News In Brief - Oct. 2, 2009

Brief items for use in local church newsletters
Prepared by United Methodist News Service

In joyful embraces, spirit-filled hymns and common prayer, Methodists, Catholics and Lutherans marked the end of centuries of division over a central doctrine of faith by vowing to move toward greater unity. Hundreds gathered Oct. 1 at Old St. Patrick Church in Chicago to celebrate an historic agreement on justification by faith, or how individuals are forgiven and brought into a right relationship with God. After a rousing finale to the service, Bishop Gregory Palmer, president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, said, “For me, the heart of God, I trust, found some delight in us tonight.”

Three young people from the Philippines, Africa and Europe are taking a leading role in developing the denomination’s ministry with youth outside the United States. Armindo Mapoissa, Mighty Rasing and Clara Steinert will supply on-the-ground leadership as part of a new organizational structure for the Young People’s Ministries division of the United Methodist Board of Discipleship. Instead of running everything from Nashville, Tenn., Mike Ratliff, division top executive, says it makes sense to use people who have a cultural understanding of how young people’s ministry is working in their area.

Black United Methodist congregations seeking to use the gift of technology often find themselves somewhere between Skype and phone trees. So when nearly 100 African-American pastors and lay leaders attended a gathering of Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century, they were eager to learn how to better present their message to today’s congregations. Adapting to new technology was part of a full day of training for these church members before the initiative’s biannual business meeting, Sept. 25-26.

United Methodists around the connection will be able to participate in a virtual laying on of hands when 40 mission personnel are commissioned and the service is streamed live on the Internet. The service will take place at 7 p.m. EST, Oct. 13, during the annual meeting of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries in Stamford, Conn., and can be followed at www.ummissionaries.org. Blessings and prayers, along with words of encouragement and other comments, can be posted via Twitter (#hope10_13) and Facebook. 

Sara Power works her way carefully around stinging nettles, picking wild Oregon blackberries in a park. Within hours, the berries turn into sweet treats for distribution at area food banks. “We have abundant fruit here, and it dawned on me that there was no reason we didn’t have jams and jellies in the food bank,” Power says. That realization led her to launch the Jamming for the Hungry ministry at her church, Corvallis (Ore.) First United Methodist. Since the program began a year ago, she and other volunteers have cooked up more than 1,500 jars of jams, jellies and syrups for several area food banks. 

When members of a small United Methodist church followed Jesus’ command to feed the hungry, they reaped a lot more than they sowed. This spring, Leachville United Methodist Church grew corn on about three acres along the main highway in their northeastern Arkansas farming town. Church members harvested the ears by hand, then delivered bags of about a dozen each to elderly residents and families in Leachville and the neighboring towns of Monette and Manila. Each sack the congregants delivered had a flier with the name and worship time of the church. Altogether, the small congregation gave away more than 2,500 ears through its new “Gardening for God” project.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief is in close contact with local partners to prepare a response to the Sept. 30 earthquake and tsunami that struck the Samoan Islands – including American Samoa, which is part of the denomination’s California-Pacific Annual Conference – and Tonga, as well as a response to the unrelated earthquakes affecting Indonesia Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. The death toll is expected to be in the thousands. Donations can be made to Indonesia Emergency, UMCOR Advance #217400, and Samoa Tsunami, U.S. Disaster Response, UMCOR Advance #901670, and placed in offering plates or given electronically.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief is working with the denomination’s North Georgia Annual Conference to assist with recovery efforts from flooding in 17 counties, caused by severe storms moving northeast from the Gulf of Mexico. The deluge resulted in at least nine deaths. Teams interested in volunteering for flood cleanup and repairs should contact the conference’s call center at (678) 533-1443. Donations for United Methodist participation during the initial phase of recovery can be made to U.S. Disaster Response, UMCOR Advance #901670, and placed in church offering plates or given electronically.

United Methodists are working to get emergency supplies to nearly 2 million people affected by Typhoon Ketsana in the Philippines. “With the limited supplies we had on hand, we were able to supply immediate relief to about 500 families,” reported Melissa Crutchfield, with the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Volunteers are preparing supplies at UMCOR’s Philippines Office in Cavite, south of Manila. Area church members are collecting supplies as well. Donations to UMCOR’s relief work in the Philippines can be made through Philippines Emergency, UMCOR Advance #240235, and placed in church offering plates or given electronically.