July

Holy Covenant dedicates Peace Pole

(July 25) Mindful of their congregation’s notable history of social justice and ministry, members of Holy Covenant UMC erected a Peace Pole outside their church building at the corner of Diversey Parkway and Wilton near the Ravenswood elevated train station in Chicago as a highly visible reminder to pedestrians and drivers to pray for peace in the world.

After participating in anti-war marches and other protests against the war in Iraq, church members “were looking for a way to stand for something, not just against something,” said Beth Bowman.

The Peace Pole offered that opportunity as well as “a reminder of our history of social justice and ministry,” Bowman said. “And it’s an impetus for us to continue that work.”

The Peace Pole was erected on church grounds in front of a mural, “Para Nuevo Monde,” painted in 1973 on the side of the church building. The Peace Pole displays the prayer “May peace prevail on earth” on each of four sides in eight languages: Arabic, English, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Odawa/Ojibway, Polish and Spanish.

“With additional support, our community may be able to dedicate additional peace poles to accommodate more languages in the future,” said Jessica Hannah, lay leader.

“This is a place of peace that nourishes peace,” said the Rev. Ronna Case during a ceremony dedicating the Peace Pole. “Tonight some of us are committing ourselves to wage peace.”

The Rev. Marti Scott, Chicago Northwestern District Superintendent, said, “I don’t think any of us believe that because we erect this Peace Pole all wars will cease. That’s magic, and magic is not the stuff of Christian faith.”

Instead, Scott said, Christians believe in goodness and love “even as others would spit on us” and will continue to “say ‘no’ to hate and ‘yes’ to love, ‘no’ to war and ‘yes’ to peace: peace with justice.”

“War is incompatible with God’s will,” Scott said. “Jesus taught us that those who live by the sword will perish by the sword. Living by the sword, or by weapons of mass destruction, is incompatible with our faith.”

The Holy Covenant sanctuary was decorated with more than 1,000 paper cranes, an ancient symbol of peace which were made by members of the congregation. Attendees were given paper cranes as reminders of the dedication.

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UMW cashes in 1.5 million Campbell’s
labels to get van for Marcy-Newberry

(July 25) On June 4, the United Methodist Women (UMW) of the Northern Illinois Conference “cashed in” 1.5 million Campbell’s Soup Labels to obtain a 15-passenger van for Marcy-Newberry Association. The order has been placed for a 2004 Dodge van, which is due for delivery in October this year.

The order is the culmination of nearly eight years of effort by UMW and local churches across the Northern Illinois Conference to collect enough labels from Campbell’s Soup, Pepperidge Farms and other related brands to get the van. The label collection seemed to be chasing a moving target as the amount needed to obtain the van kept moving upwards over the years, but the UMW’s persistence finally paid off.

In fact, according to the Rev. Margaret Ann Williams, Associate Executive Director, Church Relations at Marcy-Newberry, there are nearly 50,000 labels left over.

“This gives us the opportunity to order program supplies for our day care, Head Start and after-school programs,” Williams said.

Williams said her hat is off to Emmy Lou John who originated the label idea in 1995; Norma Jung-Stein, UMW president who coordinated the project; Nedra Oyen, UMW past president; and Anne Genther, who served as facilitator.

“Anne was always seen with a pair of scissors and a stack of soup labels, trimming and counting,” Williams said.

Williams also acknowledged Morgan Park UMC in Chicago, which provided storage facilities throughout the collection period.

“To all our faithful friends: ‘Thanks for eating all that soup. We love you and are deeply grateful for your ongoing support,’” Willliams said.

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First Korean to build in Wheeling

(July 18) Despite dark clouds overhead, high winds, thunder, intermittent rain and tornado warnings, members of First Korean UMC saw only sunny skies the afternoon of Sunday, July 6, as they broke ground for a new church building in Wheeling.

After almost six years of planning, moving, designing and raising money, the 400-member congregation is nearing the realization of its dream.

By next March, the congregation hopes to have a $2.6 million, 24,440 square foot church home with a 500-seat sanctuary, fellowship hall to seat 300, 10 classrooms, a youth chapel, children’s worship center and offices.

“We hope we will be in the building by next Easter,” said Chong Yom, chair of the New Church Building Committee.

The journey began Nov. 30, 1997, when members voted to sell their building at 4850 Bernard St. on the north side of Chicago and follow the movement of Korean-Americans to the northwest suburbs.

In addition to putting the church in the middle of growing Korean-American communities, relocation will also allow the church to acquire a newer facility with more space and more parking, said the Rev. Yong Ok Son, pastor.

On Dec. 9, 1998, the congregation purchased 7.5 acres of land near the intersection of Hintz and Milwaukee Ave. in Wheeling.

On Sept 10, 2002, the congregation sold the church building on Bernard St. and began meeting at Bethany UMC in Highland Park.

“We really appreciate the Rev. Donna Atkinson, who was pastor of Bethany UMC at the time, and the people of Bethany UMC who let us share their space,” Son said.

First Korean UMC, founded in 1923, was the first Korean-American Protestant church in this area and is considered “the mother church” for Korean-American Christians in the Midwest.

Because of the church’s historical significance, Son said the ground breaking represented more than construction of a new building. “We are also starting a new history,” Son said. “Our church is on the starting line toward another 80 years. This is a historic milestone for the Korean-American community.”

“I confess, God did all the process for us, including making the decision to start a new church building project, selling the old church building, purchasing the land, and the ground breaking,” Son said. “Therefore I believe God will do everything in our future, especially the new church building project. And we will do our best through praying and working.”

Son thanked United Methodists in the Northern Illinois Conference for their support. “Some people have given us words of encouragement,” Son said. “Churches have been praying for us. I feel we are one in Jesus Christ.”

Architect is Hosaang Lee of C.C.J.M. Engineers, Chicago.

General contractor is Y.H. Construction.

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NIC gets $43,100 matching grant
for September television advertising

(July 11) The Northern Illinois Conference (NIC) has been awarded a $43,100 matching grant from United Methodist Communications (UMCom) to help fund an $86,200 television advertising campaign this September.

The NIC will need to provide a dollar-for-dollar match ($43,100) in order to use the matching grant, according to Linda S. Rhodes, NIC Director of Communications. The NIC 2003 budget had allocated $20,000 to the advertising campaign, but in order to comply with the Conference Council on Finance and Administration’s recent request to reduce spending, the NIC Communications Commission has reduced that amount to $17,000 and is attempting to raise $26,100 from local churches and individuals in the Conference.

“In 2002, we raised more than $50,000 over and above what we had in the budget,” Rhodes said. “That allowed us to use our first matching grant from United Methodist Communications to do two weeks of television advertising during Lent 2002. The response was so terrific, we are hoping we can accomplish this again.”

The grants are part of Igniting Ministry, the denomination’s ministry of advertising and evangelism begun in 2001. Matching grants are awarded to regional church groups to help purchase local television advertising to supplement the national TV campaign that runs on cable stations throughout the United States in three flights per year: Lent, back-to-school and Advent.

The NIC’s planned advertising campaign during this September’s back-to-school season will include commercials on broadcast stations, such as ABC, NBC and CBS, in the greater Chicago and Rockford Dominant Market Areas (DMAs). Advertising on television stations in the Davenport/Rock Island/Moline DMA is being purchased by the Iowa and Illinois Great Rivers Conferences.

“If we can execute this plan,” Rhodes said, “residents of every county in our Conference will see our commercials on their network-affiliate stations.” The three DMAs include more than 3.6 million households, with 3.3 million households or 6,685,000 adults in the Chicago DMA alone.

Igniting Ministry also includes training and additional resources to help local churches with welcoming, inviting, discipling and marketing to the unchurched.

The most recent Igniting Ministry regional training event, June 28 at First UMC in Elgin, had 70 participants from 24 different churches.

“I’ve received a number of calls from pastors who said they had a team of people who wanted to go to training, but weren’t able to make the June event,” Rhodes said. “So we are trying to plan another training event - possibly in August.”

For more information about Igniting Ministry, contact Rhodes at (312) 541-1602.

Contributions to help fund the September advertising campaign can be made by check payable to the Northern Illinois Conference and marked “Igniting Ministry” in the memo line. Send contributions to Lonnie Chafin, NIC Treasurer, at the NIC office, 77 W. Washington St., Suite 1820, Chicago, IL 60602.

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NIC reduces Reporter pages to cut 2003 spending

(July 11) In response to a request from the Conference Council on Finance and Administration (CCFA) to cut spending, the Conference Communications Commission has decided to reduce the number of pages in the Northern Illinois Conference United Methodist Reporter for the remainder of this year or until sufficient apportionments are received to return to spending 100% of funds budgeted for 2003.

Effective immediately, each week’s edition will contain only one page of Northern Illinois Conference news. The twice-a-month additional page of NIC news, including “Connection,” will be discontinued.

CCFA has asked all groups within the Conference to reduce spending by approximately 10% in order to save $500,000 out of the 2003 $7.6 million budget. The request was made because apportionment payments from local churches in 2002 and so far in 2003 have been lower than was anticipated when the 2003 budget was prepared.

“Harsh economic times cause congregations to struggle financially along with the rest of society,” said the Rev. James Galbreath, chair of the NIC Communications Commission. “The whole annual conference structure is trying to be responsive to that situation, and the NIC Communications Commission is working hard to do its share of adjusting to meet reduced cash flow by cutting expenditures.”

Galbreath said it is “very troubling” to be forced to move away from the commission’s main goal, which has been to increase the flow of information about local church and Northern Illinois Conference activities and resources.

“The current situation underscores the crucial nature of outreach efforts such as the Igniting Ministry campaign that will help enliven our local churches and attract new members,” he said, “especially those who have been outside the church until now.”

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NIC takes part in Hispanic
Justice Ministries conference

(July 11) Members of the Northern Illinois Conference (NIC), led by the Rev. Oscar Carrasco, right, NIC director of Connectional Ministries, served as hosts, coordinators and participants for “Making the Connection: Justice Ministries in Hispanic Communities,” a North Central Jurisdiction (NCJ) training event co-sponsored by the General Board of Church and Society and the National Hispanic Plan.

Carrasco led opening worship and introduced Bishop Joel N. Martinez, San Antonio Episcopal Area, keynote speaker for the first night of the event held June 26-29 in Chicago. Music was provided by the band, above, from Jesus El Buen Pastor UMC, Chicago.

Workshop leaders for the event included the Rev. Rose Arroyo, program director, NCJ Center for Hispanic Ministries, Chicago; and Emma Lozano, Adalberto Memorial UMC, Chicago. The event included visits to Adalberto and Humboldt Park UMCs in Chicago.

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Individuals, churches recognized
for mission, ministry

(July 4) Northern Illinois Conference (NIC) individuals and congregations were honored for their dedication to mission and ministry during last month’s Annual Conference session in St. Charles.

Rainbow Covenant giving

Community UMC in Naperville and Euclid Avenue UMC in Oak Park were honored for leading all NIC churches in Rainbow Covenant giving in 2002.

For the eighth year in a row — every year since the award was established — Community UMC received the Philip Otterbein Award for giving the most money of any Rainbow Covenant church in the NIC to Advance Special mission projects.

Euclid Avenue UMC was awarded the John Wesley Award for the third year in a row for the highest per capita giving to second-mile mission projects.

Elgin District was honored for having the largest increase in number of Rainbow Covenant churches in 2002 over 2001.

To be designated a Rainbow Covenant church, a congregation must pay 100% of its apportionment and also contribute to Advance Special projects in each of the eight bands of the rainbow of second-mile giving: International projects, U.S. mission projects, United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), the NIC Millennial Challenge, NIC mission projects, district projects, support for missionary personnel, local benevolences and Special Sunday offerings.

Denman Evangelism Awards

The NIC Foundation for Evangelism presented the Denman Award for Evangelism to one clergy and one lay person.

The Rev. Bill Bryan, retired, received the 2003 Clergy Denman Award. Beth Paschall, member of Palos UMC in Palos Heights, received the 2003 Laity Denman Award.

The awards are named in honor of Dr. Harry Denman who served as head of the Methodist General Board of Evangelism in 1949 when he created the Foundation for Evangelism to promote, encourage and provide resources for responsible evangelism across the church.

Paschall, a Diaconal Minister for 14 years and member of Palos UMC for 50, has visited all newcomers and prospective members of her church for the past 16 years. She greets all visitors, soliciting information for home visits. She has organized evangelism events and has led an ecumenical Bible study for 25 years. She organized and continues to update neighborhood shepherd groups at the church, ensuring that everyone is in one of the 18 groups and that they all have shepherds.

Paschall is a member of the NIC Anti-Gambling Task Force, and is a part-time staff Chaplain at La Grange Hospital.

Upon ordination, Bryan was appointed to organize a new congregation in Granite City where he began a life-long interest in congregational development and redevelopment. He also served at East Jordan, Grace Naperville, Palos Heights and Palatine UMCs and was Chicago Southern District superintendent.

While at Palatine his congregation averaged over 400 in worship and near 170 in Sunday school. Each year 50 to 70 persons were brought into membership; 30 to 40 people made professions of faith during that process.

Bryan has decried racism, been an advocate for the poor and powerless, spoken out against war and violence and chaired the NIC Anti-Gambling Task Force for several years.

Child Advocacy Awards

United Voices for Children (UVC), an NIC advocacy group formed to work on behalf of children, honored two lay people for their work on behalf of children in their local congregations.

Craig Stettner, member of First UMC in Des Plaines, was winner of the Bishop Jesse R. DeWitt Child Advocacy Award for volunteer advocacy on behalf of children. Stettner is a high school Sunday school teacher, prepares breakfast for his class each Sunday and takes youths on mission trips.

Kay Lukancic, member of First UMC of Lockport, received the Katherine Greene Award for special advocacy for children in a church. Lukancic has headed her congregation’s “Circle of Love” program that provides diapers and other needed articles to women and their babies.

United Voices for Children also presented a special award to the Rev. Mason Scholl, retired, to recognize his years of service as president of UVC, whose members are ChildServ, Marcy-Newberry Association, Methodist Youth Services, all in Chicago, and Rosecrance Health Network, Rockford.

Golden Cross Awards

Libertyville UMC and First UMC, Evanston, were recognized as the churches contributing the most dollars to the 2002 Golden Cross/United Adult Services Special Sunday offering. First UMC, Evanston, was also recognized as the church giving the highest per capita support.

The offering taken on Golden Cross/United Adult Services Sunday supports five retirement and older adult service facilities in the NIC: Bethany Methodist, DeKalb Area Retirement Center, Rainbow Ridge, United Methodist Homes & Services, and Wesley Willows.

The offering also provides scholarships to selected employees of the five NIC older adult agencies who are continuing education in the field of health care. This year a scholarship was presented to Melissa Barnhart, activity aide at Willows Health Center for the last three years and full-time student at Rock Valley College for the past two years. She will attend Saint Anthony’s College of Nursing this fall.

Also receiving a scholarship was Jadeda Thomas, dietary aide at Willows on Main for four years. She is enrolled at Northern Illinois University where she is majoring in nutrition and dietetics and minoring in gerontology.

Volunteers in Mission

The Rev. Bob Crocker, who served as the first coordinator of NIC Volunteers in Mission and retired in 1985, was honored for his continuing work as a volunteer, participating in work projects across the United States and around the world.

Don Atkinson Award

The NIC chapter of Methodist Federation for Social Action awarded its 2003 Don Atkinson Award to the congregation of Wheadon UMC in Evanston.

The Don Atkinson Award is given each year to an individual or organization that works to embody, proclaim and enact God’s justice and peace. Wheadon UMC was honored because of the congregation’s history of social justice and activism on a wide number of causes including nuclear disarmament, providing sanctuary for undocumented immigrants, inclusivity of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons, anti-racism, anti-apartheid and environmentalism.

Members of Wheadon UMC helped start the UMC Women’s Caucus, Affirmation, Reconciling Ministries Network and ACORN.

“It’s always been just a small congregation,” said the Rev. Diana Facemyer, last year’s award winner, “but it modeled a style of ministry by laity and clergy that reshaped the thinking of what ministry is and how the church best functions.” She speculated that “more clergy were nurtured in their training during seminary by the Wheadon congregation than probably any other church in United Methodism.”

In January, Wheadon merged with United Church of Rogers Park (UCRP) in Chicago. The merger was sought by members of Wheadon as a way to reinvigorate its worship community, be in partnership with UCRP in the Rogers Park neighborhood and allow a nearbygrowing United Methodist African-American congregation to take over the Wheadon building.

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Northern Illinois delegation explores Deacon role

(July 4) Northern Illinois Conference clergy, students and Diaconal workers attended the 2003 Convocation for Deacons and Diaconal Ministers held in Dallas. The event, sponsored by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry’s Section of Deacons and Diaconal Ministries, expressed the board’s commitment to forming faithful leaders for the Church and the world.

Opportunities at the convocation included spirit-filled worship, engaging Bible study led by the Rev. Grace Imathiu, and hands-on mission work in ministry settings located in the wider Dallas area. Participants explored the work of the Diaconate for Christ’s Church through the Servant Ministry of United Methodist Deacons and Diaconal Ministers.

The Rev. Margaret Ann Crain, Northern Illinois Conference Deacon and associate professor of Christian Education at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, said, “I could sense the change as the Order of Deacons is beginning to claim its identity. I rejoiced in the commitment and creativity of deacons who serve the church with one foot firmly planted in the world and the other in a congregation. God is doing a great work through the diaconate. We celebrated our call in Dallas!”

Deacons and Diaconal Ministers serve in the Northern Illinois Conference and throughout the global United Methodist Church in a variety of settings of service ministry. For additional information, contact the Rev. JoAnne Chase, (630) 355-1483, chair of NIC Order of Deacons and Diaconal Ministers, or visit the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry web site, www.gbhem.org/deacons.

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Immigrant/refugee fund awards $40,000 to CASP

(July 4) The Fund for Immigrants and Refugees (FIR) awarded a $40,000 grant to the Coalition of African Service Providers (CASP), whose co-director is Kwadwo Ntim, pastor of African Community UMC, Chicago, and Mt. Hope UMC, McHenry. The grant is to develop CASP as a service delivery model.

The coalition is the result of the growing number of African immigrants and refugees in metropolitan Chicago, according to Ntim. “There is a great need for culturally sensitive service providers in tune with the emotional struggles of their clients,” he said. “CASP is going to be a mentor for African Service Providers by helping them identify the needed resources, and ensure that its members meet the stringent guidelines of funding agencies.”

Alie Kabba, co-director of CASP, said that the coalition intends to work with other established agencies as well as civil rights groups to address the problems that African immigrants face in metropolitan Chicago. The coalition will work in partnership with community-based providers across ethnic and racial boundaries, Kabba said.

Ntim said research will help CASP identify needed services in the community, and help educate funding agencies about the dire needs of African immigrants.

The coalition is still in the developing stage. The leaders have been holding monthly meetings at the offices of Ethiopian Community Association of Chicago, 4750 N. Sheridan. The public is invited to attend these meetings to express opinions on how best this organization can be developed. For more information, call (773) 784-3370, ext 3.

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Mandel co-hosts introduction of eAngel

(July 4) Mandel UMC, 5000 W. Congress, Chicago, was site of the introduction of eAngel Community and Illinois Technological Community Consortium (ITCC). The church co-hosted the event with the South Austin Coalition.

eAngel Community is a non-profit web site to serve the charitable sector by assisting not-for-profit organizations in obtaining meaningful “in kind” donations through effective networking with the donor community. ITCC is a non-profit organization committed to the technological development of not-for-profit organizations throughout Illinois.

The seminar helped attendees address networking capability for the purpose of accessing potential funding, technological training and general economic resources. For more information, call the South Austin Coalition, (773) 287-4570, or visit www.eangel.org.

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