families not to reject gay and lesbian members and friends.
Read full coverage of sexuality and the church.
Need to build trust
The commission approved a basic outline of the process, but also authorized the executive committee to continue refining the rules as needed.
Kenaston acknowledged that at least for some United Methodists, an alternative process might be a tough sell.
“No matter what we try to do, I think we battle the trust level,” Kenaston said.
Delegates and observers often suspect a hidden agenda behind every part of General Conference.
But ultimately, trusting and listening to each other may be critical to holding a fruitful legislative assembly, commission members said.
Reist said he believes the alternative process will pass constitutional muster with the Judicial Council, the denomination's top court. As a constitutional body in the denomination, General Conference has the authority to set its own rules.
He also is hopeful this process will help more people feel like they have been heard.
As secretary of General Conference, he said, he has held more than one person who was crying after a vote.
“We don’t have to agree, but we have to stop hurting each other.”
Hahn is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
Gay marriage opponents protest at United Methodist church
WASHINGTON (UMNS) —
Photo courtesy of Foundry United Methodist Church.
Protesters carry signs outside Foundry United Methodist Church on April 26.
Gay marriage opponents protest at United Methodist church
A UMNS report by Kathy L. Gilbert
As people left the 9:30 a.m. April 26 worship service at Foundry United Methodist Church, they were met by a small group of same-sex marriage opponents shouting through bullhorns “You are going to hell,” as they waved signs reading, in part, “Your sin of sodomy is worthy of death.”
“People were using bullhorns and shouting inappropriate things, particularly because we had kids coming out, and some of the words were being directed at the kids,” said the Rev. Dawn M. Hand, chief of staff for the church in downtown Washington.
Hand said one of the protesters told her she was not fit to be a pastor and “that I was going to hell and taking the congregation with me.”
Foundry is a member of the Reconciling Ministries Network, an unofficial United Methodist group that welcomes people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. The group also asks congregations to look for ways to be more welcoming of other people who may be missing from their pews, including people of color and people with disabilities.
The protesters did not agree with the church’s stance.
“They want to turn to the Bible to support their condemnation of people and their lifestyles,” Hand said. “I told him we share the same Bible and we teach a lesson of love and acceptance. It is fine to disagree, they are welcome to come every Sunday, but we do ask them to leave their bullhorns at home.”
To counter the protests, youth played their handbells and the lead pastor, the Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli, invited some of the congregation to gather and sing hymns.
Hand said later that afternoon, she saw the same group protesting outside the White House.
Supreme Court hearing
Protesters have flocked to the nation’s capital because the Supreme Court will be hearingarguments on gay marriage Tuesday.
The court is considering two questions: whether bans on gay marriage are constitutional, and if they are, whether those states with bans may refuse to recognize out-of-state gay marriages performed where they are legal.
Four states — Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky — are defending their bans. They won their case in the lower court, and because other appeals courts threw out bans enacted in other states, the Supreme Court now must resolve the conflict.
Gay marriage is legal in 36 states.
The United Methodist Church’s official stance is that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. United Methodist pastors may not officiate at same sex weddings; same-sex weddings cannot be held in United Methodist churches; and “self-avowed practicing” gay people cannot beordained.
Hand, as executive pastor and chief of staff at Foundry, isn’t a regular preacher.
“I haven’t preached here all year and yesterday was my day to preach,” Hand said. “The pre-selected topic was ‘Love Unbound.’ I kinda had a chuckle because I said, ‘You know, God, I know you knew.’”
Gilbert is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
General Conferences planned for Asia, Africa
Protesters carry signs outside Foundry United Methodist Church on April 26.
Gay marriage opponents protest at United Methodist church
A UMNS report by Kathy L. Gilbert
As people left the 9:30 a.m. April 26 worship service at Foundry United Methodist Church, they were met by a small group of same-sex marriage opponents shouting through bullhorns “You are going to hell,” as they waved signs reading, in part, “Your sin of sodomy is worthy of death.”
“People were using bullhorns and shouting inappropriate things, particularly because we had kids coming out, and some of the words were being directed at the kids,” said the Rev. Dawn M. Hand, chief of staff for the church in downtown Washington.
Hand said one of the protesters told her she was not fit to be a pastor and “that I was going to hell and taking the congregation with me.”
Foundry is a member of the Reconciling Ministries Network, an unofficial United Methodist group that welcomes people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. The group also asks congregations to look for ways to be more welcoming of other people who may be missing from their pews, including people of color and people with disabilities.
The protesters did not agree with the church’s stance.
“They want to turn to the Bible to support their condemnation of people and their lifestyles,” Hand said. “I told him we share the same Bible and we teach a lesson of love and acceptance. It is fine to disagree, they are welcome to come every Sunday, but we do ask them to leave their bullhorns at home.”
To counter the protests, youth played their handbells and the lead pastor, the Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli, invited some of the congregation to gather and sing hymns.
Hand said later that afternoon, she saw the same group protesting outside the White House.
Supreme Court hearing
Protesters have flocked to the nation’s capital because the Supreme Court will be hearingarguments on gay marriage Tuesday.
The court is considering two questions: whether bans on gay marriage are constitutional, and if they are, whether those states with bans may refuse to recognize out-of-state gay marriages performed where they are legal.
Four states — Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky — are defending their bans. They won their case in the lower court, and because other appeals courts threw out bans enacted in other states, the Supreme Court now must resolve the conflict.
Gay marriage is legal in 36 states.
The United Methodist Church’s official stance is that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. United Methodist pastors may not officiate at same sex weddings; same-sex weddings cannot be held in United Methodist churches; and “self-avowed practicing” gay people cannot beordained.
Hand, as executive pastor and chief of staff at Foundry, isn’t a regular preacher.
“I haven’t preached here all year and yesterday was my day to preach,” Hand said. “The pre-selected topic was ‘Love Unbound.’ I kinda had a chuckle because I said, ‘You know, God, I know you knew.’”
Gilbert is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
General Conferences planned for Asia, Africa
PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS) —
Photo by Jen Tyler, courtesy of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries
The Global Young People's Convocation gathered in 2014 in Tagatay, Luzon, Philippines. Participants even managed in a typhoon. Plans are for the Philippines to host the 2024 General Conference.
General Conferences planned for Asia, Africa by Heather Hahn
PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS)
Plans are under way for the first United Methodist General Conference gatherings outside the United States — in the Philippines in 2024 and in Zimbabwe in 2028.
The Commission on General Conference on April 24 approved the future sites for the denomination’s top lawmaking assembly, which meets every four years. The vote came after days of sometimes-heated discussions around plans to go to Harare, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s government has faced repeated accusations of human rights violations, especially for its treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning individuals.
The Rev. L. Fitzgerald “Gere” Reist II, secretary of the General Conference, noted Zimbabwe Area Bishop Eben K. Nhiwatiwa had assured him that delegates would be safe within conference venues.
“The United Methodists I met in Zimbabwe, I believe, would place themselves between harm and any of us who went — any of us who went.” Reist said. “That’s my personal conviction. … There was an overwhelming desire of the people to have us there and to prove that they would welcome us and care for us.”
Many commission members remained wary.
Audun Westad of Norway noted that the human-rights watchdog group Amnesty International has listed Zimbabwe among the most dangerous nations for LGBTQ individuals.
“I know you can’t guarantee our safety here in the U.S., but being in the top 10 list of dangerous places is a completely different story,” he said. “I feel we have to have some kind of official statement from the government in Zimbabwe regarding this because it is a huge problem.”
Initially, the commission considered invitations for General Conference to convene first in Zimbabwe in 2024 and then the Philippines in 2028. Ultimately, the commission reversed the years in hopes of an improving situation in the southeastern African nation.
Plans for both sites “remain provisional (depending) on facilities and other situations being sufficient,” said Judi M. Kenaston, the commission’s chair.
Both gatherings are expected to cost more than the the 2016 General Conference, but it is still too soon to offer an estimate. Future commissions will determine whether the preparations go forward, Kenaston said.
Urge to reflect global nature
Still, commission members agreed that the global denomination’s top lawmaking assembly should move beyond American shores as soon as possible. About a third of United Methodists now live in Africa.
The commission reduced the number of delegates from around 1,000 to 864 for the 2016 General Conference in Portland, Oregon, in hopes that a smaller body would smooth the way to meeting in smaller venues outside the United States.
Under church law, the commission has the authority to set sites for General Conference up to four quadrenniums in advance. Earlier this quadrennium, the commission decided the 2020 General Conference would be in Minneapolis.
The commission only considers locations where bishops welcome the massive responsibilities of hosting the legislative gathering that historically has drawn some 3,000 people in addition to delegates.
In this case, invitations came from Nhiwatiwa and Manila Area Bishop Rodolfo Alfonso Juan. Reist and Sara Hotchkiss, General Conference business manager, visited both locations to explore possible accommodations.
Site concerns
The main worry about meeting in the Philippines is infrastructure: Will there be enough hotel and meeting space available by 2024 for the denomination’s biggest meeting? This was a problem when the 2008 General Conference met in Fort Worth, Texas.
Manila, the capital of the Philippines, has two convention centers. The better option, Hotchkiss said, is the International Convention Center, which already has booths set up for interpreters.
She added that the center would be “a tight fit,” requiring theater seating and leaving no room for the tables delegates usually use during plenary. And the closest hotel within walking distance has a casino, which is against the denomination’s Social Principles. All other hotels that could be used as overflow meeting space require busing.
The University of Zimbabwe in Harare, Hotchkiss said, is ready to accommodate General Conference needs if the gathering were in June when classes are not in session. This would require most U.S. conferences to reschedule their usual annual conference meetings.
Harare last year also hosted the Ebenezer Convention, a United Methodist gathering attended by some 55,000 worshippers — far more than the typical General Conference.
However, infrastructure was not the main concern.
Worries about Zimbabwe
In Zimbabwe, sexual acts between people of the same sex are criminal offenses. The country’s President Robert Mugabe, who is 91, has used violent rhetoric in speaking out against homosexuality, and the country’s gay population has gone largely underground.
The United Methodist Church teaches that homosexuality “is incompatible with Christian teaching.” It bans clergy from performing and churches from hosting ceremonies that celebrate same-gender unions. Still, the denomination also teaches that all people are of sacred worth and urges governments not to discriminate because of sexual orientation.
Every General Conference brings debate about the denomination’s stance and, often, protests urging the denomination to be more inclusive of LBGTQ individuals.
Commission members expressed hope the atmosphere in Zimbabwe could be very different by 2028.
The commission’s final vote for the Philippines and Zimbabwe sites was unanimous.
The Rev. Damião Elias, a commission member from Mozambique, helped scope out General Conference accommodations in Zimbabwe.
“I believe changes are coming,” he said through an interpreter.
Hahn is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
The Global Young People's Convocation gathered in 2014 in Tagatay, Luzon, Philippines. Participants even managed in a typhoon. Plans are for the Philippines to host the 2024 General Conference.
General Conferences planned for Asia, Africa by Heather Hahn
PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS)
Plans are under way for the first United Methodist General Conference gatherings outside the United States — in the Philippines in 2024 and in Zimbabwe in 2028.
The Commission on General Conference on April 24 approved the future sites for the denomination’s top lawmaking assembly, which meets every four years. The vote came after days of sometimes-heated discussions around plans to go to Harare, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s government has faced repeated accusations of human rights violations, especially for its treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning individuals.
The Rev. L. Fitzgerald “Gere” Reist II, secretary of the General Conference, noted Zimbabwe Area Bishop Eben K. Nhiwatiwa had assured him that delegates would be safe within conference venues.
“The United Methodists I met in Zimbabwe, I believe, would place themselves between harm and any of us who went — any of us who went.” Reist said. “That’s my personal conviction. … There was an overwhelming desire of the people to have us there and to prove that they would welcome us and care for us.”
Many commission members remained wary.
Audun Westad of Norway noted that the human-rights watchdog group Amnesty International has listed Zimbabwe among the most dangerous nations for LGBTQ individuals.
“I know you can’t guarantee our safety here in the U.S., but being in the top 10 list of dangerous places is a completely different story,” he said. “I feel we have to have some kind of official statement from the government in Zimbabwe regarding this because it is a huge problem.”
Initially, the commission considered invitations for General Conference to convene first in Zimbabwe in 2024 and then the Philippines in 2028. Ultimately, the commission reversed the years in hopes of an improving situation in the southeastern African nation.
Plans for both sites “remain provisional (depending) on facilities and other situations being sufficient,” said Judi M. Kenaston, the commission’s chair.
Both gatherings are expected to cost more than the the 2016 General Conference, but it is still too soon to offer an estimate. Future commissions will determine whether the preparations go forward, Kenaston said.
Urge to reflect global nature
Still, commission members agreed that the global denomination’s top lawmaking assembly should move beyond American shores as soon as possible. About a third of United Methodists now live in Africa.
The commission reduced the number of delegates from around 1,000 to 864 for the 2016 General Conference in Portland, Oregon, in hopes that a smaller body would smooth the way to meeting in smaller venues outside the United States.
Under church law, the commission has the authority to set sites for General Conference up to four quadrenniums in advance. Earlier this quadrennium, the commission decided the 2020 General Conference would be in Minneapolis.
The commission only considers locations where bishops welcome the massive responsibilities of hosting the legislative gathering that historically has drawn some 3,000 people in addition to delegates.
In this case, invitations came from Nhiwatiwa and Manila Area Bishop Rodolfo Alfonso Juan. Reist and Sara Hotchkiss, General Conference business manager, visited both locations to explore possible accommodations.
Site concerns
The main worry about meeting in the Philippines is infrastructure: Will there be enough hotel and meeting space available by 2024 for the denomination’s biggest meeting? This was a problem when the 2008 General Conference met in Fort Worth, Texas.
Manila, the capital of the Philippines, has two convention centers. The better option, Hotchkiss said, is the International Convention Center, which already has booths set up for interpreters.
She added that the center would be “a tight fit,” requiring theater seating and leaving no room for the tables delegates usually use during plenary. And the closest hotel within walking distance has a casino, which is against the denomination’s Social Principles. All other hotels that could be used as overflow meeting space require busing.
The University of Zimbabwe in Harare, Hotchkiss said, is ready to accommodate General Conference needs if the gathering were in June when classes are not in session. This would require most U.S. conferences to reschedule their usual annual conference meetings.
Harare last year also hosted the Ebenezer Convention, a United Methodist gathering attended by some 55,000 worshippers — far more than the typical General Conference.
However, infrastructure was not the main concern.
Worries about Zimbabwe
In Zimbabwe, sexual acts between people of the same sex are criminal offenses. The country’s President Robert Mugabe, who is 91, has used violent rhetoric in speaking out against homosexuality, and the country’s gay population has gone largely underground.
The United Methodist Church teaches that homosexuality “is incompatible with Christian teaching.” It bans clergy from performing and churches from hosting ceremonies that celebrate same-gender unions. Still, the denomination also teaches that all people are of sacred worth and urges governments not to discriminate because of sexual orientation.
Every General Conference brings debate about the denomination’s stance and, often, protests urging the denomination to be more inclusive of LBGTQ individuals.
Commission members expressed hope the atmosphere in Zimbabwe could be very different by 2028.
The commission’s final vote for the Philippines and Zimbabwe sites was unanimous.
The Rev. Damião Elias, a commission member from Mozambique, helped scope out General Conference accommodations in Zimbabwe.
“I believe changes are coming,” he said through an interpreter.
Hahn is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
General Conference Sites Chosen for 2024 and 2028
Commission on the General Conference
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2015
General Conference Sites Chosen for 2024 and 2028
Legislative Body to meet in Philippines and Zimbabwe
Portland, Oregon: Meeting in Portland, Oregon this week for their final meeting before General Conference 2016, the Commission on the General Conference voted to take the quadrennial legislative gathering out of the U.S. for the first time in 2024 – and again in 2028.
Manila, Philippines was chosen as the site for the 2024 General Conference. The Commission also voted to hold the 2028 conference in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Judi Kenaston, chairperson of the Commission on the General Conference, said that the Commission has been considering holding the assembly outside the U.S. for some time. Bishop Rodolfo Alfonso Juan of the Manila Episcopal Area and Bishop Eben K. Nhiwatiwa of the Zimbabwe Episcopal Area both extended invitations for the General Conference to meet in their respective areas, an important consideration in choosing those areas.
"The Commission wanted to set these locations now to allow plenty of time for all involved to make the necessary preparations," said Kenaston.
“Meeting outside the U.S. is an important statement to say that we're a worldwide denomination,” said Sara Hotchkiss, business manager of the General Conference. “The enthusiasm and hospitality in the two host countries has been remarkable.”
The meeting is expected to cost more than the 2016 General Conference, but pricing is not available at this early date. Hotchkiss said there are two convention centers in Manila to be considered and that the University of Zimbabwe would be a potential location in Harare, but it is too soon to make any definite decisions.
The Commission also took steps to help delegates from outside the U.S. participate more fully in the 2016 General Conference. They voted to provide tablets to Central Conference delegates so they would be able to receive documents electronically.
"We want to utilize technology to improve communication and provide opportunities for discussion for non-U.S. delegates ahead of time," said the Rev. Gere Reist, secretary of the General Conference. "It will enable us to ensure delivery of the Advance Edition Daily Christian Advocate to delegates who have the tablets in a more timely way ... they could get the information at the same time as delegates in the U.S. and participate more fully."
Reist said the General Conference had specifically charged the Commission to look at "greater use of technology before General Conference to inform our debate, let dialogue between delegates begin before arriving at the session and to prioritize petitions."
The staff at United Methodist Communications evaluated a variety of tablets to see which would work best, looking at pricing, ease of use, size, weight, battery life and durability in harsh environments, and chose the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4.
Sherri Thiel, interim General Secretary of United Methodist Communications, said her agency would distribute the tablets beginning in October and would also be responsible for training delegates how to use the tablets and coordinating help-desk support during the 10-day event.
"It's an exciting opportunity," said Thiel. "This is just one of the ways that technology is transforming the way the church communicates. We want the delegates to have the tablets in advance so they will be able to get familiar with the technology."
She said the tablets would also include an electronic version of the Bible and the United Methodist Book of Discipline.
"We think this is a good opportunity to see how the tablets work to test whether they might move towards going to an electronic state for all delegates in 2020," said Hotchkiss. “We’d love to avoid the bulk of the paper and lessen our environmental impact.”
Diane Degnan ddegnan@umcom.org
615.742.5406 (w) 615.483.1765 (c)
Commission on the General Conference
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2015
General Conference Sites Chosen for 2024 and 2028
Legislative Body to meet in Philippines and Zimbabwe
Portland, Oregon: Meeting in Portland, Oregon this week for their final meeting before General Conference 2016, the Commission on the General Conference voted to take the quadrennial legislative gathering out of the U.S. for the first time in 2024 – and again in 2028.
Manila, Philippines was chosen as the site for the 2024 General Conference. The Commission also voted to hold the 2028 conference in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Judi Kenaston, chairperson of the Commission on the General Conference, said that the Commission has been considering holding the assembly outside the U.S. for some time. Bishop Rodolfo Alfonso Juan of the Manila Episcopal Area and Bishop Eben K. Nhiwatiwa of the Zimbabwe Episcopal Area both extended invitations for the General Conference to meet in their respective areas, an important consideration in choosing those areas.
"The Commission wanted to set these locations now to allow plenty of time for all involved to make the necessary preparations," said Kenaston.
“Meeting outside the U.S. is an important statement to say that we're a worldwide denomination,” said Sara Hotchkiss, business manager of the General Conference. “The enthusiasm and hospitality in the two host countries has been remarkable.”
The meeting is expected to cost more than the 2016 General Conference, but pricing is not available at this early date. Hotchkiss said there are two convention centers in Manila to be considered and that the University of Zimbabwe would be a potential location in Harare, but it is too soon to make any definite decisions.
The Commission also took steps to help delegates from outside the U.S. participate more fully in the 2016 General Conference. They voted to provide tablets to Central Conference delegates so they would be able to receive documents electronically.
"We want to utilize technology to improve communication and provide opportunities for discussion for non-U.S. delegates ahead of time," said the Rev. Gere Reist, secretary of the General Conference. "It will enable us to ensure delivery of the Advance Edition Daily Christian Advocate to delegates who have the tablets in a more timely way ... they could get the information at the same time as delegates in the U.S. and participate more fully."
Reist said the General Conference had specifically charged the Commission to look at "greater use of technology before General Conference to inform our debate, let dialogue between delegates begin before arriving at the session and to prioritize petitions."
The staff at United Methodist Communications evaluated a variety of tablets to see which would work best, looking at pricing, ease of use, size, weight, battery life and durability in harsh environments, and chose the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4.
Sherri Thiel, interim General Secretary of United Methodist Communications, said her agency would distribute the tablets beginning in October and would also be responsible for training delegates how to use the tablets and coordinating help-desk support during the 10-day event.
"It's an exciting opportunity," said Thiel. "This is just one of the ways that technology is transforming the way the church communicates. We want the delegates to have the tablets in advance so they will be able to get familiar with the technology."
She said the tablets would also include an electronic version of the Bible and the United Methodist Book of Discipline.
"We think this is a good opportunity to see how the tablets work to test whether they might move towards going to an electronic state for all delegates in 2020," said Hotchkiss. “We’d love to avoid the bulk of the paper and lessen our environmental impact.”
###
Media contact: Diane Degnan ddegnan@umcom.org
615.742.5406 (w) 615.483.1765 (c)
Technology will bridge languages at 2016 General Conference
Photo by Greg Nelson
A smart phone displays the logo “Therefore Go” used for the United Methodist General Conference 2016. The headphones and app will provide a “hearing hotspot” for translation into different languages.
Technology will bridge languages at 2016 General Conference by Greg Nelson
PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS)
When the United Methodist General Conference meets in Portland, Oregon, in 2016, the planning committee wants to ensure that language differences are dealt with as fairly as possible.
That means providing simultaneous translation in eight languages for the delegates, bishops, staff, official observers, reserve delegates and guests to the plenary sessions at the church’s top lawmaking assembly. In past conferences, English-speaking delegates have not used headsets for translations. Also, translations done over the public-address system slowed the sessions.
Providing infrared headsets for the 1,200 delegates, bishops and official participants won’t be too much of a change for staff from the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries and translations systems contractor Frank Ferrer. But providing interpretation for as many as 3,000 guests presents a larger challenge.
Ferrer went searching for a solution when he realized that renting equipment would be prohibitively expensive – not to mention the high risk of loss from unreturned receivers and headsets. The option he found uses smart device technology.
Ferrer demonstrated to the Commission on General Conference a “Bring Your Own Device” system that allows the use of a smart-phone app in connection with a dedicated wireless network to stream audio. Originally designed to allow patrons in sports bars to hear their favorite television channel, it can be used to access any of the eight translation languages provided at General Conference.
Testing technology
The commission then tested the technology during their meeting in Portland. It will be tested again during the Council of Bishops meeting in Berlin, May 1-7, and a final decision about using this, or other emerging technology, will be made by interpretation staff and the General Conference businessmanager, Sara Hotchkiss.
Initial testing shows the system will work with most portable smart devices. Those that use the Apple iOS have worked well in initial testing. Android OS devices can also access the app, but not all versions are compatible. Ferrer reports that Microsoft phones and Surface tablets do not support the app at this time.
Battery life may be the other challenge. When smart phones are accessing Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and cellular networks simultaneously, battery life can be compromised. Ferrer reports times as low as three hours for an iPhone, but iPads and iPod touch can run for 10 hours.
“Our hope is that people will download this application before coming to the conference, and then when they need the service, it will be right there on the device they have with them,” he says. “It won’t be the perfect solution for everyone, so we will still need a few receivers to loan out, but this will provide a high-quality audio solution for most of the people attending.”
He’s also planning to have low-cost ear phones to sell on-site for those who need them.
Nelson is the director of communications in the Oregon-Idaho Conference.
News media contact: Heather Hahn, newsdesk@umcom.org or 615-742-5470.
A smart phone displays the logo “Therefore Go” used for the United Methodist General Conference 2016. The headphones and app will provide a “hearing hotspot” for translation into different languages.
Technology will bridge languages at 2016 General Conference by Greg Nelson
PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS)
When the United Methodist General Conference meets in Portland, Oregon, in 2016, the planning committee wants to ensure that language differences are dealt with as fairly as possible.
That means providing simultaneous translation in eight languages for the delegates, bishops, staff, official observers, reserve delegates and guests to the plenary sessions at the church’s top lawmaking assembly. In past conferences, English-speaking delegates have not used headsets for translations. Also, translations done over the public-address system slowed the sessions.
Providing infrared headsets for the 1,200 delegates, bishops and official participants won’t be too much of a change for staff from the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries and translations systems contractor Frank Ferrer. But providing interpretation for as many as 3,000 guests presents a larger challenge.
Ferrer went searching for a solution when he realized that renting equipment would be prohibitively expensive – not to mention the high risk of loss from unreturned receivers and headsets. The option he found uses smart device technology.
Ferrer demonstrated to the Commission on General Conference a “Bring Your Own Device” system that allows the use of a smart-phone app in connection with a dedicated wireless network to stream audio. Originally designed to allow patrons in sports bars to hear their favorite television channel, it can be used to access any of the eight translation languages provided at General Conference.
Testing technology
The commission then tested the technology during their meeting in Portland. It will be tested again during the Council of Bishops meeting in Berlin, May 1-7, and a final decision about using this, or other emerging technology, will be made by interpretation staff and the General Conference businessmanager, Sara Hotchkiss.
Initial testing shows the system will work with most portable smart devices. Those that use the Apple iOS have worked well in initial testing. Android OS devices can also access the app, but not all versions are compatible. Ferrer reports that Microsoft phones and Surface tablets do not support the app at this time.
Battery life may be the other challenge. When smart phones are accessing Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and cellular networks simultaneously, battery life can be compromised. Ferrer reports times as low as three hours for an iPhone, but iPads and iPod touch can run for 10 hours.
“Our hope is that people will download this application before coming to the conference, and then when they need the service, it will be right there on the device they have with them,” he says. “It won’t be the perfect solution for everyone, so we will still need a few receivers to loan out, but this will provide a high-quality audio solution for most of the people attending.”
He’s also planning to have low-cost ear phones to sell on-site for those who need them.
Nelson is the director of communications in the Oregon-Idaho Conference.
News media contact: Heather Hahn, newsdesk@umcom.org or 615-742-5470.
United Methodists respond to Baltimore riots
BALTIMORE (UMNS) —
The Rev. Cynthia Moore-Koikoi, left, superintendent of the Baltimore Metropolitan District, speaks with the Rev. Cordell Hunter, Presiding Elder of the Eastern District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, at Bethel AME in Baltimore. Photo by Erik Alsgaard
United Methodists respond to Baltimore riots by Melissa Lauber and Erik Alsgaard
Fire from burning cars lit some of Baltimore’s streets Monday night, April 27. Looters seemed to strike indiscriminately. As darkness began to fall that night, fear of what lay ahead between rioters and the police force grew.
The Rev. Cynthia Moore-Koikoi experienced some of this fear. But when you’re afraid, “you pray and you march on,” she said.
Moore-Koikoi, superintendent of the Baltimore Metropolitan District, prayed and then joined the city’s other clergy in a march for peace. Putting themselves between bottle-throwing demonstrators and lines of police officers with pepper spray, the pastors hit the streets.
The goal, Moore-Koikoi said, was to ease tensions and bring calm to people on the streets. Local newscasters noted the success of their efforts.
Along the way, Moore-Koikoi learned she had a guardian angel of sorts – a young man who belonged to the Crips gang. He and other gang members, some from two other rival gangs, made sure neither the police nor the rioters bothered the pastors.
When they returned to New Shiloh Baptist Church, the pastors invited the gang members in for conversation. “We ended up confessing that we had not done enough to engage them in the past,” Moore-Koikoi said. “We promised future conversations.”
It was one of those surreal and unlikely moments that stuck out in the darkness of the day’s event.
Most news accounts say the rioting began with a group of school students who went looting, en mass, near Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore. Events escalated from there.
Baltimore police report 235 arrests were made during the night’s violence, 20 officers were injured, and the fire department dealt with fires in 144 vehicles and 15 buildings. After a state of emergency was issued, the governor sent the Maryland National Guard in to patrol the city.
While the events have been tied to the death of Freddie Gray, who died of a spinal cord injury in police custody, many church and city leaders were quick to point out that the violence in no way honored Gray’s legacy, nor made life any better for the city’s poor and marginalized.
As a result of the violence, Baltimore schools were closed April 28. Recognizing that many of the city’s children receive free meals in school and would go hungry without them, some churches, like Metropolitan UMC, on the city’s northwest side, opened their doors as a refuge for the neighborhood children.
“We’re organizing around serving breakfast and lunch while the children aren’t in school,” said King. Dozens of volunteers swarmed the church’s basement, helping to prepare brown-bag meals that were driven out to the community.
One neighborhood mother said that parents in the area were afraid to let their children out doors, which helped to explain why more children weren’t at the church.
King looked at the events of Monday night as the culmination of years of mistreatment and poor police relationships in the community.
“But there’s a bright, silver lining in all this,” he said. “We had a sit-down conversation with gang members at New Shiloh Baptist Church,” the site of Gray’s funeral. “Those conversations will continue.”
King said that members of gangs were standing between rioters and police, helping to make sure more businesses weren’t vandalized.
“Everyone has God’s spirit in them,” said King. “There’s a great coming together that’s underway, but there’s still work that needs to be done.”
At Bethel AME Church, around the corner from Sharp Street Memorial UMC in Baltimore, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake honored the churches that opened their doors to the city’s children, a quarter of whom are “food insecure.” She hailed the 60 Teach for America participants who volunteered their time feeding and playing with the children.
The riot is only a small part of Baltimore story, stressed the mayor. The best parts of the city are made possible by those who “lead with their hearts.”
City and religious officials are hesitant about predicting the immediate future, especially in light of a report on the cause of Freddie Gray’s death, expected to be released on May 1.
The Rev. Willis Johnson, of Wellspring UMC in Ferguson, Mo., flew into Baltimore Monday to be with other United Methodists in the connection living through some of the tensions his community lived through when a white police officer shot a young black man.
Johnson sees many conditions in Baltimore that “are a mirror image of our early days in Ferguson. People are finding their bearings,” he said. Johnson advises United Methodists in the Baltimore-Washington Conference to “be ready to answer the calls of our brothers and sisters. We’ll love them through this situation,” he said.
Clergy from throughout the Baltimore-Washington Conference gathered in Baltimore Tuesday night, April 28, to offer their prayers and support for the city. Photo by Christine Kumar.
Tuesday night, about 30 clergy from throughout the Baltimore-Washington Conference gathered at Metropolitan UMC, Moore-Koikoi wrote in an e-mail. The clergy were going to march to New Shiloh Baptist Church for a larger gathering of clergy, but that meeting was cancelled, she said.
“But our clergy decided they wanted to be with the people,” she said, “so we went to Ames Memorial and Rodney Hudson led us into the community. We joined an outside worship service and then went to see the community parade. It was fabulous. When we walked back to our cars several clergy surrounded Rodney to work out details about how their churches could support Ames as they work in the community. That was also beautiful to see.”
Moore-Koikoi agrees and knows that the church’s response to Freddie Gray and charges of injustice in Baltimore will last long beyond the headlines.
What’s needed next, she said, is for churches to connect with the community in ways that the community sees the church as a resource, not just a property owner in their community.
“It’s about relationship,” said she concluded. “We are all in this together.”
It’s also, Moore-Koikoi admits, about being afraid and marching on anyway.
“This is God’s work,” she said. “If we’re not willing to do this, then who are we?”
Bishop Matthews issues statement on Baltimore riots
STATEMENT FROM BISHOP MARCUS MATTHEWS
April 28, 2015
Friends:
This morning, I prayed with all my soul at St. Nicholas Lutheran Church in Leipzig, Germany, founded in 1165. It breaks my heart that I am not home, near Baltimore. I am currently in Germany for the Council of Bishop’s meeting. The images unfolding on social media and from the news media that have come out of Baltimore are nothing short of heart-breaking. I saw photos of young children throwing rocks at police officers, cars being set on fire, indiscriminate looting, and hatred and hopelessness being played out on the city streets.
I don’t know how to respond. I do know my prayers are fervent, and reach into the core of my being.
I continue to call on the people of Baltimore and all United Methodists to stand up for the values that endow all of the city’s residents with dignity, pride and wholeness. I know in my heart that justice will prevail. I also know in my heart that God watches over the Gray family, Baltimore’s leaders and police, and all people trying to make sense of the death of Freddie Gray and the violence perpetrated by people taking selfish and senseless advantage of events that have unfolded in the city.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she will deploy every resource possible to ensure that Baltimore is not destroyed. As people of faith, we know one of our greatest resources is our belief in and reliance on God. Let us come together in prayer; let us come together in action; let us come together in unity to ensure that peace, justice and hope comes to and prevails in Baltimore.
In the United Methodist community, we often cite Jeremiah 29 in which God tells God’s people to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city.” In the wake of the riots in Baltimore, I would like you to relook at these words and, with new eyes, claim God’s promise: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
This is our intention for Baltimore. In this ancient church in Leipzig, I think of all the world has endured. This is an historic moment of recovery and of the creation of justice. Today, we are called to be the church, for one another and the community. May it be so.
Grace and Peace,
Bishop Marcus Matthews
Baltimore-Washington Conference
United Methodists respond to Baltimore riots by Melissa Lauber and Erik Alsgaard
Fire from burning cars lit some of Baltimore’s streets Monday night, April 27. Looters seemed to strike indiscriminately. As darkness began to fall that night, fear of what lay ahead between rioters and the police force grew.
The Rev. Cynthia Moore-Koikoi experienced some of this fear. But when you’re afraid, “you pray and you march on,” she said.
Moore-Koikoi, superintendent of the Baltimore Metropolitan District, prayed and then joined the city’s other clergy in a march for peace. Putting themselves between bottle-throwing demonstrators and lines of police officers with pepper spray, the pastors hit the streets.
The goal, Moore-Koikoi said, was to ease tensions and bring calm to people on the streets. Local newscasters noted the success of their efforts.
Along the way, Moore-Koikoi learned she had a guardian angel of sorts – a young man who belonged to the Crips gang. He and other gang members, some from two other rival gangs, made sure neither the police nor the rioters bothered the pastors.
When they returned to New Shiloh Baptist Church, the pastors invited the gang members in for conversation. “We ended up confessing that we had not done enough to engage them in the past,” Moore-Koikoi said. “We promised future conversations.”
It was one of those surreal and unlikely moments that stuck out in the darkness of the day’s event.
Most news accounts say the rioting began with a group of school students who went looting, en mass, near Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore. Events escalated from there.
Baltimore police report 235 arrests were made during the night’s violence, 20 officers were injured, and the fire department dealt with fires in 144 vehicles and 15 buildings. After a state of emergency was issued, the governor sent the Maryland National Guard in to patrol the city.
While the events have been tied to the death of Freddie Gray, who died of a spinal cord injury in police custody, many church and city leaders were quick to point out that the violence in no way honored Gray’s legacy, nor made life any better for the city’s poor and marginalized.
As a result of the violence, Baltimore schools were closed April 28. Recognizing that many of the city’s children receive free meals in school and would go hungry without them, some churches, like Metropolitan UMC, on the city’s northwest side, opened their doors as a refuge for the neighborhood children.
“We’re organizing around serving breakfast and lunch while the children aren’t in school,” said King. Dozens of volunteers swarmed the church’s basement, helping to prepare brown-bag meals that were driven out to the community.
One neighborhood mother said that parents in the area were afraid to let their children out doors, which helped to explain why more children weren’t at the church.
King looked at the events of Monday night as the culmination of years of mistreatment and poor police relationships in the community.
“But there’s a bright, silver lining in all this,” he said. “We had a sit-down conversation with gang members at New Shiloh Baptist Church,” the site of Gray’s funeral. “Those conversations will continue.”
King said that members of gangs were standing between rioters and police, helping to make sure more businesses weren’t vandalized.
“Everyone has God’s spirit in them,” said King. “There’s a great coming together that’s underway, but there’s still work that needs to be done.”
At Bethel AME Church, around the corner from Sharp Street Memorial UMC in Baltimore, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake honored the churches that opened their doors to the city’s children, a quarter of whom are “food insecure.” She hailed the 60 Teach for America participants who volunteered their time feeding and playing with the children.
The riot is only a small part of Baltimore story, stressed the mayor. The best parts of the city are made possible by those who “lead with their hearts.”
City and religious officials are hesitant about predicting the immediate future, especially in light of a report on the cause of Freddie Gray’s death, expected to be released on May 1.
The Rev. Willis Johnson, of Wellspring UMC in Ferguson, Mo., flew into Baltimore Monday to be with other United Methodists in the connection living through some of the tensions his community lived through when a white police officer shot a young black man.
Johnson sees many conditions in Baltimore that “are a mirror image of our early days in Ferguson. People are finding their bearings,” he said. Johnson advises United Methodists in the Baltimore-Washington Conference to “be ready to answer the calls of our brothers and sisters. We’ll love them through this situation,” he said.
Tuesday night, about 30 clergy from throughout the Baltimore-Washington Conference gathered at Metropolitan UMC, Moore-Koikoi wrote in an e-mail. The clergy were going to march to New Shiloh Baptist Church for a larger gathering of clergy, but that meeting was cancelled, she said.
“But our clergy decided they wanted to be with the people,” she said, “so we went to Ames Memorial and Rodney Hudson led us into the community. We joined an outside worship service and then went to see the community parade. It was fabulous. When we walked back to our cars several clergy surrounded Rodney to work out details about how their churches could support Ames as they work in the community. That was also beautiful to see.”
Moore-Koikoi agrees and knows that the church’s response to Freddie Gray and charges of injustice in Baltimore will last long beyond the headlines.
What’s needed next, she said, is for churches to connect with the community in ways that the community sees the church as a resource, not just a property owner in their community.
“It’s about relationship,” said she concluded. “We are all in this together.”
It’s also, Moore-Koikoi admits, about being afraid and marching on anyway.
“This is God’s work,” she said. “If we’re not willing to do this, then who are we?”
Bishop Matthews issues statement on Baltimore riots
April 28, 2015
Friends:
This morning, I prayed with all my soul at St. Nicholas Lutheran Church in Leipzig, Germany, founded in 1165. It breaks my heart that I am not home, near Baltimore. I am currently in Germany for the Council of Bishop’s meeting. The images unfolding on social media and from the news media that have come out of Baltimore are nothing short of heart-breaking. I saw photos of young children throwing rocks at police officers, cars being set on fire, indiscriminate looting, and hatred and hopelessness being played out on the city streets.
I don’t know how to respond. I do know my prayers are fervent, and reach into the core of my being.
I continue to call on the people of Baltimore and all United Methodists to stand up for the values that endow all of the city’s residents with dignity, pride and wholeness. I know in my heart that justice will prevail. I also know in my heart that God watches over the Gray family, Baltimore’s leaders and police, and all people trying to make sense of the death of Freddie Gray and the violence perpetrated by people taking selfish and senseless advantage of events that have unfolded in the city.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she will deploy every resource possible to ensure that Baltimore is not destroyed. As people of faith, we know one of our greatest resources is our belief in and reliance on God. Let us come together in prayer; let us come together in action; let us come together in unity to ensure that peace, justice and hope comes to and prevails in Baltimore.
In the United Methodist community, we often cite Jeremiah 29 in which God tells God’s people to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city.” In the wake of the riots in Baltimore, I would like you to relook at these words and, with new eyes, claim God’s promise: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
This is our intention for Baltimore. In this ancient church in Leipzig, I think of all the world has endured. This is an historic moment of recovery and of the creation of justice. Today, we are called to be the church, for one another and the community. May it be so.
Grace and Peace,
Bishop Marcus Matthews
Baltimore-Washington Conference
United Methodist churches, leaders pray for Freddie Gray
BWC churches, leaders, respond to death of Freddie Gray by Melissa Lauber and Erik Alsgaard*
Churches throughout the Baltimore-Washington Conference observed a moment of prayer for Freddie Gray April 26 during their morning worship services. Gray, 25, died April 19, one week after being in custody of the Baltimore police. While his family and the city are now confronting the circumstances of his death, church leaders are also calling on the faith community to allow Gray’s legacy to spark change.
“This is our opportunity to be a transformative presence in the community,” said Bishop Marcus Matthews in a statement he issued April 24 to the people of the Baltimore-Washington Conference. “This is our moment to be church: Christ in the community.”
Gray died from an injury to his spine a week after police subdued him in an April 12 arrest. He is one of several African-American men who have died recently in encounters with police officers. Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Police Commissioner Anthony Batts have promised an in-depth investigation of the incident. A report of their findings is expected to be released May 1.
In the days following Gray’s death, Matthews joined other Baltimore faith leaders in lamenting Gray’s treatment. In a statement issued at a press conference April 24, the faith leaders wrote: “At the root of the distrust between police and community is a history of abusive tactics that has come to the forefront nationwide. … The current distrust is further complicated by a looming crisis in education, employment, health care, basic human services. The issues before us will not be satisfactorily resolved until all of God’s children in this city and country have the same basic human rights.”
The faith leaders called for the eradication of all vestiges of discrimination, prejudice and racism. This prayer was echoed by other BWC leaders, such as Baltimore Metropolitan District Superintendent the Rev. Cynthia Moore-KoiKoi, who attended a press conference with the mayor, calling for justice, and the BWC’s Director of Connectional Ministries, Sandy Ferguson.
“Our prayer is that Freddie Gray will not have died in vain,” Ferguson said. “He, and others who have been victimized, can by honored if we choose to use this moment in history to fight to alleviate poverty, addiction, violence and the many other conditions that lead to a sense of hopelessness for too many of God’s children.”
Pastor Michael Parker leads his congregation in prayer at Ames UMC in Bel Air. Photo by Erik Alsgaard.
Michael Parker, a licensed local pastor who serves Ames UMC in Bel Air and who chairs the Conference’s Board of Church and Society, grew up with Freddie Gray and still lives in that community. He said that he has been reflecting on John 12:24: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it can only be a single seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
“Freddie’s life has really brought forth what almost appears to be a new sense of life and hope and direction in the community,” Parker said. “The community leaders are rallying and saying, ‘This is not the end.’ Yes, the incident is a bad situation all the way around, but we don’t feel as if ‘this is it’ for our community; that we can’t continue to go on.”
Parker said the community is coming together in love and support of one another.
“We’re not out advocating that we tear up the city,” he said. “No. If ever there was a time to stick together, band together, to make sure that our needs are still met and that our communities are still intact and strong, we’re working to do that.”
Parker said that community residents are nervous and worried, but they’re still trying to maintain a sense of normalcy in the midst of what’s going on.
“Our community has rallied together, a lot,” he said. “We’re seeing people come together. Even the stand-ups and the demonstrations outside the police station have a sense of a family reunion. I’ve seen people there who I haven’t seen in ages.”
BWC leaders supported Baltimore’s long history of peaceful demonstrations for civil rights and applauded the more than 1,200 people who marched in the city on April 26, calling for change. However, they decried the incidents of violence that broke out later that evening when some protesters engaged in acts of vandalism. Thirty-five people were arrested.
The Rev. Kevin Slayton, left, prays outside New Waverly UMC. Photo by Melissa Lauber.
The Rev. Kevin Slayton, the BWC’s legislative advocate and pastor of New Waverly UMC in Baltimore, confessed from the pulpit on April 26, that he “sat in his La-z-boy” and criticized those protesters who resorted to “ignorance and violence” because it was the only way they knew how to deal with the frustrations surrounding the conditions that led to the death of Gray.
“It is incumbent upon us to raise ourselves up from our comfortable places and insert ourselves into Sandtown-Winchester and other neighborhoods where people are hurting,” he said. “We must get off of the sidelines, open our doors and speak out for justice. We must ask God to use us, to make us better, to make us light in our community and allow us to lead with conviction.”
Parker echoed Slayton’s words, saying that he would like to see churches throughout the Baltimore-Washington Conference hold town hall-style meetings where issues of race, racism and police and community relations could be discussed.
“Maybe hold a letter-writing workshop,” Parker said. “Give information on how members of the community can address their elected leaders.”
Parker is looking a holding a community-wide meeting to look at questions of “What are our rights? What do healthy police and community partnerships look like?”
The church, he said, could be a bridge between community and law enforcement. “Start opening your (church) doors,” he said, “and inviting your community leaders and police leaders to be in dialogue.”
New Waverly and Ames UMCs were two of several congregations that went outside the walls of their churches to pray for justice on the morning of April 26. At New Waverly, a violinist played as the people prayed, seeking the promise of Psalm 30, that “weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”
The Rev. Alfreda Wiggins, also prayed with her congregation in front of St. Luke’s UMC a block away from where the police station where protesters gathered the day before.
According to the Washington Post, Wiggins likened Gray’s death to the martyrs of the Civil Rights Movement, saying “Freddie Gray died under mysterious and vicious circumstances so that the attention of the world could focus on the injustice that African-Americans are subjected to, over and over again.”
Wiggins also called on United Methodists to pray. “He [Gray] could be our son, our grandson,” she said. “We need to reach out, and cry.”
*Melissa Lauber is Director of Communications for the Baltimore-Washington Conference. Erik Alsgaard is the conference’s managing editor.
BWC churches, leaders, respond to death of Freddie Gray by Melissa Lauber and Erik Alsgaard*
“This is our opportunity to be a transformative presence in the community,” said Bishop Marcus Matthews in a statement he issued April 24 to the people of the Baltimore-Washington Conference. “This is our moment to be church: Christ in the community.”
Gray died from an injury to his spine a week after police subdued him in an April 12 arrest. He is one of several African-American men who have died recently in encounters with police officers. Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Police Commissioner Anthony Batts have promised an in-depth investigation of the incident. A report of their findings is expected to be released May 1.
In the days following Gray’s death, Matthews joined other Baltimore faith leaders in lamenting Gray’s treatment. In a statement issued at a press conference April 24, the faith leaders wrote: “At the root of the distrust between police and community is a history of abusive tactics that has come to the forefront nationwide. … The current distrust is further complicated by a looming crisis in education, employment, health care, basic human services. The issues before us will not be satisfactorily resolved until all of God’s children in this city and country have the same basic human rights.”
The faith leaders called for the eradication of all vestiges of discrimination, prejudice and racism. This prayer was echoed by other BWC leaders, such as Baltimore Metropolitan District Superintendent the Rev. Cynthia Moore-KoiKoi, who attended a press conference with the mayor, calling for justice, and the BWC’s Director of Connectional Ministries, Sandy Ferguson.
“Our prayer is that Freddie Gray will not have died in vain,” Ferguson said. “He, and others who have been victimized, can by honored if we choose to use this moment in history to fight to alleviate poverty, addiction, violence and the many other conditions that lead to a sense of hopelessness for too many of God’s children.”
Michael Parker, a licensed local pastor who serves Ames UMC in Bel Air and who chairs the Conference’s Board of Church and Society, grew up with Freddie Gray and still lives in that community. He said that he has been reflecting on John 12:24: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it can only be a single seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
“Freddie’s life has really brought forth what almost appears to be a new sense of life and hope and direction in the community,” Parker said. “The community leaders are rallying and saying, ‘This is not the end.’ Yes, the incident is a bad situation all the way around, but we don’t feel as if ‘this is it’ for our community; that we can’t continue to go on.”
Parker said the community is coming together in love and support of one another.
“We’re not out advocating that we tear up the city,” he said. “No. If ever there was a time to stick together, band together, to make sure that our needs are still met and that our communities are still intact and strong, we’re working to do that.”
Parker said that community residents are nervous and worried, but they’re still trying to maintain a sense of normalcy in the midst of what’s going on.
“Our community has rallied together, a lot,” he said. “We’re seeing people come together. Even the stand-ups and the demonstrations outside the police station have a sense of a family reunion. I’ve seen people there who I haven’t seen in ages.”
BWC leaders supported Baltimore’s long history of peaceful demonstrations for civil rights and applauded the more than 1,200 people who marched in the city on April 26, calling for change. However, they decried the incidents of violence that broke out later that evening when some protesters engaged in acts of vandalism. Thirty-five people were arrested.
The Rev. Kevin Slayton, the BWC’s legislative advocate and pastor of New Waverly UMC in Baltimore, confessed from the pulpit on April 26, that he “sat in his La-z-boy” and criticized those protesters who resorted to “ignorance and violence” because it was the only way they knew how to deal with the frustrations surrounding the conditions that led to the death of Gray.
“It is incumbent upon us to raise ourselves up from our comfortable places and insert ourselves into Sandtown-Winchester and other neighborhoods where people are hurting,” he said. “We must get off of the sidelines, open our doors and speak out for justice. We must ask God to use us, to make us better, to make us light in our community and allow us to lead with conviction.”
Parker echoed Slayton’s words, saying that he would like to see churches throughout the Baltimore-Washington Conference hold town hall-style meetings where issues of race, racism and police and community relations could be discussed.
“Maybe hold a letter-writing workshop,” Parker said. “Give information on how members of the community can address their elected leaders.”
Parker is looking a holding a community-wide meeting to look at questions of “What are our rights? What do healthy police and community partnerships look like?”
The church, he said, could be a bridge between community and law enforcement. “Start opening your (church) doors,” he said, “and inviting your community leaders and police leaders to be in dialogue.”
New Waverly and Ames UMCs were two of several congregations that went outside the walls of their churches to pray for justice on the morning of April 26. At New Waverly, a violinist played as the people prayed, seeking the promise of Psalm 30, that “weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”
The Rev. Alfreda Wiggins, also prayed with her congregation in front of St. Luke’s UMC a block away from where the police station where protesters gathered the day before.
According to the Washington Post, Wiggins likened Gray’s death to the martyrs of the Civil Rights Movement, saying “Freddie Gray died under mysterious and vicious circumstances so that the attention of the world could focus on the injustice that African-Americans are subjected to, over and over again.”
Wiggins also called on United Methodists to pray. “He [Gray] could be our son, our grandson,” she said. “We need to reach out, and cry.”
*Melissa Lauber is Director of Communications for the Baltimore-Washington Conference. Erik Alsgaard is the conference’s managing editor.
Conference seeks donations for Baltimore
FULTON, Md. (UMNS) — Churches called to donate to Baltimore response
Baltimore-Washington Conference leaders have announced a missional response to the riot and other unrest affecting the residents of Baltimore. Health and hygiene items, along with non-perishable food items, are being collected immediately and will be distributed at three Baltimore churches.
Following the destruction of the CVS pharmacy on the corner of West North and Pennsylvania avenues, and the temporary closing of other drug and grocery stores in parts of the city, many residents in this disadvantaged neighborhood have no place to get basic hygiene items. BWC leaders, in partnership with local churches, are collecting health kits and food.
The health kits include a hand towel, washcloth, nail file or nail clippers, bath-size soap, toothbrush, sixadhesive bandages, 1 gallon-size sealable plastic bag, and toothpaste.
The specific instructions for packing a United Methodist Committee on Relief Health Care kit are athttps://www.umcor.org/UMCOR/Relief-Supplies/Relief-Supply-Kits/Health.
However, in this instance, conference leaders are requesting that combs not be included and other items like deodorants and other non-drug staples that might ordinarily be bought at a drug store be added.
The supplies are being collected and distributed at:
Metropolitan UMC, 1121 W. Lanvale Street in Baltimore, 410-523-1366;
Ames UMC, 615 Baker Street in Baltimore, 443-438-6555; and
John Wesley UMC, 3202 North Avenue in Baltimore, 410-383-1525.
Director of Connectional Ministries Sandra Ferguson reports that the conference has requested and will receive immediately 1,000 health care kits and 500 layette sets from UMCOR for immediate distribution.
Monetary contributions to help in ongoing ministries in Baltimore are being collected on the conference website.
The Rev. Joan Carter Rimbach, the conference UM-VIM coordinator will be overseeing this missional response. Contact her at 410-206-8737.
Faith leaders grieve events in Baltimore, Nepal
Following the destruction of the CVS pharmacy on the corner of West North and Pennsylvania avenues, and the temporary closing of other drug and grocery stores in parts of the city, many residents in this disadvantaged neighborhood have no place to get basic hygiene items. BWC leaders, in partnership with local churches, are collecting health kits and food.
The health kits include a hand towel, washcloth, nail file or nail clippers, bath-size soap, toothbrush, sixadhesive bandages, 1 gallon-size sealable plastic bag, and toothpaste.
The specific instructions for packing a United Methodist Committee on Relief Health Care kit are athttps://www.umcor.org/UMCOR/Relief-Supplies/Relief-Supply-Kits/Health.
However, in this instance, conference leaders are requesting that combs not be included and other items like deodorants and other non-drug staples that might ordinarily be bought at a drug store be added.
The supplies are being collected and distributed at:
Metropolitan UMC, 1121 W. Lanvale Street in Baltimore, 410-523-1366;
Ames UMC, 615 Baker Street in Baltimore, 443-438-6555; and
John Wesley UMC, 3202 North Avenue in Baltimore, 410-383-1525.
Director of Connectional Ministries Sandra Ferguson reports that the conference has requested and will receive immediately 1,000 health care kits and 500 layette sets from UMCOR for immediate distribution.
Monetary contributions to help in ongoing ministries in Baltimore are being collected on the conference website.
The Rev. Joan Carter Rimbach, the conference UM-VIM coordinator will be overseeing this missional response. Contact her at 410-206-8737.
Faith leaders grieve events in Baltimore, Nepal
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — United Methodist faith leaders are calling for prayer in the wake of violence in Baltimore and the earthquake in Nepal. Bishop John Schol of the Greater New Jersey Conference, Bishop Peggy Johnson of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and Erin Hawkins, top executive of the United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race, all issued statements. Schol was bishop of the Baltimore-Washington Conference for eight years and Johnson served as a pastor in Baltimore.
Read the statements:
Bishop Schol
A Call to Prayer from Bishop Schol
4/29/2015
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I and United Methodists around the world grieve deeply about the impact of the earthquake in Nepal and the unrest in Baltimore. I call all of our congregations this weekend to pray for the people of Baltimore and Nepal. James 5:13-16 is a powerful scripture on prayer. It includes these lines: If any among us are suffering, pray… The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. The people of Nepal and Baltimore need the powerful and effective prayers of United Methodists.
In Nepal, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake has killed thousands and destroyed homes, buildings and communities. In Baltimore, Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African-American male died while in police custody.
The earthquake in Nepal has shattered lives. We as United Methodists have already begun to mobilize relief and recovery efforts by raising money and supporting churches and local organizations in Nepal. The United Methodist Church began its work in Nepal 60 years ago when we partnered to open a clinic. Today we have five missionaries in Nepal and they and their families are all safe. Our recovery work for the people of Nepal will span many years and I invite you to be generous with your prayers and giving.
A string of deaths of African-American men by police officers has set many communities on edge. For eight years I was the bishop of the Baltimore-Washington Conference and I know the people and communities of Baltimore. It is a dynamic city with outstanding leaders and people. The violent protest in Baltimore is a struggle of larger issues of racism and poverty. There is fear that the system does not treat people equally. I call on United Methodists to pray for the family of Freddie Gray, the leaders and residents of Baltimore and for each of us to work toward healing the wounds of racism and poverty.
The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. Let us pray for the people of Nepal and Baltimore. Let us work in our own communities to address the injustices of poverty and racism and to be good stewards of God’s creation.
Keep the faith!
John Schol, Bishop
The United Methodist Church
Greater New Jersey
Read the statements:
Bishop Schol
A Call to Prayer from Bishop Schol
4/29/2015
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I and United Methodists around the world grieve deeply about the impact of the earthquake in Nepal and the unrest in Baltimore. I call all of our congregations this weekend to pray for the people of Baltimore and Nepal. James 5:13-16 is a powerful scripture on prayer. It includes these lines: If any among us are suffering, pray… The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. The people of Nepal and Baltimore need the powerful and effective prayers of United Methodists.
In Nepal, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake has killed thousands and destroyed homes, buildings and communities. In Baltimore, Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African-American male died while in police custody.
The earthquake in Nepal has shattered lives. We as United Methodists have already begun to mobilize relief and recovery efforts by raising money and supporting churches and local organizations in Nepal. The United Methodist Church began its work in Nepal 60 years ago when we partnered to open a clinic. Today we have five missionaries in Nepal and they and their families are all safe. Our recovery work for the people of Nepal will span many years and I invite you to be generous with your prayers and giving.
A string of deaths of African-American men by police officers has set many communities on edge. For eight years I was the bishop of the Baltimore-Washington Conference and I know the people and communities of Baltimore. It is a dynamic city with outstanding leaders and people. The violent protest in Baltimore is a struggle of larger issues of racism and poverty. There is fear that the system does not treat people equally. I call on United Methodists to pray for the family of Freddie Gray, the leaders and residents of Baltimore and for each of us to work toward healing the wounds of racism and poverty.
The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. Let us pray for the people of Nepal and Baltimore. Let us work in our own communities to address the injustices of poverty and racism and to be good stewards of God’s creation.
Keep the faith!
John Schol, Bishop
The United Methodist Church
Greater New Jersey
Bishop Johnson
Unheard
“A riot is the language of the unheard,” said the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was addressing a growing trend of urban violence that challenged his own non-violent civil rights movement in the late 1960s. He cited worsening poverty and unmet promises of freedom and justice for far too many African Americans.
“Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots,” said King in a 1968 speech. “As long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.”
Tragically, this prophet of peace and justice was assassinated a few months later, detonating “a shock wave of looting, arson and outrage,” according to TIME magazine. The outcome devastated cities across the nation—cities like Philadelphia and yes, Baltimore.
This week we have painfully witnessed the voices of the unheard rioting in the streets of Baltimore, our neighboring metropolis. In dismay we have watched real-time images of businesses being burned, property being looted and destroyed, communities torn asunder, attacks on police, and a proud city and its leaders feeling the burning shame of intense media exposure and widespread public judgment.
All of these actions were ignited by the senseless death of Freddie Gray, yet another young African American man whose encounter with local police led to a tragic, mysterious, unnecessary death. Gray was arrested for running from police and carrying a switchblade. But he died after suffering severe spinal cord injuries while in police custody.
Reports of long-standing patterns of police brutality in predominantly black, poor, neglected urban communities, like Baltimore and elsewhere, suggest that Dr. King’s unsettling analysis may be as relevant as ever. Angry victims who feel not only oppressed but also unheard and ignored can go from being protesters to perpetrators. And a single incident of oppressive brutality, when publicized but not reconciled, can ignite their seething anger into public violence.
Acts of violence are never a viable solution
But destructive and yes, self-destructive acts of violence are never a viable solution to any problem or injustice. Yes, many who feel their voices have been too long unheard may suddenly see themselves in the media and hear their travails discussed at great length. But ultimately, their acts of violence and destruction leave their lives and communities in worse shape than before and with even lower morale.
We hold the city of Baltimore, its people and public servants, its congregations and communities in our caring thoughts and fervent prayers during this very difficult time. We grieve for the pain and despair, the violence and destruction, and the disturbing necessity to deploy National Guard troops for the first time since the riots that followed Dr. King’s murder in 1968.
And yet, we lift up thoughts and prayers buoyed by signs of hope, as we see residents resolutely clearing their streets and sidewalks of debris, standing in the gap to challenge rioters and limit further destruction, and even congregating in festive fellowship to show their mettle and uplift their morale.
I have an affectionate remembrance for this part of Baltimore because it was long a part of my parish as pastor of Christ UMC of the Deaf until 2008. Russ Funeral Home, Heaven’s Gates Restaurant, Mondawmin Mall—these are places I would visit as part of my ministry there. Good people live in this city, people who have hope and purpose, a love for their neighborhoods and strong community bonds.
There is still hope that prevails
Yes, there is much despair, anger and unrest in many cities due to broken relationships and frustration from years of suffering from poverty, crime, neglect and injustice. But there is still hope that prevails among those who know they are “persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:9).
The church’s mission is to remind the people of that great, resilient hope and from whence it comes, to remind them that their voices are indeed heard by Christ’s passionate disciples and by the all-knowing, all-seeing Savior we serve. We the church must open the eyes and ears of our hearts to feel their pain, use our calmest voices to quell their anger, and offer our best minds to help them seek solutions to their sufferings.
Christ wept over the city that knew not the promise of peace or the hope of deliverance. And yet, he died selflessly to offer all people that promise and that hope for abundant life. We must do the same by courageously sharing his loving, liberating gospel on the front lines, “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.” (2 Corinthians 4:10)
May we hear the concerns of people of goodwill who wish to protect their city, to build it up and to achieve better conditions. May we find creative ways to improve relations between communities and law enforcement officers. May we commit to listening to one another so that no one goes unheard, and commit to learning what we can do personally to wage a vigilant peace in our cities and in all our communities.
God help us. Let it be so.[Bishop Peggy Johnson, Eastern PA Conference]
Unheard
“Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots,” said King in a 1968 speech. “As long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.”
Tragically, this prophet of peace and justice was assassinated a few months later, detonating “a shock wave of looting, arson and outrage,” according to TIME magazine. The outcome devastated cities across the nation—cities like Philadelphia and yes, Baltimore.
This week we have painfully witnessed the voices of the unheard rioting in the streets of Baltimore, our neighboring metropolis. In dismay we have watched real-time images of businesses being burned, property being looted and destroyed, communities torn asunder, attacks on police, and a proud city and its leaders feeling the burning shame of intense media exposure and widespread public judgment.
All of these actions were ignited by the senseless death of Freddie Gray, yet another young African American man whose encounter with local police led to a tragic, mysterious, unnecessary death. Gray was arrested for running from police and carrying a switchblade. But he died after suffering severe spinal cord injuries while in police custody.
Reports of long-standing patterns of police brutality in predominantly black, poor, neglected urban communities, like Baltimore and elsewhere, suggest that Dr. King’s unsettling analysis may be as relevant as ever. Angry victims who feel not only oppressed but also unheard and ignored can go from being protesters to perpetrators. And a single incident of oppressive brutality, when publicized but not reconciled, can ignite their seething anger into public violence.
Acts of violence are never a viable solution
But destructive and yes, self-destructive acts of violence are never a viable solution to any problem or injustice. Yes, many who feel their voices have been too long unheard may suddenly see themselves in the media and hear their travails discussed at great length. But ultimately, their acts of violence and destruction leave their lives and communities in worse shape than before and with even lower morale.
We hold the city of Baltimore, its people and public servants, its congregations and communities in our caring thoughts and fervent prayers during this very difficult time. We grieve for the pain and despair, the violence and destruction, and the disturbing necessity to deploy National Guard troops for the first time since the riots that followed Dr. King’s murder in 1968.
And yet, we lift up thoughts and prayers buoyed by signs of hope, as we see residents resolutely clearing their streets and sidewalks of debris, standing in the gap to challenge rioters and limit further destruction, and even congregating in festive fellowship to show their mettle and uplift their morale.
I have an affectionate remembrance for this part of Baltimore because it was long a part of my parish as pastor of Christ UMC of the Deaf until 2008. Russ Funeral Home, Heaven’s Gates Restaurant, Mondawmin Mall—these are places I would visit as part of my ministry there. Good people live in this city, people who have hope and purpose, a love for their neighborhoods and strong community bonds.
There is still hope that prevails
Yes, there is much despair, anger and unrest in many cities due to broken relationships and frustration from years of suffering from poverty, crime, neglect and injustice. But there is still hope that prevails among those who know they are “persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:9).
The church’s mission is to remind the people of that great, resilient hope and from whence it comes, to remind them that their voices are indeed heard by Christ’s passionate disciples and by the all-knowing, all-seeing Savior we serve. We the church must open the eyes and ears of our hearts to feel their pain, use our calmest voices to quell their anger, and offer our best minds to help them seek solutions to their sufferings.
Christ wept over the city that knew not the promise of peace or the hope of deliverance. And yet, he died selflessly to offer all people that promise and that hope for abundant life. We must do the same by courageously sharing his loving, liberating gospel on the front lines, “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.” (2 Corinthians 4:10)
God help us. Let it be so.[Bishop Peggy Johnson, Eastern PA Conference]
Erin Hawkins
ERIN HAWKINS RESPONDS TO CIVIL UNREST IN BALTIMORE
Statement from GCORR General Secretary Erin Hawkins on the Civil Unrest in Baltimore, Md., over the Death of Freddie Gray
On Monday, April 27, another young black man was laid to rest in Baltimore, Md., amidst unanswered questions surrounding his death while in police custody. Peaceful protests were overshadowed that same night when riots erupted on the streets of the city, leading to acts of violence and destruction of personal property. Suddenly the unlawful acts of a few overshadowed the positive, peaceful work of many seeking justice and answers to longstanding problems of racial inequity in our society and in our criminal justice system.
Violence is never the answer, but what happened in Baltimore this week reminded me of the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which he shared nearly 50 years ago.
"It is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard."
When the streets of Baltimore are cleared of their destruction, when the National Guard ends its patrols of neighborhood streets, when the news cameras pull away, what then? Will we all go back to life as usual, or do we say that the time has more than passed for Church leaders, community organizers, policymakers, parents, neighbors, everyone to link arms nationwide and agree to fix unjust systems present in every aspect of our society? We must agree that black lives matter. That people living in poverty matter. That equal justice and opportunity for all matters. And then we must commit to creating policies and systems that produce solutions. Alone we are uncertain, frustrated, overwhelmed. Together we are positive changemakers.
Baltimore-Washington Conference Bishop Marcus Matthews said, “This is an historic moment of recovery and of the creation of justice. Today, we are called to be the Church, for one another and the community. May it be so.”
I’m grateful for the wise words of Bishop Matthews as we seek to heal and continue to work for justice through peace and love. I’m also grateful for the faith leaders who are working on the front lines to bring God’s message of hope, healing, and justice to those affected in neighborhoods in Baltimore.
What does the Church and your community call you to be today? May it be so.
Photo Credit: Baltimore-Washington Conference church leaders gather in Baltimore for prayer. Photo by Rev. Jason Jordan-Griffin.
ERIN HAWKINS RESPONDS TO CIVIL UNREST IN BALTIMORE
Statement from GCORR General Secretary Erin Hawkins on the Civil Unrest in Baltimore, Md., over the Death of Freddie Gray
On Monday, April 27, another young black man was laid to rest in Baltimore, Md., amidst unanswered questions surrounding his death while in police custody. Peaceful protests were overshadowed that same night when riots erupted on the streets of the city, leading to acts of violence and destruction of personal property. Suddenly the unlawful acts of a few overshadowed the positive, peaceful work of many seeking justice and answers to longstanding problems of racial inequity in our society and in our criminal justice system.
Violence is never the answer, but what happened in Baltimore this week reminded me of the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which he shared nearly 50 years ago.
"It is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard."
When the streets of Baltimore are cleared of their destruction, when the National Guard ends its patrols of neighborhood streets, when the news cameras pull away, what then? Will we all go back to life as usual, or do we say that the time has more than passed for Church leaders, community organizers, policymakers, parents, neighbors, everyone to link arms nationwide and agree to fix unjust systems present in every aspect of our society? We must agree that black lives matter. That people living in poverty matter. That equal justice and opportunity for all matters. And then we must commit to creating policies and systems that produce solutions. Alone we are uncertain, frustrated, overwhelmed. Together we are positive changemakers.
I’m grateful for the wise words of Bishop Matthews as we seek to heal and continue to work for justice through peace and love. I’m also grateful for the faith leaders who are working on the front lines to bring God’s message of hope, healing, and justice to those affected in neighborhoods in Baltimore.
What does the Church and your community call you to be today? May it be so.
Photo Credit: Baltimore-Washington Conference church leaders gather in Baltimore for prayer. Photo by Rev. Jason Jordan-Griffin.
Turning to the Bible when sorrow strikes
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) —
Photo illustration by Mike DuBose, United Methodist Communications
The Book of Lamentations offers words of hope even in times of great tragedy.
Turning to the Bible when sorrow strikes
A UMC.org Feature by Joe Iovino*
Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see;
all I have needed thy hand hath provided; great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” Words by Thomas O. Chisolm
The United Methodist Hymnal, 140
The news about the destruction caused by the earthquake in Nepal is devastating. More than 4,000 people are confirmed to have died. Another 7,000 people are said to be injured, and UNICEF—the United Nations’ children’s agency—is reporting that nearly 1 million children urgently need assistance.
When a tragedy of this magnitude occurs, people of faith are filled with questions. We wonder how God could allow this to happen. We wrestle with making sense of the suffering in light of our Christian faith. We want to sing, “Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!” but wonder if that is possible.
The chorus of the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” is an adaptation of Lamentations 3:22-23, which was written in the midst of tragedy. The five poems that make up this book from the Hebrew Scriptures were written during one of the most trying times in the history of Israel. In 586 B.C.E., the invading army of the Babylonians destroyed the city of Jerusalem, and the Temple.
Loss of security
The people had felt very secure. The Temple was understood as the place where God dwelled. Many thought that as a result, the city of Jerusalem was invincible. The defeat by Babylon was a major breach of their sense of security. If God’s house had been violated, then where could the people feel safe?
In Nepal this weekend, buildings in which people lived and felt the most protected proved unreliable. Climbers in the perceived safety of base camp in the dangerous climate and conditions of Mount Everest were engulfed in an avalanche. Sometimes those places where we feel the most secure can betray us.
We may not have experienced the literal ground beneath our feet giving way, but many have known the loss of something we thought would last forever. A spouse asks us to dissolve the marriage we thought was eternal. Financial struggles cause us to leave the home in which we planned to spend the rest of our lives. Jobs to which we have been loyal let us go without warning.
We want to feel safe. We want to know everything is always going to be OK. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees.
“We want to feel safe... Unfortunately, there are no guarantees.” But even in devastation there is hope! #UMCTWEET THIS
Verse after verse of Lamentations describes the pain of people who have lost everything. There are tears, questions, and fists shaking in anger. There is grief, hurt, and a sense of abandonment.
The book closes without resolution. In the final lines we read this heartwrenching prayer, “Why do you forget us continually; why do you abandon us for such a long time? Return us, Lord, to yourself. Please let us return! Give us new days, like those long ago—unless you have completely rejected us, or have become too angry with us” (Lamentations 5:20-22).
Questions are left unanswered. The tragedy is not explained. Instead we are given something else.
Hope in the face of tragedy
In the center of the book—the middle verses of the middle poem—we find a ray of hope. Despite the devastation and suffering, the author proclaims that God is with us.
“Certainly the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended,” the poet writes, “certainly God’s compassion isn’t through! ... Great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).
This is our song! This is our hope!
“Certainly the ... love of the Lord hasn’t ended, certainly God’s compassion isn’t through!” #NepalEarthquake #UMCTWEET THIS
Despite what others will say is evidence to the contrary, we are still convinced “the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended.” In the face of widespread suffering, we continue to sing, “God’s compassion isn’t through.” When that which we thought was safe and reliable fails us, we dare to proclaim, “Great is your faithfulness.”
God is with the people of Nepal. God's love hasn’t ended. God's compassion isn’t through.
In the aftermath of this tragedy, we give witness to the love of God. In our outpouring of support, we proclaim the value of every human life. As we grieve with those in mourning, we share the love of God. When we send supplies through Global Ministries and the United Methodist Committee on Relief, we witness to God’s provision. When medical professionals bind up wounds, Jesus is shown as a healer. When homes are rebuilt, we proclaim resurrection.
As we seek to minister to those in need through our prayers and support, we sing, “Great is your faithfulness!”
*Joe Iovino works for UMC.org at United Methodist Communications. He may be reached at jiovino@umcom.org or 615-312-3733.
Kids Capes of Courage help sick children
The Book of Lamentations offers words of hope even in times of great tragedy.
Turning to the Bible when sorrow strikes
A UMC.org Feature by Joe Iovino*
Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see;
all I have needed thy hand hath provided; great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” Words by Thomas O. Chisolm
The United Methodist Hymnal, 140
The news about the destruction caused by the earthquake in Nepal is devastating. More than 4,000 people are confirmed to have died. Another 7,000 people are said to be injured, and UNICEF—the United Nations’ children’s agency—is reporting that nearly 1 million children urgently need assistance.
When a tragedy of this magnitude occurs, people of faith are filled with questions. We wonder how God could allow this to happen. We wrestle with making sense of the suffering in light of our Christian faith. We want to sing, “Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!” but wonder if that is possible.
The chorus of the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” is an adaptation of Lamentations 3:22-23, which was written in the midst of tragedy. The five poems that make up this book from the Hebrew Scriptures were written during one of the most trying times in the history of Israel. In 586 B.C.E., the invading army of the Babylonians destroyed the city of Jerusalem, and the Temple.
Loss of security
The people had felt very secure. The Temple was understood as the place where God dwelled. Many thought that as a result, the city of Jerusalem was invincible. The defeat by Babylon was a major breach of their sense of security. If God’s house had been violated, then where could the people feel safe?
In Nepal this weekend, buildings in which people lived and felt the most protected proved unreliable. Climbers in the perceived safety of base camp in the dangerous climate and conditions of Mount Everest were engulfed in an avalanche. Sometimes those places where we feel the most secure can betray us.
We may not have experienced the literal ground beneath our feet giving way, but many have known the loss of something we thought would last forever. A spouse asks us to dissolve the marriage we thought was eternal. Financial struggles cause us to leave the home in which we planned to spend the rest of our lives. Jobs to which we have been loyal let us go without warning.
We want to feel safe. We want to know everything is always going to be OK. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees.
“We want to feel safe... Unfortunately, there are no guarantees.” But even in devastation there is hope! #UMC
TWEET THISVerse after verse of Lamentations describes the pain of people who have lost everything. There are tears, questions, and fists shaking in anger. There is grief, hurt, and a sense of abandonment.
The book closes without resolution. In the final lines we read this heartwrenching prayer, “Why do you forget us continually; why do you abandon us for such a long time? Return us, Lord, to yourself. Please let us return! Give us new days, like those long ago—unless you have completely rejected us, or have become too angry with us” (Lamentations 5:20-22).
Questions are left unanswered. The tragedy is not explained. Instead we are given something else.
Hope in the face of tragedy
In the center of the book—the middle verses of the middle poem—we find a ray of hope. Despite the devastation and suffering, the author proclaims that God is with us.
“Certainly the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended,” the poet writes, “certainly God’s compassion isn’t through! ... Great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).
This is our song! This is our hope!
“Certainly the ... love of the Lord hasn’t ended, certainly God’s compassion isn’t through!” #NepalEarthquake #UMC
TWEET THISDespite what others will say is evidence to the contrary, we are still convinced “the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended.” In the face of widespread suffering, we continue to sing, “God’s compassion isn’t through.” When that which we thought was safe and reliable fails us, we dare to proclaim, “Great is your faithfulness.”
God is with the people of Nepal. God's love hasn’t ended. God's compassion isn’t through.
In the aftermath of this tragedy, we give witness to the love of God. In our outpouring of support, we proclaim the value of every human life. As we grieve with those in mourning, we share the love of God. When we send supplies through Global Ministries and the United Methodist Committee on Relief, we witness to God’s provision. When medical professionals bind up wounds, Jesus is shown as a healer. When homes are rebuilt, we proclaim resurrection.
As we seek to minister to those in need through our prayers and support, we sing, “Great is your faithfulness!”
*Joe Iovino works for UMC.org at United Methodist Communications. He may be reached at jiovino@umcom.org or 615-312-3733.
Kids Capes of Courage help sick children
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio (UMNS) — Kids Capes of Courage, a ministry of Northampton United Methodist Church, sews special custom gifts for children facing tough times. When children are diagnosed with cancer or a terminal disease, those who love them often feel powerless. Kids Capes of Courage allow children to be brave in struggle.
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Kids’ Capes of Courage
When children are diagnosed with cancer or a terminal disease, those who love them often feel powerless. But a United Methodist congregation in Ohio has found a way to empower sick children and wrap them in prayer. Kids Capes of Courage allow children to be brave in struggle.
See full transcript.Transcript: Kids’ Capes of Courage
Script:
(Locator: Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio)
Jenny Bonsky: “When she got that cape, she thought it was the greatest thing in the world! She thought she was a superhero and she was running around with it!”
Three-year-old Elise Bonsky’s sweet spirit hides the difficulties she faces from Alexander’s Disease--a genetic condition that currently has no cure. Her mother Jenny says sick children crave something positive.
Jenny Bonsky, Recipient, Kids Capes of Courage: “They’re more than just fabric sewn together. It’s hope in a day or it’s a smile; it’s something that they’re able to have that isn’t a constant reminder of what they’re dealing with.”
Kids Capes of Courage, a ministry of Northampton United Methodist Church in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, sews special custom gifts for children facing tough times.
(Sounds of sewing)
The project’s founder, Debby Rowland, felt God encouraging her to comfort kids.
Debby Rowland, Founder, Kids Capes of Courage: “When you go down to Children’s Hospital and you see those kids that are so ill. They’ve lost all their hair and ….If I can give them a smile and just something fun to have, we’ve been successful.”
(Monica to class) “Does anyone know what courage means?”
Debby’s daughter Monica Moyer helps her distribute capes, like these to schoolchildren with challenges.
(Monica to little girl) “Oh my gosh, you look beautiful!”
Monica Moyer, Kids Capes of Courage: “People really like the fact that the kids get courage from it. I mean, every kid wants to be a superhero. My kids ran around with towels tied around their neck. So this just gives these kids something to feel good about.”
Fourteen-year-old Codey Montecalvo credits his cape with helping him recover from bone cancer.
Codey Montecalvo, Recipient, Kids Capes of Courage:
“My cape is wonderful! It is like purple and it has orange and it’s magical! And it has like the coolest looking patterns.”
(Pastor leading prayer) “…kids would have one more moment of laughter in their lives…”
Tish Rowland, Kids Capes of Courage: “We always say a prayer before we start a cutting session. And we have set up actual prayer times that we pray for those children.”
(Debby to volunteers) “Those will be cut out…”
The group has distributed over 1,000 capes to the local children’s hospital, an oncology unit, and to some kids in foster care. Jenny Bonsky so appreciated the capes for her and Elise that she now sews capes for other children.
Jenny Bonsky: “I cried and prayed for the little kid that would be receiving them because you know they’re going through so much.”
Dozens of her co-workers decided to join the effort.
Lindsey Wilkinson, Volunteer, Kids Capes of Courage: “It’s so powerful to see how it affected Jenny and Elise and how important it was to them. You just know you have to get involved.”
Volunteers like 12-year-old Emma McSparren saw the magic in the capes and offered to sew.
Emma McSparren, Volunteer, Kids Capes of Courage: “My brother got a cape because he was really nervous about going to therapy because he has OCD. And he picked a design with monsters on it because he felt like he was defeating his own monsters by doing this.”
Denise Duffy, Volunteer, Kids Capes of Courage: “Making the capes, it pretty much saved me. My husband passed away two years ago. Even though I am by myself, you don’t feel alone. You feel part of something.”
The Rev. Keith McLaughlin, Northampton United Methodist Church:
“The fact that we’re going out into the community and doing stuff for people who may never walk in the walls of this church, I think it speaks to our heritage and who we are as United Methodists in great measure.”
(Volunteer to child) “I think this will look so handsome on you!”
Tish Rowland: “It is The United Methodist Church wrapping themselves around these children and saying ‘We love you! And, we want you to get better and we’re going to be here for you and we’re going to pray for you and we’re going to love you through this process.’”
Tag:
Kids Capes of Courage will create custom-made capes for anyone who asks for one through its website: www.kidscapesofcourage.org or Facebook page. You can also contact the group to volunteer or donate.
This story was produced by United Methodist Communications and published on April 24, 2015.
Media contact is Fran Walsh at 615-742-5458.Learn more about Kids Capes of Courage.
This video was produced by United MethodistCommunications in Nashville, TN.
Media contact is Fran Walsh, 615-742-5458.
This video was first posted in April, 2015.
Kids’ Capes of Courage
When children are diagnosed with cancer or a terminal disease, those who love them often feel powerless. But a United Methodist congregation in Ohio has found a way to empower sick children and wrap them in prayer. Kids Capes of Courage allow children to be brave in struggle.
See full transcript.Transcript: Kids’ Capes of Courage
Script:
(Locator: Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio)
Jenny Bonsky: “When she got that cape, she thought it was the greatest thing in the world! She thought she was a superhero and she was running around with it!”
Three-year-old Elise Bonsky’s sweet spirit hides the difficulties she faces from Alexander’s Disease--a genetic condition that currently has no cure. Her mother Jenny says sick children crave something positive.
Jenny Bonsky, Recipient, Kids Capes of Courage: “They’re more than just fabric sewn together. It’s hope in a day or it’s a smile; it’s something that they’re able to have that isn’t a constant reminder of what they’re dealing with.”
Kids Capes of Courage, a ministry of Northampton United Methodist Church in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, sews special custom gifts for children facing tough times.
(Sounds of sewing)
The project’s founder, Debby Rowland, felt God encouraging her to comfort kids.
Debby Rowland, Founder, Kids Capes of Courage: “When you go down to Children’s Hospital and you see those kids that are so ill. They’ve lost all their hair and ….If I can give them a smile and just something fun to have, we’ve been successful.”
(Monica to class) “Does anyone know what courage means?”
Debby’s daughter Monica Moyer helps her distribute capes, like these to schoolchildren with challenges.
(Monica to little girl) “Oh my gosh, you look beautiful!”
Monica Moyer, Kids Capes of Courage: “People really like the fact that the kids get courage from it. I mean, every kid wants to be a superhero. My kids ran around with towels tied around their neck. So this just gives these kids something to feel good about.”
Fourteen-year-old Codey Montecalvo credits his cape with helping him recover from bone cancer.
Codey Montecalvo, Recipient, Kids Capes of Courage:
“My cape is wonderful! It is like purple and it has orange and it’s magical! And it has like the coolest looking patterns.”
(Pastor leading prayer) “…kids would have one more moment of laughter in their lives…”
Tish Rowland, Kids Capes of Courage: “We always say a prayer before we start a cutting session. And we have set up actual prayer times that we pray for those children.”
(Debby to volunteers) “Those will be cut out…”
The group has distributed over 1,000 capes to the local children’s hospital, an oncology unit, and to some kids in foster care. Jenny Bonsky so appreciated the capes for her and Elise that she now sews capes for other children.
Jenny Bonsky: “I cried and prayed for the little kid that would be receiving them because you know they’re going through so much.”
Dozens of her co-workers decided to join the effort.
Lindsey Wilkinson, Volunteer, Kids Capes of Courage: “It’s so powerful to see how it affected Jenny and Elise and how important it was to them. You just know you have to get involved.”
Volunteers like 12-year-old Emma McSparren saw the magic in the capes and offered to sew.
Emma McSparren, Volunteer, Kids Capes of Courage: “My brother got a cape because he was really nervous about going to therapy because he has OCD. And he picked a design with monsters on it because he felt like he was defeating his own monsters by doing this.”
Denise Duffy, Volunteer, Kids Capes of Courage: “Making the capes, it pretty much saved me. My husband passed away two years ago. Even though I am by myself, you don’t feel alone. You feel part of something.”
The Rev. Keith McLaughlin, Northampton United Methodist Church:
“The fact that we’re going out into the community and doing stuff for people who may never walk in the walls of this church, I think it speaks to our heritage and who we are as United Methodists in great measure.”
(Volunteer to child) “I think this will look so handsome on you!”
Tish Rowland: “It is The United Methodist Church wrapping themselves around these children and saying ‘We love you! And, we want you to get better and we’re going to be here for you and we’re going to pray for you and we’re going to love you through this process.’”
Tag:
Kids Capes of Courage will create custom-made capes for anyone who asks for one through its website: www.kidscapesofcourage.org or Facebook page. You can also contact the group to volunteer or donate.
This story was produced by United Methodist Communications and published on April 24, 2015.
Media contact is Fran Walsh at 615-742-5458.Learn more about Kids Capes of Courage.
This video was produced by United MethodistCommunications in Nashville, TN.
Media contact is Fran Walsh, 615-742-5458.
This video was first posted in April, 2015.
ORANGEBURG, S.C. — Pilgrimage to ease pain of racism—then and now
Photo by Matt Brodie By Jessica Brodie
ORANGEBURG—United Methodists are heading to South Carolina State University this bonth for a two-day racial reconciliation pilgrimage centered on the 1968 police shooting of unarmed black students during a segregation protest.
Set for May 15-16 on the campus in Orangeburg, the pilgrimage comes just weeks after a North Charleston police shooting left an unarmed man dead (see article). Officer Michael T. Slager, a white man, has been charged with murder after a video shows him fatally shooting Walter Scott, a black man, several times in the back after an altercation during a traffic stop. That shooting has prompted much dialogue in the Lowcountry and elsewhere about police use of lethal force and the sometimes-difficult interaction between police and African-Americans, not only recently but far into the past.
The South Carolina Conference’s Racial Reconciliation Design Team, led by the Rev. Amiri Hooker, is organizing the May pilgrimage to bring healing, hope and awareness about the Orangeburg Massacre and the long history of racism in this state. But with recent events, organizers said it is even more critical for people to attend and work together as a church body for healing.
“The conversation this week is that we really need to have this pilgrimage because it is based on historic interaction between police officers and African Americans and how painful that history and heritage was in South Carolina,” said Hooker, chair of the RRDT, noting that as the pilgrimage plans evolved, the team discovered many people didn’t even know about the Orangeburg Massacre, which heightened the need. “And looking at recent events, there’s still a lot of pain and historically hurt feelings.”
Hooker said they hope the pilgrimage will begin the process of healing as people of all races and ages journey to Orangeburg and take first steps beyond the pain.
South Carolina Resident Bishop Jonathan Holston and Joe Benton, president of the National Association of BlackSocial Workers, will be the pilgrimage’s presenters. Holston will preach the worship service, while Benton will be the discussion group facilitator, helping people to unpack their own concepts of what is race and culture and what it means to be culturally sensitive.
“We are called to examine our lives so that those seeing us may see Jesus through us,” Holston told the Advocate. “This pilgrimage is our faithful witness that leads us to a pathway of healing. Our participation is a way to become disciples God can use.”
The Rev. Bernie Mazyck, RRDT member, said the pilgrimage is a brave step forward on the path to racial reconciliation, and he hopes many people—clergy and laity—attend.
“The parallels could not be more strongly drawn between what happened in the Orangeburg Massacre, where highway patrol fired upon unarmed students, and what happened in the City of North Charleston,” said Mazyck, who serves the South Carolina Association for Community Economic Development and also pastors Murray UMC, Summerville. “Of course we celebrate the fact that city leaders responded immediately (in the recent shooting), but it also raises the issue of lasting vestiges of distrust that exist, possibly along the lines of race but also possibly between law enforcement and the community.”
Mazyck said the church can play a significant and unique role in both awareness and healing.
“If there’s any role the church is supposed to play, it’s to be the source of healing, the source of reconciliation,” Mazyck said. “As a church, we The United Methodist Church can play a very powerful role in demonstrating how reconciliation can occur and possibly serve as a model for the country.”
A night of pain
On the night of Feb. 8, 1968, three students—Samuel Hammond, Henry Smith and Delano Middleton, who was still in high school—were killed by police gunfire on the South Carolina State University campus in Orangeburg. Twenty-seven others were wounded. None of the students were armed, and most were shot in their backs or the soles of their feet.
Hooker has said the Orangeburg Massacre has remained one of the least known and most misunderstood events of the civil rights era—a chilling history lesson on the horrors of law enforcement motivated by racism and hatred.
With the pilgrimage, the RRDT hopes that when people get the chance to walk in the places where such horrific violence and racism occurred, they can begin to understand and take initial steps toward healing and hope. With the church leading the way, Hooker said, God’s abundant love can begin to transform hearts and lives.
Two-days of healing and hope
The pilgrimage begins at 5 p.m. Friday, May 15, with a reception on the campus of South Carolina State University, followed by dinner, a lengthy roundtable discussion and film clips showing the Orangeburg Massacre. The next day, Saturday, begins with a continental breakfast at 8 a.m., then a full day of speakers, debriefings and discussions about how to move forward. The event ends at 3:30 p.m. with closing worship led by Holston.
Registration is $10 and includes all meals: Friday’s dinner and Saturday’s breakfast and lunch. Attendees can come to all or part of the event. Lodging is separate; two recommendations are the Fairfield Inn by Marriott (803-533-0014) and the Country Inn & Suites (803-928-5300).
To learn more, or to download the registration form, visit www.umcsc.org/home/racial-reconciliation-pilgrimages. More information about racial reconciliation and healing, including racism resources, is also available on the Connectional Ministries Advocacy section of the website at www.umcsc.org/home/ministries/advocacy.
Members of the RRDT include Hooker, Mazyck, Doug Markham, the Rev. Tiffany Knowlin, the Rev. Paul Harmon, Joanna Donegan, Frances Hill, the Rev. Ryan Spurrier and the Rev. Genova McFadden.
Lightning destroys Tennessee church
DRESDEN, Tenn. (UMNS) —
Fire caused by lightning completely destroys Mt. Pleasant UMC in Dresden, Tenn.
4/23/2015
Mt. Pleasant UMC in Dresden, Tenn., was completely destroyed by fire April 20. The local fire department believes lightning was the cause of the fire. Photos by Kyle Hutcherson, 16, junior firefighter, Dresden Fire Department by Lane Gardner Camp, Director of Communications, Memphis Conference
Fire caused by multiple lightning strikes completely destroyed Mt. Pleasant UMC in Dresden, Tenn., in Weakley County, in the early morning hours of Monday, April 20.
Dr. Dale V. Mathis, the church's pastor, was out of town at the time of the blaze, but reported on Wednesday that by the time church members and local fire departments arrived at the scene, the fire was too far underway for anything to be done.
“Nothing was left,” said Mathis, other than “a few bricks.” No one was at the church at the time of the fire.
Mathis said there was evidence of multiple lightning strikes, even though the church had taken precautions against such weather damage with a steeple that incorporated a lightning rod and was grounded.
“A severe electrical storm” was passing through the area at the time of the fire to which fire departments from Dresden, Palmersville and Martin responded, said Mathis.
Dresden Fire Chief Paul Hutcherson said today, after his department's investigation, that it's "almost a certainty" lightning is what caused the fire.
THE LOSS
The brick building, located four miles outside of Dresden at 101 Chicken Road at an intersection with Highway 54, was erected in 1944 and included a sanctuary and fellowship hall, all of which Mathis said was “well maintained and in excellent shape.”
That the members took such pride in their church facilities, among other reasons, has made the fact that nothing was saved “traumatic” for the congregation, he said.
The days since the fire have been “quite a challenge” for the congregation that has 39 members on its rolls and an average worship attendance of 18 to 20.
Many of the church’s current members grew up in the church or in the area.
"We are saddened at the loss of any structure within the area of our protection," said Fire Chief Hutcherson. "The fire loss was especially saddening to members of our department as the church had been there so long and the members appeared to be deeply, emotionally affected by its loss."
The church has insurance which Mathis believes will be “adequate to rebuild a similar facility.” The sanctuary and fellowship hall that burned sat 100 and 80 people, respectively.
Mathis said insurance adjusters and church members are currently gathering information about the loss.
HISTORY
According to historical information provided by Ann Phillips, historian and archivist for the Memphis Conference of the United Methodist Church that includes West Tennessee and Western Kentucky, Mt. Pleasant UMC was established in 1865 one mile from its present location.
In its earliest years, it was called “Old Terrapin Protestant Methodist Church.”
Earlier church buildings included one built around 1898 and a frame structure built around 1933 that was torn down in 1944 to make way for the brick structure that burned this week.
FUTURE PLANS
Mathis said the church will continue its 8:45 a.m. Sunday worship at West Union Baptist Church with which it shares a parking lot and has historically had occasional joint services.
“We are fortunate to have them,” Mathis said about the church’s neighbor he described as “very affirming.”
Any church or individual that would like to help Mt. Pleasant UMC with emergency operating or rebuilding funds may send donations to the church’s treasurer:
Mt. Pleasant UMC
c/o James Klutts
315 Hawkins Rd.
Sharon, TN 38255
Mathis, who also serves as pastor of Grove Hill UMC in Dresden, may be contacted at 731-514-5273.
Photo by Matt Brodie By Jessica BrodieSet for May 15-16 on the campus in Orangeburg, the pilgrimage comes just weeks after a North Charleston police shooting left an unarmed man dead (see article). Officer Michael T. Slager, a white man, has been charged with murder after a video shows him fatally shooting Walter Scott, a black man, several times in the back after an altercation during a traffic stop. That shooting has prompted much dialogue in the Lowcountry and elsewhere about police use of lethal force and the sometimes-difficult interaction between police and African-Americans, not only recently but far into the past.
The South Carolina Conference’s Racial Reconciliation Design Team, led by the Rev. Amiri Hooker, is organizing the May pilgrimage to bring healing, hope and awareness about the Orangeburg Massacre and the long history of racism in this state. But with recent events, organizers said it is even more critical for people to attend and work together as a church body for healing.
“The conversation this week is that we really need to have this pilgrimage because it is based on historic interaction between police officers and African Americans and how painful that history and heritage was in South Carolina,” said Hooker, chair of the RRDT, noting that as the pilgrimage plans evolved, the team discovered many people didn’t even know about the Orangeburg Massacre, which heightened the need. “And looking at recent events, there’s still a lot of pain and historically hurt feelings.”
Hooker said they hope the pilgrimage will begin the process of healing as people of all races and ages journey to Orangeburg and take first steps beyond the pain.
South Carolina Resident Bishop Jonathan Holston and Joe Benton, president of the National Association of BlackSocial Workers, will be the pilgrimage’s presenters. Holston will preach the worship service, while Benton will be the discussion group facilitator, helping people to unpack their own concepts of what is race and culture and what it means to be culturally sensitive.
“We are called to examine our lives so that those seeing us may see Jesus through us,” Holston told the Advocate. “This pilgrimage is our faithful witness that leads us to a pathway of healing. Our participation is a way to become disciples God can use.”
The Rev. Bernie Mazyck, RRDT member, said the pilgrimage is a brave step forward on the path to racial reconciliation, and he hopes many people—clergy and laity—attend.
“The parallels could not be more strongly drawn between what happened in the Orangeburg Massacre, where highway patrol fired upon unarmed students, and what happened in the City of North Charleston,” said Mazyck, who serves the South Carolina Association for Community Economic Development and also pastors Murray UMC, Summerville. “Of course we celebrate the fact that city leaders responded immediately (in the recent shooting), but it also raises the issue of lasting vestiges of distrust that exist, possibly along the lines of race but also possibly between law enforcement and the community.”
Mazyck said the church can play a significant and unique role in both awareness and healing.
“If there’s any role the church is supposed to play, it’s to be the source of healing, the source of reconciliation,” Mazyck said. “As a church, we The United Methodist Church can play a very powerful role in demonstrating how reconciliation can occur and possibly serve as a model for the country.”
A night of pain
On the night of Feb. 8, 1968, three students—Samuel Hammond, Henry Smith and Delano Middleton, who was still in high school—were killed by police gunfire on the South Carolina State University campus in Orangeburg. Twenty-seven others were wounded. None of the students were armed, and most were shot in their backs or the soles of their feet.
Hooker has said the Orangeburg Massacre has remained one of the least known and most misunderstood events of the civil rights era—a chilling history lesson on the horrors of law enforcement motivated by racism and hatred.
With the pilgrimage, the RRDT hopes that when people get the chance to walk in the places where such horrific violence and racism occurred, they can begin to understand and take initial steps toward healing and hope. With the church leading the way, Hooker said, God’s abundant love can begin to transform hearts and lives.
Two-days of healing and hope
The pilgrimage begins at 5 p.m. Friday, May 15, with a reception on the campus of South Carolina State University, followed by dinner, a lengthy roundtable discussion and film clips showing the Orangeburg Massacre. The next day, Saturday, begins with a continental breakfast at 8 a.m., then a full day of speakers, debriefings and discussions about how to move forward. The event ends at 3:30 p.m. with closing worship led by Holston.
Registration is $10 and includes all meals: Friday’s dinner and Saturday’s breakfast and lunch. Attendees can come to all or part of the event. Lodging is separate; two recommendations are the Fairfield Inn by Marriott (803-533-0014) and the Country Inn & Suites (803-928-5300).
To learn more, or to download the registration form, visit www.umcsc.org/home/racial-reconciliation-pilgrimages. More information about racial reconciliation and healing, including racism resources, is also available on the Connectional Ministries Advocacy section of the website at www.umcsc.org/home/ministries/advocacy.
Members of the RRDT include Hooker, Mazyck, Doug Markham, the Rev. Tiffany Knowlin, the Rev. Paul Harmon, Joanna Donegan, Frances Hill, the Rev. Ryan Spurrier and the Rev. Genova McFadden.
Lightning destroys Tennessee church
DRESDEN, Tenn. (UMNS) —
Fire caused by lightning completely destroys Mt. Pleasant UMC in Dresden, Tenn.
4/23/2015
Fire caused by multiple lightning strikes completely destroyed Mt. Pleasant UMC in Dresden, Tenn., in Weakley County, in the early morning hours of Monday, April 20.
Dr. Dale V. Mathis, the church's pastor, was out of town at the time of the blaze, but reported on Wednesday that by the time church members and local fire departments arrived at the scene, the fire was too far underway for anything to be done.
“Nothing was left,” said Mathis, other than “a few bricks.” No one was at the church at the time of the fire.
Mathis said there was evidence of multiple lightning strikes, even though the church had taken precautions against such weather damage with a steeple that incorporated a lightning rod and was grounded.
“A severe electrical storm” was passing through the area at the time of the fire to which fire departments from Dresden, Palmersville and Martin responded, said Mathis.
Dresden Fire Chief Paul Hutcherson said today, after his department's investigation, that it's "almost a certainty" lightning is what caused the fire.
THE LOSS
The brick building, located four miles outside of Dresden at 101 Chicken Road at an intersection with Highway 54, was erected in 1944 and included a sanctuary and fellowship hall, all of which Mathis said was “well maintained and in excellent shape.”
That the members took such pride in their church facilities, among other reasons, has made the fact that nothing was saved “traumatic” for the congregation, he said.
The days since the fire have been “quite a challenge” for the congregation that has 39 members on its rolls and an average worship attendance of 18 to 20.
Many of the church’s current members grew up in the church or in the area.
"We are saddened at the loss of any structure within the area of our protection," said Fire Chief Hutcherson. "The fire loss was especially saddening to members of our department as the church had been there so long and the members appeared to be deeply, emotionally affected by its loss."
The church has insurance which Mathis believes will be “adequate to rebuild a similar facility.” The sanctuary and fellowship hall that burned sat 100 and 80 people, respectively.
Mathis said insurance adjusters and church members are currently gathering information about the loss.
HISTORY
According to historical information provided by Ann Phillips, historian and archivist for the Memphis Conference of the United Methodist Church that includes West Tennessee and Western Kentucky, Mt. Pleasant UMC was established in 1865 one mile from its present location.
In its earliest years, it was called “Old Terrapin Protestant Methodist Church.”
Earlier church buildings included one built around 1898 and a frame structure built around 1933 that was torn down in 1944 to make way for the brick structure that burned this week.
FUTURE PLANS
Mathis said the church will continue its 8:45 a.m. Sunday worship at West Union Baptist Church with which it shares a parking lot and has historically had occasional joint services.
“We are fortunate to have them,” Mathis said about the church’s neighbor he described as “very affirming.”
Any church or individual that would like to help Mt. Pleasant UMC with emergency operating or rebuilding funds may send donations to the church’s treasurer:
Mt. Pleasant UMC
c/o James Klutts
315 Hawkins Rd.
Sharon, TN 38255
Mathis, who also serves as pastor of Grove Hill UMC in Dresden, may be contacted at 731-514-5273.
Natchez Trace walk brought peace, raised funds
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — Troy Waugh felt called by God to walk the nearly 450 miles of the Natchez Trace. He did just that last summer, raising nearly $10,000 for Nashville's United Methodist Community Care Fellowship. A video titled "Finding God and Goodness on Natchez Trace Walk" documents his experience.
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Finding God and Goodness on Natchez Trace Walk
The Bible is full of stories of God testing the faith of ordinary people. A Tennessee man says he was surprised to find God calling him to take a long journey yet he learned that God gives the faithful strength beyond their own.
Script:
In July of 2014, Troy Waugh took a walk. A walk that covered nearly 20 miles a day for more than a month.
His route was along the nearly 450 miles from Natchez, Mississippi to his home near Nashville, Tennessee.
Troy Waugh, Hillsboro United Methodist Church: “I wasn’t that aware of what the Natchez Trace was. I wasn’t really an endurance walker or an endurance athlete of any sort, but over a period of several days God continued to knock on my door and say, ‘You need to walk the Natchez Trace.’”
He had doubts but the idea kept coming.
Troy Waugh: “I took about 2 weeks before I even told my wife about it. And when I finally told her she wanted to have me psychiatrically evaluated.”
Getting his feet ready for such a feat was not easy, but God was there with every step.
Troy Waugh: “There were little things, like a breath of cool air when I was just exhausted, I would say ‘Thank you, God.’”
The last day of training tested whether Troy would be able to cover 17 miles in 5 hours, the pace he would have to keep to meet his goal to finish in 35 days.
Troy Waugh: “Five minutes to go, I still had a half mile to go. And so I began to talk to God, Well, God, what am I supposed to do here? God all of a sudden overwhelmed me with this enormous power. And I took off running. And in 17 miles, 5 hours, God said, ‘It’s my power.”
For added motivation, Troy accepted pledges from friends to benefit a program he believes in, United Methodist Community Care Fellowship in Nashville, Tennessee.
(Troy talking to men at table) “What’s your name?” Client: “Al.” Troy: “That’s my middle name.”
Troy and members of his church, Hillsboro United Methodist, volunteer here regularly.
Troy Waugh: “They serve breakfast and lunch, they do tutoring in the afternoon, they also provide all kinds of help for people to get back on their feet.”
Church friends and supporters helped Troy raise 10,000 dollars for Community Care Fellowship. More importantly, they encouraged him.
Rev. Betty Proctor-Bjorgo, Hillsboro United Methodist Church: “Somebody might be called to start a food pantry or someone might be called to come here to CCF and serve periodically, which we are. So, I’ve witnessed other calls but the Natchez Trace certainly is unique.
Troy: “Every day, I would start my day with a prayer for Community Care Fellowship and the men, women and children who come here.
(Troy walking, bike passes) “Hey.”
When he looks back on it now, Troy recalls signs of God everywhere.
Troy Waugh: “I just was blown away by the beauty of the mornings on the Natchez Trace.”
Troy Waugh: “We met some wonderful people and we got to meet people in various places, some of whom stayed in touch with me, some of whom texted me every day with prayers.”
Troy believes God gave him what he needed to complete his journey, including a break from the heat and humidity of summer in The South.
Troy Waugh: “The humans didn’t know that we were going to have a polar vortex coming down from Canada, dipping right into the Natchez Trace. There were days that I started walking, it was 51 degrees and I had to walk for a mile or two to get warmed up. I just knew every day God was with me.”
The gifts and miracles that Troy Waugh experienced on the trace have stayed with him.
Troy Waugh: “God wanted me to take a pause in life. God's direction was important. I think that’s important for everybody. It may not be a walk. It probably won’t be a walk. But it will be something that God is asking each one of us to do to be obedient to him in our own way and in his way. And he gave me exactly what I needed.”
Tag:
Troy Waugh shares his story to inspire others and to raise money for Community Care Fellowship.
He is an active member at Hillsboro United Methodist Church in Franklin, Tennessee.
Media contact is Fran Walsh, at 615-742-5458.
Finding God and Goodness on Natchez Trace Walk
The Bible is full of stories of God testing the faith of ordinary people. A Tennessee man says he was surprised to find God calling him to take a long journey yet he learned that God gives the faithful strength beyond their own.
Script:
In July of 2014, Troy Waugh took a walk. A walk that covered nearly 20 miles a day for more than a month.
His route was along the nearly 450 miles from Natchez, Mississippi to his home near Nashville, Tennessee.
Troy Waugh, Hillsboro United Methodist Church: “I wasn’t that aware of what the Natchez Trace was. I wasn’t really an endurance walker or an endurance athlete of any sort, but over a period of several days God continued to knock on my door and say, ‘You need to walk the Natchez Trace.’”
He had doubts but the idea kept coming.
Troy Waugh: “I took about 2 weeks before I even told my wife about it. And when I finally told her she wanted to have me psychiatrically evaluated.”
Getting his feet ready for such a feat was not easy, but God was there with every step.
Troy Waugh: “There were little things, like a breath of cool air when I was just exhausted, I would say ‘Thank you, God.’”
The last day of training tested whether Troy would be able to cover 17 miles in 5 hours, the pace he would have to keep to meet his goal to finish in 35 days.
Troy Waugh: “Five minutes to go, I still had a half mile to go. And so I began to talk to God, Well, God, what am I supposed to do here? God all of a sudden overwhelmed me with this enormous power. And I took off running. And in 17 miles, 5 hours, God said, ‘It’s my power.”
For added motivation, Troy accepted pledges from friends to benefit a program he believes in, United Methodist Community Care Fellowship in Nashville, Tennessee.
(Troy talking to men at table) “What’s your name?” Client: “Al.” Troy: “That’s my middle name.”
Troy and members of his church, Hillsboro United Methodist, volunteer here regularly.
Troy Waugh: “They serve breakfast and lunch, they do tutoring in the afternoon, they also provide all kinds of help for people to get back on their feet.”
Church friends and supporters helped Troy raise 10,000 dollars for Community Care Fellowship. More importantly, they encouraged him.
Rev. Betty Proctor-Bjorgo, Hillsboro United Methodist Church: “Somebody might be called to start a food pantry or someone might be called to come here to CCF and serve periodically, which we are. So, I’ve witnessed other calls but the Natchez Trace certainly is unique.
Troy: “Every day, I would start my day with a prayer for Community Care Fellowship and the men, women and children who come here.
(Troy walking, bike passes) “Hey.”
When he looks back on it now, Troy recalls signs of God everywhere.
Troy Waugh: “I just was blown away by the beauty of the mornings on the Natchez Trace.”
Troy Waugh: “We met some wonderful people and we got to meet people in various places, some of whom stayed in touch with me, some of whom texted me every day with prayers.”
Troy believes God gave him what he needed to complete his journey, including a break from the heat and humidity of summer in The South.
Troy Waugh: “The humans didn’t know that we were going to have a polar vortex coming down from Canada, dipping right into the Natchez Trace. There were days that I started walking, it was 51 degrees and I had to walk for a mile or two to get warmed up. I just knew every day God was with me.”
The gifts and miracles that Troy Waugh experienced on the trace have stayed with him.
Troy Waugh: “God wanted me to take a pause in life. God's direction was important. I think that’s important for everybody. It may not be a walk. It probably won’t be a walk. But it will be something that God is asking each one of us to do to be obedient to him in our own way and in his way. And he gave me exactly what I needed.”
Tag:
Troy Waugh shares his story to inspire others and to raise money for Community Care Fellowship.
He is an active member at Hillsboro United Methodist Church in Franklin, Tennessee.
Media contact is Fran Walsh, at 615-742-5458.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Homeless person comes forward after incredible gift to church
Homeless person's gift impacts uptown Church WCNC
Michelle Boudin, WCNC1
(Photo: WCNC)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Someone at a Sundaychurch service in Charlotte last weekend left behind an offering that we're pretty sure will move you.
It was a handful of change, and a note that shows just how big a gift it really was.
First United Methodist Church is nestled in uptown Charlotte, just blocks from thehomeless shelter in one direction, the big banks in the other.
"You're literally right in between two very different worlds," we asked Pastor Patrick Hamrick. "We are, and we see that. Sunday mornings we welcome a big crowd of people to come have breakfast with us, some of them are coming from shelters."
So it wasn't a huge surprise to find that there were homeless people in the pews last Sunday.
It's a note though, left behind, and the offering along with it, that has so many people talking.
"The volunteer called me over and she picked this up and showed the offering envelope and I read the words, 'Please don't be mad, I don't have much. I'm homeless, God bless,' and it contained 18 cents. Simple but powerful? I think this represents a sacrificial gift."
It wasn't much. A handful of change. And yet - it was everything.
"It took some bravery I think to write that down and say don't be mad but I'm homeless, God bless. But I still want to give. And for us, we acknowledge that individual gave out of his poverty proportionally a big deal.
On Thursday, the homeless man left a voice message with Pastor Hamrick, indicating he had seen this story online.
Pastor Hamrick called the man back and reached him at a soup kitchen at a nearby church. The homeless man told Pastor Hamrick "the gift was between him, the church and God."
"I thanked him for all he has done and assured him that we honor his intent and his dignity," Pastor Hamrick said.
The church has been doing what's called the Muffin Ministry - feeding the homeless every Sunday morning for seven years. They serve about 150 people every weekend.
New initiative will promote healthy congregations, communities
Homeless person's gift impacts uptown Church WCNC
Michelle Boudin, WCNC1
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Someone at a Sundaychurch service in Charlotte last weekend left behind an offering that we're pretty sure will move you.
It was a handful of change, and a note that shows just how big a gift it really was.
First United Methodist Church is nestled in uptown Charlotte, just blocks from thehomeless shelter in one direction, the big banks in the other.
"You're literally right in between two very different worlds," we asked Pastor Patrick Hamrick. "We are, and we see that. Sunday mornings we welcome a big crowd of people to come have breakfast with us, some of them are coming from shelters."
So it wasn't a huge surprise to find that there were homeless people in the pews last Sunday.
It's a note though, left behind, and the offering along with it, that has so many people talking.
"The volunteer called me over and she picked this up and showed the offering envelope and I read the words, 'Please don't be mad, I don't have much. I'm homeless, God bless,' and it contained 18 cents. Simple but powerful? I think this represents a sacrificial gift."
It wasn't much. A handful of change. And yet - it was everything.
"It took some bravery I think to write that down and say don't be mad but I'm homeless, God bless. But I still want to give. And for us, we acknowledge that individual gave out of his poverty proportionally a big deal.
On Thursday, the homeless man left a voice message with Pastor Hamrick, indicating he had seen this story online.
Pastor Hamrick called the man back and reached him at a soup kitchen at a nearby church. The homeless man told Pastor Hamrick "the gift was between him, the church and God."
"I thanked him for all he has done and assured him that we honor his intent and his dignity," Pastor Hamrick said.
The church has been doing what's called the Muffin Ministry - feeding the homeless every Sunday morning for seven years. They serve about 150 people every weekend.
New initiative will promote healthy congregations, communities
NEW YORK (UMNS) — New initiative will promote “Healthy Congregations, Healthy Communities”
United Methodists who are engaged in health ministries are preparing to learn about a new congregational health initiative. “Healthy Congregations, Healthy Communities” will be introduced at a U.S. Health Summit scheduled for September 8-10, 2015, in Houston.
The initiative is being launched in a joint effort by the denomination’s General Board of Global Ministries, the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits, and Wesley Theological Seminary. The summit will be hosted and co-sponsored by Houston Methodist and St. Paul’s United Methodist Church.
At the Global Ministries’ April board meeting, top executive Thomas Kemper said, “I consider our opportunities in health ministry one of our expanding fields of mission.” He continued, “We ask God to give us the energy and wisdom for this work of healing and wholeness in the world.”
The health summit will highlight congregational and annual conference work in health ministry, covering topics including community outreach, congregational health ministries, hospital-based community engagement, health and wholeness, academia, and spiritual healing ministries. The summit will also feature work across general agencies that supports healthy clergy, congregations, and communities.
The Methodist heritage is rooted in a strong concern for health, which is reflected in the current United Methodist commitment to “abundant health for all” in communities throughout the world. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, compiled the best available medical information of the day, which every Methodist preacher was expected to carry while making rounds. The Healthy Congregations, Healthy Communities summit extends that tradition in the 21st century, providing current information and guidance to improve health for U.S. United Methodist congregations to use in their own ministries.
Representatives from 29 annual conferences have registered for the summit. Churches and conferences who are interested in follow-up events are encouraged to contact Patricia Magyar or Matthew Ellis.
Media contact: Melissa Hinnen, United Methodist Public Information Officer, 212 .870. 3833
Global Ministries directors approve grants
United Methodists who are engaged in health ministries are preparing to learn about a new congregational health initiative. “Healthy Congregations, Healthy Communities” will be introduced at a U.S. Health Summit scheduled for September 8-10, 2015, in Houston.
The initiative is being launched in a joint effort by the denomination’s General Board of Global Ministries, the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits, and Wesley Theological Seminary. The summit will be hosted and co-sponsored by Houston Methodist and St. Paul’s United Methodist Church.
At the Global Ministries’ April board meeting, top executive Thomas Kemper said, “I consider our opportunities in health ministry one of our expanding fields of mission.” He continued, “We ask God to give us the energy and wisdom for this work of healing and wholeness in the world.”
The health summit will highlight congregational and annual conference work in health ministry, covering topics including community outreach, congregational health ministries, hospital-based community engagement, health and wholeness, academia, and spiritual healing ministries. The summit will also feature work across general agencies that supports healthy clergy, congregations, and communities.
The Methodist heritage is rooted in a strong concern for health, which is reflected in the current United Methodist commitment to “abundant health for all” in communities throughout the world. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, compiled the best available medical information of the day, which every Methodist preacher was expected to carry while making rounds. The Healthy Congregations, Healthy Communities summit extends that tradition in the 21st century, providing current information and guidance to improve health for U.S. United Methodist congregations to use in their own ministries.
Representatives from 29 annual conferences have registered for the summit. Churches and conferences who are interested in follow-up events are encouraged to contact Patricia Magyar or Matthew Ellis.
Media contact: Melissa Hinnen, United Methodist Public Information Officer, 212 .870. 3833
Global Ministries directors approve grants
Mission Directors Focus on Global Health and Celebrate UMCOR by Melissa Hinnen
A sense of purposeful action seemed to drive the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, as directors gathered in the agency’s New York headquarters for the 2015 spring meeting April 16-18.
In October, directors approved the development of new regional offices around the world and to move the Global Ministries headquarters from New York, NY, to Atlanta, Ga. In that spirit, the Rev. Dr. Jean-Marie Nkonge, a central conference director from the Democratic Republic of Congo, opened the spring meeting with a message “Daring Beyond Mt. Horeb.”
Referencing Deuteronomy 1:6, Nkonge told staff and directors, “Mission used to be from New York to everywhere, but now mission truly is from everywhere and goes to everywhere.” He continued, “You have stayed long enough on this mountain, and now it is time to go.”
Acknowledging the leadership of Bishop Hope Ward, who is the head of the board, and Thomas Kemper, who is the general secretary, Nkonge reminded the gathering, “The one who was leading Moses is the one leading us.”
Kemper shared updates on the regional offices and move to Atlanta. The main focus of his report, however, was global health. Kemper spoke of the church’s role in global health in the framework of a quote by John Wesley: “We have strong reason to hope.” Methodism’s 18th century founder put strong emphasis on the promotion of health as a Christian responsibility.
The strategy for a new international program led by Global Ministries is expected to address child and neo-natal health. Tentatively called “Abundant Health: Our Promise to Children,” the program will build on the successes of the denomination’s signature health campaign, “Imagine No Malaria,” as that program moves toward celebration at the 2016 General Conference.
UMCOR’s 75th Anniversary
In addition to looking forward, directors also celebrated the rich history of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), Global Ministries’ relief and development unit. UMCOR, set up in 1940 by General Conference, is marking 75 years “of being with those in times of crisis.” Directors and staff came together for a special dinner to share highlights. They also heard from former UMCOR head, Norma Kehrberg, who encouraged UMCOR to move prophetically into the future.
Directors took time for personal reflection during a training in intercultural competency, a follow-up to the Intercultural Development Inventory they had completed prior to the meeting. Erin Hawkins, who leads the General Commission on Race and Religion, engaged directors in conversation about communication styles and cultural values and on how, as a group, their intercultural competency impacts the work of Global Ministries.
Funding Mission
Among other actions, the board approved 14 grants, totaling $1 million, to fund mission programs in leadership development, congregational development, ministries with the poor, and global health.
Of the total amount, $112,620 will support mission leadership development for 17 students around the world. Global health leadership development grants, totaling $146,670, also were approved for distribution to 23 students pursuing degrees in healthcare. Awards for mission and health leadership development are provided through The World Communion Scholarship program, The International Leadership Development Grants Program, and the National Leadership Development Grant.
UMCOR directors approved more than $7 million in grants for ongoing disaster response and longer-term development needs. Of the total, $3.5 million is earmarked for a disaster risk reduction initiative in the Philippines, where Super Typhoon Haiyan caused calamitous damage in 2013. UMCOR will fund the construction of up to 10 community storm shelters in the areas most impacted by the typhoon and provide training in disaster planning and preparedness.
Cuba Statement
The board unanimously approved a statement that calls for an end to the 50-year-old U.S. embargo of Cuba. Their statement applauds President Obama for “notifying Congress of his plans to remove Cuba from the list of nations that sponsor terrorism, a major step toward the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the two neighboring countries at odds for a half century.” Copies of the statement will be sent to President Obama and other leaders.
Preparing for General Conference
While revisions of a dozen previously approved General Conference resolutions were recommended for re-adoption, directors voted on only one new resolution to submit to the 2016 United Methodist General Conference, which convenes every four years to conduct church business.
A new statement on religious freedom based on the love ethic of the New Testament was endorsed for consideration as church policy at the denomination’s next legislative session next year.
Several changes were proposed to the Book of Discipline, the church’s law book, including one authorizing a new mission agency unit in global health.
Melissa Hinnen is the Director of Content and Public Information for Global Ministries.
Looking ahead:
Here are some of the activities ahead for United Methodists across the connection. If you have an item to share, email newsdesk@umcom.org and put Digest in the subject line.
Tuesday, May 5
A sense of purposeful action seemed to drive the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, as directors gathered in the agency’s New York headquarters for the 2015 spring meeting April 16-18.
In October, directors approved the development of new regional offices around the world and to move the Global Ministries headquarters from New York, NY, to Atlanta, Ga. In that spirit, the Rev. Dr. Jean-Marie Nkonge, a central conference director from the Democratic Republic of Congo, opened the spring meeting with a message “Daring Beyond Mt. Horeb.”
Referencing Deuteronomy 1:6, Nkonge told staff and directors, “Mission used to be from New York to everywhere, but now mission truly is from everywhere and goes to everywhere.” He continued, “You have stayed long enough on this mountain, and now it is time to go.”
Acknowledging the leadership of Bishop Hope Ward, who is the head of the board, and Thomas Kemper, who is the general secretary, Nkonge reminded the gathering, “The one who was leading Moses is the one leading us.”
Kemper shared updates on the regional offices and move to Atlanta. The main focus of his report, however, was global health. Kemper spoke of the church’s role in global health in the framework of a quote by John Wesley: “We have strong reason to hope.” Methodism’s 18th century founder put strong emphasis on the promotion of health as a Christian responsibility.
The strategy for a new international program led by Global Ministries is expected to address child and neo-natal health. Tentatively called “Abundant Health: Our Promise to Children,” the program will build on the successes of the denomination’s signature health campaign, “Imagine No Malaria,” as that program moves toward celebration at the 2016 General Conference.
UMCOR’s 75th Anniversary
In addition to looking forward, directors also celebrated the rich history of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), Global Ministries’ relief and development unit. UMCOR, set up in 1940 by General Conference, is marking 75 years “of being with those in times of crisis.” Directors and staff came together for a special dinner to share highlights. They also heard from former UMCOR head, Norma Kehrberg, who encouraged UMCOR to move prophetically into the future.
Directors took time for personal reflection during a training in intercultural competency, a follow-up to the Intercultural Development Inventory they had completed prior to the meeting. Erin Hawkins, who leads the General Commission on Race and Religion, engaged directors in conversation about communication styles and cultural values and on how, as a group, their intercultural competency impacts the work of Global Ministries.
Funding Mission
Among other actions, the board approved 14 grants, totaling $1 million, to fund mission programs in leadership development, congregational development, ministries with the poor, and global health.
Of the total amount, $112,620 will support mission leadership development for 17 students around the world. Global health leadership development grants, totaling $146,670, also were approved for distribution to 23 students pursuing degrees in healthcare. Awards for mission and health leadership development are provided through The World Communion Scholarship program, The International Leadership Development Grants Program, and the National Leadership Development Grant.
UMCOR directors approved more than $7 million in grants for ongoing disaster response and longer-term development needs. Of the total, $3.5 million is earmarked for a disaster risk reduction initiative in the Philippines, where Super Typhoon Haiyan caused calamitous damage in 2013. UMCOR will fund the construction of up to 10 community storm shelters in the areas most impacted by the typhoon and provide training in disaster planning and preparedness.
Cuba Statement
The board unanimously approved a statement that calls for an end to the 50-year-old U.S. embargo of Cuba. Their statement applauds President Obama for “notifying Congress of his plans to remove Cuba from the list of nations that sponsor terrorism, a major step toward the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the two neighboring countries at odds for a half century.” Copies of the statement will be sent to President Obama and other leaders.
Preparing for General Conference
While revisions of a dozen previously approved General Conference resolutions were recommended for re-adoption, directors voted on only one new resolution to submit to the 2016 United Methodist General Conference, which convenes every four years to conduct church business.
A new statement on religious freedom based on the love ethic of the New Testament was endorsed for consideration as church policy at the denomination’s next legislative session next year.
Several changes were proposed to the Book of Discipline, the church’s law book, including one authorizing a new mission agency unit in global health.
Melissa Hinnen is the Director of Content and Public Information for Global Ministries.
Looking ahead:
Here are some of the activities ahead for United Methodists across the connection. If you have an item to share, email newsdesk@umcom.org and put Digest in the subject line.
Tuesday, May 5
Deadline to register for four online courses offered by United Methodist Communications — United Methodist Communications will offer the following courses May 6-June 17: "Communicating Faith in the 21st Century," "Connectional Giving," "Moodle 100: Basic Training" and "Welcoming Ministry 100." Costs vary. Connectional Giving is free. Details on most courses. Details on Moodle 100.
Free webinar "Creating Your Plan for Christian Faith and Discipleship" — 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. CDT. Christian faith and discipleship don't just happen — they must be developed, nurtured, encouraged, challenged and "grown." Participants in this webinar will receive practical suggestions about how to create a specific plan for their particular congregation and context. Details.
You can see more educational opportunities and other upcoming events in the life of the church here.
United Methodist News Service is a ministry of:
United Methodist Communications
810 12th Avenue South
Free webinar "Creating Your Plan for Christian Faith and Discipleship" — 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. CDT. Christian faith and discipleship don't just happen — they must be developed, nurtured, encouraged, challenged and "grown." Participants in this webinar will receive practical suggestions about how to create a specific plan for their particular congregation and context. Details.
You can see more educational opportunities and other upcoming events in the life of the church here.
United Methodist News Service is a ministry of:
United Methodist Communications
810 12th Avenue South
Nashville, Tennessee 37203-4704 United States
NewsDesk@umcom.org
NewsDesk@umcom.org
Phone: 615.742.5400
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