February

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March 2-4 Bishop’s Interfaith
Bus Tour itinerary announced

(Feb. 9) The itinerary for the Northern Illinois Conference’s second Bishop’s Interfaith Bus Tour has been announced. The tour will be March 2 to 4, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and will include Jewish, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu and Muslim sites, as well as Christian Sunday morning worship.

Tour members are to register at the Holiday Inn Select, 1801 N. Naper Blvd., Naperville, beginning at 4 p.m. on Friday. The tour will begin at 6:55 p.m. with a visit to Congregation Beth Shalom (Jewish), 772 W. 5th Ave. in Naperville.

On Saturday, the tour will start at 9 a.m. at Jain Society of Metropolitan Chicago, 435 N. Rte. 59, Bartlett. At 10:30 a.m. it will move to BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir (Hindu), also in Bartlett at 4N739 Rte. 59.

At noon the tour will go to Sikh Gurdwara – Sikh Religious Society of Chicago, 1280 Winnetka St., Palatine. Lunch will be served there.

At 3 p.m. the tour moves to Korean Zen Buddhist Temple, 1710 W. Cornelia, Chicago.

At 5:30 p.m. the tour moves to the Niagara Foundation (Muslim), 501 DB Dr. in Mount Prospect. Dinner will be served there.

The tour will leave for Naperville at 8:15 p.m.

Sunday the day starts with worship at First UMC, 1032 Maple Ave., Downers Grove. Bishop Hee-Soo Jung will preach at the service, which will also include Holy Communion.

After lunch at 12:35 p.m. at Old Country Buffet in Lombard, the tour moves to the Islamic Foundation of Villa Park, 300 W. Highridge Rd., at 2 p.m.

At 3:15 p.m. the tour arrives at Calvary UMC, 136 E. Highland Ave., Villa Park, for debriefing and worship before returning to the hotel at 5 p.m.

Tour cost is $135 per person for double occupancy and $175 per person for single occupancy. Cost includes two nights in the hotel, six meals, bus and materials.

The bus tour committee is the Rev. Ed Hiestand, the Rev. Catiana McKay, the Rev. Chris Pierson, Harriet McCabe and Bishop Jung.

To register, contact Harriet McCabe at 9 W. Bailey Rd., Naperville, IL 60565, (630) 355-4617.

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Conference staff to work at Gulfside

(Feb. 9) Members of the Northern Illinois Conference (NIC) Cabinet and Extended Cabinet will be on the Mississippi Gulf coast Feb. 11-16 serving as Volunteers in Mission (VIM) working to rebuild some of the structures destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

The team will stay at the United Methodist Church’s historic Gulfside Assembly retreat center near Waverly, Miss. The retreat center was washed away when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast Aug. 29, 2005. Dormitories have been constructed on the grounds to house volunteers working on restoration of the area.

Bishop Hee-Soo Jung will lead the team. Also participating will be the Rev. Danita Anderson, Aurora District superintendent; the Rev. James Preston, Chicago Northwestern District superintendent; the Rev. Addison Shields, Chicago Southern District superintendent; the Rev. Arlene Christopherson, Elgin District superintendent; and the Rev. Ouk-Yean Kim Jueng, Rockford District superintendent.

Conference staff members on the trip will be the Rev. Oscar Carrasco, NIC director of Connectional Ministries; Lonnie Chafin, NIC Treasurer and director of Administrative Services; the Rev. Martin Lee, NIC director of Congregational Development and Redevelopment; the Rev. Harry Nicol, president, NIC United Methodist Foundation; Linda Rhodes, NIC director of Communications; Jean Bush, NIC director of Leadership and Program Development; and Bruce Nelson, director of Outdoor and Retreat Ministries.

In addition to doing restoration work, the team will go on a guided tour of the destruction and response work in the Mississippi area.

Not making the trip, the Rev. Larry Hilkemann, DeKalb District superintendent, will be leading a DeKalb District trip to Israel/Palestine Feb. 5-16; the Rev. Chris Pierson, NIC director of Outreach and Witness Ministries, had unavoidable schedule conflicts.

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Schwab will lead 3 Natural Church
Development coaches’ seminars

(Feb. 9) The Rev. Sharon Schwab, Indiana District superintendent, Western Pennsylvania Conference, will lead three one-day seminars across the Northern Illinois Conference (NIC) to train coaches in Natural Church Development (NCD).

The sessions will run 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and will be as follows:

Schwab specializes in small-membership churches, rural ministry, conflict prevention and management, and teamwork in ministry. She served previously as Conference Church Consultant for Western Pennsylvania Conference and as a local church pastor.

The training sessions are specifically intended for persons who are or will be coaching a local church through the NCD process. About three hours will be spent in the morning discussing in detail NCD’s eight quality characteristics of a church, and briefly walking through the stages of the NCD process. Remainder of time will be spent on coaching skills and the exercises used in the planning stage of the NCD process.

For more information, contact Amy Wagner, (312) 346-9766, ext. 109.

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‘Partners in Faith: Working for Human Rights
and Fair Food’ is at Euclid Avenue March 3

(Feb. 9) “Partners in Faith: Working for Human Rights and Fair Food” will be Saturday, March 3, at Euclid Avenue UMC, 405 S. Euclid Ave. in Oak Park. Partners in Faith invites you to join with leaders from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to learn, reflect and plan concrete ways of practicing our faith in order to ensure the human rights of farm workers who harvest tomatoes for the fast-food industry.

Attendees will learn how consumers and farm workers compelled Taco Bell to end sub-poverty wages and human rights abuses in its tomato supply chain. Attendees will also learn how they can be a part of bringing the rest of the fast-food industry to do the same.

CIW’s struggle for fair wages and better working conditions is a justice issue that has the support of United Methodists within the Northern Illinois Conference (NIC) as well as across the country. The NIC and the United Methodist General Conference passed resolutions in support of CIW’s struggle with Taco Bell in 2004.

More recently, NIC Bishop Hee-Soo Jung has sent a letter to McDonald’s urging it to negotiate with CIW.

Several years ago, Woodridge UMC sent a mission team to Immokalee to better understand the working conditions of migrant farm workers and has become a strong supporter of the efforts of CIW, according to Wally Calaway, Woodridge UMC lay member to Annual Conference.

Workshops will touch on the theological dimensions of the struggle for fair food, the basics of corporate supply chain responsibility, modern-day slavery in the fields, and taking action in the community. Partners in Faith will include strategy sessions to prepare for the CIW farm workers’ April “Truth Tour,” and equip attendees with practical tools to inform and involve their congregations in the Campaign for Fair Food.

A $15 registration fee includes all plenary and concurrent sessions, lunch, and materials to take with you. Scholarships are available. Send registration by Feb. 16 to Interfaith Action, P.O. Box 116, Downers Grove, IL 60515.

For more information or to register by e-mail, contact Brigitte Gynther at or (239) 986-0688 or Melody Gonzalez, (239) 986-0847.

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Local church is at center
of bishop’s ‘Harvest 2020’ vision

(Feb. 2) Because local churches are the key to growth and disciple making, they are the central focus of Bishop Hee-Soo Jung’s vision for a long-range strategic plan for the Northern Illinois Conference (NIC).

After encouraging NIC churches to adopt four “Fruit-Producing Strategies” for mission and ministry, Bishop Jung is focusing on developing a vision for the future that will help implement those strategies and set specific goals for measuring success.

“Harvest 2020,” a long-range strategic plan with goals for the year 2020, is to be written by members of the NIC Cabinet, Extended Cabinet and lay and clergy leadership throughout the conference.

Bishop Jung’s target is to introduce the Harvest 2020 plan as a resolution at the 2008 session of Annual Conference after more than a year of a conferencewide listening and study process that will allow input from laity and clergy across the NIC.

Harvest 2020 will focus on three areas: conference activities, renewal of church clusters and local church ministries.

Local church ministries

“I hope we can generate clear goals and expectations and engagement for the growth of our local churches,” Bishop Jung said. “We want to develop a practical and concrete direction about which all local churches can be excited and that will help all of us move toward God’s dream for us.” Jung said local churches will be urged to continue to focus on the four Fruit-Producing Strategies:

“This quadrennium we will be constantly inviting our local churches and conference leaders to be serious about being disciples and serving through the four Fruit-Producing Strategies,” Bishop Jung said.

Among the tools used in the Fruit-Producing Strategies are Natural Church Development and establishing Small Groups.

Natural Church Development

The conference has already made investments in holding workshops for local churches and training coaches and trainers to be available to assist local churches in using the Natural Church Development (NCD) program. To date, approximately170 NIC churches are involved in NCD, according to Jung. The goal is to have 100% of the churches using NCD as a tool to help strengthen ministry.

“To encourage churches to use the NCD program, I and the Cabinet are willing to continue to invite local churches to use that tool as an opportunity for turnaround,” Jung said.

The Cabinet has also adopted the NCD format for all local church and clergy profiles, aligning evaluations with the eight areas measured by NCD survey.

Small Group Ministry

In order to reclaim John Wesley’s practice of forming small groups or classes with participants living in covenant accountability with each other, Jung has been encouraging local churches to establish covenant groups and other small groups working around a variety of interests, including Bible study, social justice issues or even hobbies or crafts. To provide local churches with the expertise to form effective small groups, the conference has established the Small Group Institute that is working to recruit and train lay and clergy Small Group Ministers who will lead small groups in local congregations.

“We anticipate that more than200 Small Group Ministers will be certified this year at Annual Conference,” Jung said. “I hope they will be the movers and the shakers in their local churches.” The bishop said the conference will continue to invite and train new Small Group Ministers.

He said training sessions will be held every year to raise up more Small Group Ministers.

Jung said the goal is to train and certify 1,000 Small Group Ministers throughout the NIC.

Spiritual Leadership Network

The conference is attempting to build a database of names of lay persons who have skills and are willing to do volunteer work to help other churches. The database will contain the names of lawyers, carpenters, painters, computer consultants, teachers, grant writers, social workers, professors and a variety of other professionals willing to offer volunteer hours to serve not only their own congregations, but also other local churches. Goal is to have a network of volunteers available to help local churches without cost when needs arise.

Christian Social Holiness

Local churches are encouraged to actively embrace working for social transformation and justice in urban, rural and suburban settings. Jung said congregations must determine what they can do to make a difference in their communities.

To help local churches in this effort, the conference is providing small group study materials on social holiness. The first, “Holiness of Heart and Life,” was introduced in 2006. “Holy Word and Holy Work” was just introduced for use this month. (See “Study will strengthen our witness” this page.)

“We must build loving communities,” Jung said, “that demonstrate who we are and whose we are and what we can really do together.”

Discipleship systems

Bishop Jung also emphasized that local churches must develop strong discipleship systems that include evangelism outreach, radical hospitality offered to the community and plans for assimilating new members.

“Our own disciple-making must actively engage with the people in the community around us,” Jung said. “We must regain our presence and respect from the larger community.”

Plan development

“We are already engaging lots of active listening and active planning around Harvest 2020,” Jung said. “I’m looking for suggestions and recommendations and direction from all the people in the conference.”

The bishop noted that almost a 1½-year listening process is built into the timetable for writing Harvest 2020. “We will have plenty of time for feedback from local churches and everyone in the conference,” he said. “I hope the plan will move forward with the active involvement of God and the spiritual discernment and active planning and active listening of all of us.”

Jung said he prays that we will be able to say together that we’ve been faithful to God’s dream for us. “Through this venture we hope to create true communities of faith and justice,” he said, “so that a vibrant witness to God’s love and grace will unfold throughout the conference.”

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Indianapolis church challenges Chicago Temple

(Feb. 2)First UMC (Chicago Temple), 77 W. Washington St., has accepted a challenge from Roberts Park UMC in downtown Indianapolis to see which congregation can raise the most money and canned goods to feed the hungry. The challenge, of course, stems from the upcoming Super Bowl in which the Chicago Bears will play the Indianapolis Colts.

“Howard Boles, pastor at Roberts Park UMC, called me to devise a challenge,” said the Rev. Phil Blackwell, senior pastor. “It’s a friendly competition because we are both downtown center-city churches. Roberts Park UMC is two blocks from a city mission there.”

Roberts Park UMC has an extensive program for needy people, including a meal program, as does the Chicago Temple, according to Blackwell.

Boles attended Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in the 1980s, so he was acquainted with Chicago and the location of the Temple. Roberts Park UMC is the oldest UMC in Indianapolis, founded in 1823, and First UMC is the oldest church in Chicago, founded in 1831. So Boles saw the makings of a friendly rivalry

“While the mayors of the two cities will be betting food on the game,” Blackwell said, “our two congregations will be gathering food because of the game.”

Blackwell said no one will lose in this competition, unlike the Super Bowl itself. “We’ll divide the resources between our own program with people who are homeless and our youth’s mission project in a Native American setting in South Dakota this summer,” Blackwell said. “Whatever we raise will stay with each church to distribute. We hope both congregations will be strengthened by it, and certainly the people who are fed will be winners, too.”

Another agreement between the two pastors is that whichever pastor’s team loses, that pastor will have to wear the winning team’s cap around the city for one week.

“It’s not exactly a scarlet letter,” Blackwell said, “but it ought to prove to be a lot of humiliation for whomever must don the other team’s cap.”

First UMC youths began collecting food Jan. 28 using big soup kettles to greet people at worship services.

“It has been one of my realizations that being a church in the center of the city differs from being an urban church,” Blackwell said. “We have a history of being here for all this time, but also the kinds of opportunities for ministry that go beyond the membership. We’re constantly working with people who find us because we are downtown.

“People who are in need are here seven days a week, but there also are people in need of spiritual respite who find rest here, some looking for study, some who are not financially desperate, but are just looking.”

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‘Leader in Training’ to strengthen skills of youths

(Feb. 2) Outdoor and Retreat Ministries (ORM) of the Northern Illinois Conference is offering “Leader in Training (LiT)” for mature youths ages 15 and older. LiT is a training program to enable youths to strengthen their leadership skills in ministry.

Training consists of three weekend retreats at Wesley Woods Conference Center in Williams Bay, Wis., and Reynoldswood Christian Camp and Retreat Center in Dixon. Each LiT session will concentrate on specific areas of training. Participants must attend all three events to successfully complete the training.

Once LiT has been completed successfully, graduates will be invited to participate in leadership during an ORM-sponsored retreat and/or summer camp program. They will be supervised by a member of the ORM program staff.

Training areas will include communication, creativity, problem solving, encouragement and dealing with behavioral issues in a positive way. The program will also include First Aid/CPR certification.

Training events cost $330, which includes lodging, meals, American Red Cross Community First Aid/CPR training and all supplies.

The LiT schedule is as follows: “Camping 101,” March 2-4 at Reynoldswood; “Dealing with the Tough Issues,” April 13-15 at Wesley Woods; and “Having Fun and Being Safe,” April 21-23 at Reynoldswood.

Interested persons can use the Summer Camp 2007 Registration Form available on the ORM Web site or call (800) NIC-CAMP.

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Nueva Vida hosts citizenship workshop

(Feb. 2) Nueva Vida UMC, 60 S. Lincoln Ave., in Aurora sponsored a U.S. Citizenship Workshop on Jan. 20 as part of a joint venture with World Relief.

“Nueva Vida UMC has opened a new venue in its vision for the Aurora community,” said the Rev. Miguel Nieves, pastor. “The workshop was well attended, and many undocumented immigrants received orientation from the World Relief and Nueva Vida well-trained staff.”

Nieves said the church plans to establish a legal clinic for immigrants that will be open once or twice a week in order to serve, educate and assist immigrants in the Fox Valley.

“Just as the immigration laws change and the Hispanic and non-Hispanic population grows, it is necessary for the church to take action and walk — acompanamiento — along with the people,” Nieves said.

The Nueva Vida congregation also plans to offer English as a Second Language (ESL) classes at the church in coordination with World Relief. The congregation has already opened a Community Closet to supply clothing and other supplies to newcomers and others in the community.

We welcome any donations to help this effort,” Nieves said.

“Nueva Vida means ‘new life’ in Spanish and that is just what this congregation is experiencing at this moment, a new life in Christ, as we preach and practice social holiness,” said Nieves.

For more information, call (630) 897-4719 or send e-mail to Nieves.

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