News In Brief – May 8,
2009
Brief items for use in local
church newsletters
Prepared by United Methodist News Service
Stay calm. Avoid
blaming others. Embrace the sick in Christian love. Those are some of the words of counsel
on the swine flu epidemic offered by United Methodist bishops throughout the world
gathering for their spring meeting, which began May 3. United Methodists and church
officials need to be cognizant of their call to reach out to people with compassion and
love, Iowa Bishop Julius Trimble said in an interview. United Methodist bishops are urging
church members not to panic and to avoid stereotyping people or countries to prevent any
backlash against immigrant populations.
Twenty-eight justice projects ranging from a program that empowers women in the Ozarks to
one offering training for election observers in Mozambique received grants from The United
Methodist Church. The United Methodist Board of Church and Society awarded $52,805 in
grants with funds from the Peace with Justice Sunday offering received in 2008. Peace with
Justice Sunday, June 7 this year, is one of the six denomination-wide Special Sundays with
offering. Established by the 1988 General Conference, the denomination’s highest
policy-making body, Peace with Justice Sunday supports programs that advocate peace and
justice throughout the world.
The president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops called on thousands of church
leaders May 4 to each gather 30 people in prayer and conversation to care for the sick,
develop Christian leaders, renew churches and serve the poor. In an address at the council’s
spring meeting, Bishop Gregory V. Palmer also proposed designating a bishop solely to
oversee the four areas of focus affirmed by the 2008 General Conference. He specifically
challenged the top executives of churchwide agencies, bishops and every delegate to the
2008 general, central and jurisdictional conferences to create 30-member groups to develop
ways to capture the hearts and imaginations of people around the world in each of the four
areas.
Mario Ramirez of El Salvador comes daily to a trailer on a parking lot in this Washington,
D.C., suburb looking for work as a gardener or general day laborer. On May 5, some 15
United Methodist bishops visited the ministry site, called Casa de Maryland, bearing
support, fellowship and Holy Communion as part of the launch of a “Rethink Church”
campaign taking United Methodist faith out into the world. Ramirez and the bishops shared
the same goal: to build a future where every person is treated with equality and dignity.
Taking a hands-on approach, bishops visited the worker sites to demonstrate there are
thousands of ways, traditional and nontraditional, for a person to engage with the church.
Ellen, a widow who is raising seven children in the Harare District, is one of many
Zimbabweans reporting that they are now eating fewer meals. “There is no food in the
country and if you are to find it in the shops it is very expensive. We cannot afford to
buy it.” In response to the humanitarian crisis, the United Methodist Committee on
Relief is providing medical treatment, implementing clean water programs to help prevent
cholera, distributing food to the most vulnerable and offering educational incentives to
reopen schools. In March, the agency distributed 408 metric tons of maize meal in 12
districts. Working with the denomination’s Zimbabwe Annual Conference and district
superintendents, the relief agency identified more than 30,000 vulnerable families to
receive a bag of the milled grain.
Volunteers from the United Methodist New York Annual Conference took to the streets on May
6 for a large-scale demonstration of random act of kindness as part of the launch of a new
denominational campaign called “Rethink Church.” Rethink Church, which features
the new 10thousanddoors.org Web site,
targets 18- to 34-year-olds in an effort to lift up the many opportunities for involvement
through United Methodist churches. The campaign is designed to raise awareness of how the
church is making a difference in the world and to invite others to do the same.
National lawmakers encouraged United Methodist bishops to keep fighting against world
hunger and disease, saying civil voices are necessary to break through partisan politics
on issues such as health care and poverty. “United Methodists have a long history of
advocating for the poor and feeding the hungry, both in body and in spirit,” Sen.
Richard Lugar, R-Ind., told church leaders during their May 5 visit to Capitol Hill. The
bishops from the United States, Africa, Europe and the Philippines met with lawmakers and
ambassadors to their countries. Following the meetings, the bishops attended a reception
that featured comments from United Methodist lawmakers and greetings from Paul Monterio,
religious liaison in President Obama’s Office of Public Liaison.
Women who lead large United Methodist churches are still pioneers, a new survey has found.
Nine out of 10 lead women pastors at churches with more than 1,000 members are the first
woman to lead those churches, according to a survey of 94 women and 300 men who are senior
pastors of large congregations. The study, part of the Lead Women Pastors Project of the
United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry, also found that women have to
work harder for acceptance and appear less likely than men to pursue appointments at large
churches. But those women leading larger churches are building the foundation for greater
changes in the status of women clergy, said project leaders who met recently in West Palm
Beach, Fla.
The United Methodist Church is rich in property and human resources, but its debts and
obligations to health care are hurting the denomination’s annual conferences. “We
are starting to have a cash problem and we need a workout plan,” said Barbara
Boigegrain, top executive of the United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits in
a May 6 “state of the church” finance report to the Council of Bishops.
Boigegrain announced the formation of a Sustained Advisory Group from among conference
treasurers, benefit officers and other actuarial officers to determine the fiscal health
of the denomination’s 62 U.S. annual conferences.
A successful United Methodist businesswoman from Michigan has left a $1.7 million bequest
to the United Methodist Committee on Relief. "A remarkable, independent and generous
woman," is how the Rev. Cathi Gowin described Anne Ryckman, a deceased parishioner at
St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids. Ryckman, a lifetime and active member
of St. Paul's, was known for quiet acts of generosity throughout her life. The faithful
United Methodist left a generous portion of her estate to UMCOR when she died on April 8,
2007. The gift is being used to establish a donor-directed permanent fund for the relief
agency’s work.
A young woman has beaten the odds because a supportive United Methodist pastor gave her
the confidence to set ambitious goals for herself. Nancy Donato, 22, will graduate from
Eastern Washington State University next December. She is a member of the Yakama Nation, a
tribe of Native Americans living on the Yakama Reservation in southern Washington state.
Statistically, almost half of high school students in this region drop out and few of
those who graduate go on to college. With little education, job prospects are bleak. Her
life was different, she believes, because of the guidance of the Rev. MarLu Primero Scott,
pastor of Wilbur Memorial United Methodist Church, located on the reservation.
There are more than 34,000 United Methodist churches in the United States and in each one
is at least one singer whose voice pierces the hearts of the faithful most Sundays. The
talents vary but the passion is the same. Susan Boyle, a 47-year-old single person bullied
most of her life, stepped out in front of an unfriendly audience on “Britain’s
Got Talent” and bared her soul. The result was the shaming of a hostile audience who
first judged her on her looks before she had a chance to share her gifts. The lesson she
taught us was to wait, don’t be so quick to judge, we are all God’s children
blessed with gifts and talents. Her sudden fame seems like a good time to pause and
appreciate those faithful and talented souls who are singing their hearts out for United
Methodist congregations every week.
William Suggs Jr. has never heard a single note of music or a beautiful voice singing a
hymn. Yet his performance of “Sweet Little Jesus Boy” will take your breath
away. Suggs, who was born profoundly deaf and is losing his eyesight, uses sign language
to turn hymns into “holy signed dances.” He conveys his whole being in
interpreting the spiritual essence of the song through movement. “He becomes the
music…his arms enfold and become ‘Sweet Little Jesus Boy,’ said Carol
Stevens, deaf ministries coordinator at Christ United Methodist Church. “His powerful
fists cut through the air to become God Almighty. He becomes the ‘word made flesh.’"
Susan Boyle, the Scottish singer who became an overnight sensation, is 47. The Rev.
Charlene Harris Allen, pastor of Walkerton United Methodist Church in northern Indiana, is
48. Boyle says she never had a chance for stardom until she auditioned for the television
show “Britain’s Got Talent.” Allen was a professional singer before losing
her voice at age 18 and is only slowly working her way back to prominent stages in the
United Methodist Church. So when Boyle inspired the world and rose to instant stardom with
her stereotype-shattering performance, Allen summed up her own feelings in three words on
a Web posting: “You go, girl!”
Tears fell from the faces of Good Friday worshippers at First United Methodist Church of
Kennedale as Enrique Sanchez-Jeffery sang “The Day He Wore My Crown.” That they
were still falling in the parking lot after the service was a testimony to how
Sanchez-Jeffery made the enormity of Christ’s sacrifice resonate in the hearts of
members of the Fort Worth, Texas, area congregation. Jeffery could have chosen many paths.
He is a classically trained musician who once thought of becoming an opera singer. While
studying music at Texas Christian University, he spent summers touring as a backup singer
with gospel superstar Kirk Franklin. But he chose God because, Sanchez-Jeffery believes,
God chose him.
In Proverbs, it says, “God will make room for your gifts.” Greta Oglesby says:
Count on it. Oglesby’s joy of singing began as one of five siblings in the choir of
her father’s church. “We loved it. We got to travel with our dad and he would
always call on us to sing a couple of songs.” Today she is a professional actor and
singer who has won acclaim across the country. She is starring in “Caroline, or
Change” at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, where her performance has been called
“ravishing and powerful.” What has strengthened her on her journey has been the
sacred songs she learned as a child. “Gospel music has gotten me through some low
points,” Oglesby said. “R&B and jazz just can’t touch it. An old hymn
can lift me out of some low places.”
Fran Wilson was born “way out in the country” in West Kansas and everybody in
his family, at his school and in his church sang. He pretty much took it for granted that
everybody could sing. But the first time other people started telling him he was
especially good at it was when the trio he was in earned a blue ribbon at 4H. Music stayed
a constant in his life through high school, the Army and college. He retired after 34
years as a music teacher. At 71, Wilson is part of two men’s quartets—Habitat
for Harmony and Patent Pending-- and is the choir director for Faith United Methodist
Church in Kearney, Neb.
More than $1.3 million
in scholarships for advanced and college-level study in the 2009-2010 academic year were
approved April 29 by directors of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. The
stipends will help to support the educational preparation of students whose future work
will directly relate to the mission of The United Methodist Church.
Focus
2009 will meet in Indianapolis, Indiana, July 21-24, and is sponsored by the United
Methodist Board of Discipleship. Focus, held every four years, is the training event for
local church staff and laity involved with children’s ministries, including Sunday
school teachers and weekday ministry staff, district and conference staff, coordinators of
children’s ministries and clergy. The event is designed to help early childhood
educators stay current by bringing together the people who are doing the research, in a
variety of areas, with people who are working with children. Pre-conference workshops
slated for July 20, are also suitable for early childhood educators in public, parochial
and home school settings, and for preschool educators, center directors and child care
providers. For more information or registration details, please visit the Focus 2009 Web
site at www.gbod.org/focus2009 or contact Melanie Gordon at mgordon@gbod.org.
Directors of the
United Methodist Committee on Relief approved the allocation of $1.9 million in funds
received for the denomination’s relief and recovery work involving hurricanes in
2008. The Methodist Church in Cuba, which already had received $275,000, was allotted an
additional $200,000 to assist with recovery from a series of tropical storms and
hurricanes. Other allocations went to the Florida Annual Conference, $100,000 for Tropical
Storm Fay damage; Southwest Texas Conference, $40,000 to complete an earlier request for
response to Hurricane Dolly; Louisiana Annual Conference, $420,000 to expand Katrina
operations to assist victims of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike; and the Texas Annual
Conference, $950,000 for Hurricane Ike recovery. UMCOR also set aside $190,000 for
disaster-related church property repair in the United States.
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United Methodist News
Service
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