"HERE I AM LORD" MISSION RALLY
Can anyone resists
God's nudge as they sing the inspiring hymn "Here I Am Lord" or read
Jesus's admonition to feed the hungry, give the "cup of cold water' to
the thirsty, clothe the naked, or minister to the sick or imprisoned?
That's what has inspired and driven me (and many others, I'm sure) to
respond to God's call to get involved and committed to missions.
Mission commitment, whether it's local, national or international,
changes lives.
I sincerely believe
that in every church, as the congregation sings "Here I am Lord, Is is I
Lord" that at least one person feels that little nudge that says, "Yes,
Here I am Lord"; but then doesn't
know how to fulfill
that call. Fortunately, most all of our churches, large and small, have
wonderful local community mission projects in which all can be
involved. Few churches offer the opportunity to participate in
missions, as Jesus put it, "on the other side of the boat" or "in deeper
waters". There isn't enough personnel to make up a team , enough
information to find a team or leadership to organize a team. And so,
the call and the dream dies.
The Finger Lakes
District Council wants to address and solve these problems. We would
like to bring neighboring churches together, so that multiple church
involvement can produce teams and leadership for state, national and
international mission teams.
We invite EVERY
church in the district to send at least one mission-minded
representative to our
"Here I Am Lord"
Mission Rally at the Geneva UMC, Sunday afternoon January 10, 2010 (Snow
Date-Jan 24) to learn the... Whats, Wheres, Whens, Whys and Hows of
mission teams. There will be testimonies and displays by those who have
been there. There will be power point presentations and open time to
answer questions; so that anyone sensing that call to missions can find
how their skills and gifts can be put to use in Christ's commission to
take His Word to the ends of the earth. Age is not a limiting factor,
as there are opportunities for all; youth and seniors and everyone
between. We invite all churches or individuals with mission experience
and stories that they would be willing to share at the rally to contact
the Finger Lakes Mission coordinator, so we can put you in the program.
Let's make 2010 a new start in growing missions in the Finger
Lakes District.
Don Snyder, Missions Coordinator
6081
Unionville Rd.
Bath, NY 14810
Phone (607) 776-3781
e-mail dgsnyder@linkny.com or
dongrace52@hotmail.com
A significant
part of our work is to advocate for the issues, concerns and
assets of persons of color. Racial and ethnic constituencies
within the church and society offer a wonderful opportunity
to live out God's radically inclusive Pentecost vision and
witness in the world. We educate and advocate to end
structural racism and systemic white supremacy in all its
forms: beliefs, power structures, and cultural norms. The
Social Principles require the self-determination and
development of racial and ethnic persons and communities.
We seek out and
sustain opportunities for education, public policy advocacy
and leadership formation in partnership with African,
Hispanic/Latino American, Asian American, Native American
and Pacific Islander United Methodists. The continuing need
for excellence in leadership and development of potential of
persons of color from all economic classes, from the local
church to the national and international level of The United
Methodist Church requires deliberate, professional training
advocacy and education.
We are
available to help design praxis oriented-participatory
action and reflection-educational experiences and workshops
in Washington, DC on college and university campuses,
seminaries and schools of theology
Click Here for more info
Mission trip to Red Bird.
The Clifton Springs United Methodist Church once again will be
sending a mission team to Red Bird Mission in Beverly, Kentucky on
spring break – April 18 – 24, 2010. We have several openings for
youth 15 and up, with your adult leader plus any adults other who
would like to go. The cost is $280 per person which covers food,
housing and basic project supplies at Red Bird. There will be some
extra for travel expense. Projects could be anything from
painting, ramp building, basic carpentry, organizing in the clothing
rooms or counting soup labels. We have 20 spots. 10 of those we
will offer to Finger Lakes District churches. If you have questions
you may contact Lorrie Spence at
revspence@juno.com or 315-462-7192. To apply to go you must
send $140 with the application below to save your spot by February 1st,
2010. The other $140 will be due on April 1st. All fund
raising will be done on your own but we will get together as a group
to plan for travel etc. Praying you come and join us – together we
can do so much more for the Lord.
Name:_____________________________
Address:________________________ e-mail:_____________
Telephone:_______________ Church:_________________
For
Youth:
age:___________
Adult
attending with youth:_______________________
Please
fill out another application for Adult
Less than 14 percent of
churches updating Find-a-Church profile in New York West Area
United Methodist Communications reports
that less than 14 percent of churches in the New York Area update their
Find-a-Church profile and Bishop Marcus Matthews is encouraging all
congregations to change that statistic.
Fifty-six out of 386 churches in North
Central New York Conference and twenty-nine out of 256 churches in
Western New York Conference have updated their profile.
Find-a-Church is a key component of www.10thousanddoors.org,
a seeker-oriented Web site featured prominently in The United Methodist
Church’s $20 million Rethink Church advertising and welcoming campaign.
Find-a-Church does more
than simply list churches, addresses and phone numbers. Newly enhanced,
it now offers the opportunity for churches to list their ministries,
including event schedules, locations, and special notes. Visitors to
www.10thousanddoors.org are able to search for local churches based
on these offerings.
To that end, the value of the Find-a-Church database relates directly to
the breadth of information that churches self-report on the site. For
the past six months, United Methodist Communications has launched a
major effort to ask churches to update their profiles and keep them
current. “Because a large number of churches still have not done so, I
am sending you this message, encouraging you to update your church’s
profile,” Bishop Matthews notes.
With easy-to-use templates that make entering and updating information a
breeze, it has never been easier to highlight your church’s programs and
unique points of entry from daycare to basketball leagues. Also
available are opportunities to personally welcome visitors to your
congregation, introduce your members, add details about your worship
schedule, and link to your church’s Web site.
Go to
http://archives.umc.org/Directory/login.asp?mid=222&fac to find out
how to update and enhance your church’s Find-a-Church profile. If you
have questions about updating your Find-a-Church information, contact
United Methodist Communications at
FAC@umc.org or
1-800-251-8140.
What’s happening this month?
Several new conference groups are gathering in November,
prayerfully at work on different aspects of the process…
The Interim Leadership Team met on
November 6. This team is at work
on nominating people from across the state to serve in a
variety of ministry
roles in the new conference. Inquiries and nominations may
be sent to this
team via e-mail: unynominations@gmail.com
The Communications
Planning Team
gathered November 6-7 in
Saratoga Springs to work on key issues around creating
clarity and excitement, and connecting the Conference with
its people, its churches, and the world we serve.
Critical Questions Teams
have been
meeting. The Critical Question Teams
are focusing the vision of the new Annual Conference around
the following
six areas: Spiritual
Formation; Ministry; Discipleship; Local Church;
Leadership; Outreach.
On November 13, the
Critical Questions Steering Committee will meet. This team
is at work to support and stay in communication with the
convenors of the six CQTs, and to plan a gathering of all
CQT teams to
share their work. This CQT Steering Committee is seeking
to expand its membership in order to serve more effectively
– contact the CQT Steering Committee through Mark Marino.
The New Area Conference
Team will
meet on Friday, November 13 in
Cicero and Saturday, November 14 in Baldwinsville. The
Friday evening gathering will consider support of program
ministries in light of the vision
and purpose of the new Annual Conference. Items on the
Saturday agenda include a presentation by the Demographics
Team about the mission field in Upper New York, as well as
plans for health care and clergy support.
A
Task Force considering the future
districting of the Annual Conference will also meet on
Friday, November 13 in Cicero.
And remember: the new
Annual Conference in the Upper New York Area will meet for
two important conference sessions in 2010:
Saturday, June 19, 2010 - Uniting Conference and
Ordination/Commissioning -
The ON Center, Syracuse, NY
Saturday, September 11, 2010 - Adjourned Session and Worship
Celebration -
The Convention Center at the Empire State Plaza.
Albany, NY |
Annual Conference which will come
into being in 2010.
Name suggestions for the new
Conference – which brings together United Methodists in the New
York State portions of Troy and
Wyoming Conferences and North Central New York and Western New York
Conferences – were solicited in email blasts, on Conference
websites, at Annual Conference sessions, and in Conference
publications earlier this year.
The suggestions were reviewed by
the Communications Planning Team, which includes members from all
four of the existing conferences. Some proposed names included
metaphors touching on the theological and the geological, including:
Mighty Waters, Living Waters, and Koinonia. Others were more
descriptive geographical names, such as Upper New York, Upstate New
York, and Adirondack.
The Communications team
recommended to the New Area Conference Team that the conference
adopt a geographic name, which does not “lock in” one metaphor, but
leaves open the possibility of attaching ministry-focused tag lines
in keeping with vision and mission. In other words, a simple
Conference name allows for statements such as: Upper New York
Conference - Rethinking Church Together; or
Upper New York United Methodists:
Being God’s Love, Living in the Way of Jesus.
New ACT agreed with the team’s
recommendation and asked the communications team to announce Upper
New York as the possible new name and to solicit comments.
You are invited to send your
comments to
uppernewyorkarea@gmail.com, to share them with others on
Facebook,
http://facebook.com/uppernewyork or on
blogspot.
The Episcopal
Area to be created from the New York West Area and parts of the
Albany Area has already been named the Upper New York Area. The
College of Bishops of the Northeast Jurisdiction, meeting in July
2008, had the responsibility for naming the Area. The Annual
Conference name, however, will be adopted by the uniting session of
the new Annual Conference, meeting June 19, 2010 at the ON Center in
Syracuse.
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