News In Brief – August 28, 2009

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

They're called "the invisible children" - a generation of young boys and girls in Uganda who were torn from their villages, brainwashed and used as pack animals and bullet fodder for the Lord's Resistance Army of Joseph Kony. A teen named Lazarus, who also calls himself Joe, lived amid these atrocities, and then on the streets, eating out of garbage pits, after escaping Kony's terrorist army. Only about a year ago did he let himself smile. This fall, if all goes according to plan, Joe will join the Rev. Stan Cardwell, his wife, Michelle, and their three children in Bel Air, Md. welcomed as a blessing from God.

Meeli Tankler, 53, a professor at the Baltic Methodist Theological Seminary, has been installed as its new president. She was the unanimous choice of the board of trustees and of the United Methodist Estonia Annual (regional) Conference to lead the denomination's largest theological seminary in Europe. She served a four-year term as president of the European section of the World Federation of Methodist and United Church Women and is pursuing studies toward a doctoral degree at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky.  Contributions to support the seminary can be made to Baltic Methodist Theological Seminary Scholarships, Advance, # 15021B.

The Rev. Jorge Acevedo, pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Cape Coral, Fla., has been named the 2009 Distinguished Evangelist of The United Methodist Church.  He will receive the award Oct. 31, during the 60th Anniversary Celebration for The Foundation for Evangelism, which sponsors this national recognition. The award is given annually to a United Methodist leader whose life and ministry reflects a personal commitment to helping people experience God's transforming love through Jesus Christ.  

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's acceptance of pastors in same-sex relationships does not pave the way for noncelibate gay clergy to serve in United Methodist churches, officials from the two denominations said. The Lutheran vote Aug. 21 to drop its ban on gay clergy, coming a day after the denomination approved a full communion pact with The United Methodist Church, raised the question of whether practicing homosexual Lutheran pastors would be permitted in United Methodist pulpits. Leaders from both churches said Aug. 26, however, that The United Methodist Church's ban on noncelibate gay clergy is unchanged.

Eighteen Christian denominations in Hamburg, including United Methodists, are sharing a single church building. Called "The Bridge - Ecumenical Forum HafenCity," the project is located at Harbour City, a new development in the area known in German as HafenCity. "The Harbour City does not only need the presence of a sacred place for all confessions, but also people that live as part of an ecumenical community and who are involved as Christians in the area," the manager of The Bridge, Stephan Dreyer, told the Hamburger Abendblatt.

The new Bishop Melvin George Talbert Leadership Institute is seeking up to 20 young African Americans to commit two to four years to becoming creative leaders in The United Methodist Church. Black Methodists for Church Renewal announced last year plans to form an institute named after Talbert. Located at the group's Nashville headquarters, the institute was launched in July. Talbert has led The United Methodist Church as pastor, agency executive and bishop. He was active in the civil rights movement and at one point shared a jail cell with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The United Methodist 2010 Program Calendar, available from United Methodist Communications, encourages users to "rethink the way The United Methodist Church makes contact with the world." The calendar invites viewers to see church as an out-of-building experience. The calendar is available in nine designs, ranging from a pocket size that shows a week at a glance to a large deluxe wall calendar with the year at a glance. The increasingly popular electronic calendar introduced by United Methodist Communications in 2009 also is available. Interested persons may call toll free at (888) 346-3862 or visit www.umcom.org/calendars.

Native American leaders are making plans to bring Facebook and other social media into the mission field for youth and young adults. Older Native Americans may be more comfortable with traditional forms of communication, but the younger generations are increasingly doing their talking through texts and Web sites, said United Methodist leaders at a meeting of the Native American Comprehensive Plan. Members of the Youth-Young Adult Ad Hoc Committee said they would have a Facebook fan page for the plan running by the end of August.

The Hispanic caucus of The United Methodist Church resolved Aug. 23 to urge President Barack Obama and Congress to "expedite" immigration reform. Methodists Associated Representing the Cause of Hispanic Americans, or MARCHA, also asked that the Council of Bishops invite all United Methodist congregations to provide assistance to minors that are being separated from their parents due to immigration raids.  The group further called upon the United Methodist Board of Church and Society to promote hearings where testimonies of children separated from their parents due to immigration raids can be gathered and shared with the denomination.

In 2008, the Nothing But Nets campaign raised more than $7 million from some 40,000 individual donors. The 2008 annual report issued by the United Nations Foundation, creator of the grassroots campaign, declared that 2008 donations represent significant increases over annual fundraising the two previous years. Nothing But Nets raised nearly $25 million by the end of 2008 from over 100,000 individuals and distributed over 2 million bed nets to areas of greatest need in Africa. A founding partner, The United Methodist Church contributed more than $2 million to purchase and distribute bed nets in 2008 alone.

Twenty-five United Methodist colleges, universities and seminaries are among the 2010 Military Friendly Schools. The church-related schools are included in the list from G.I. Jobs magazine offering veterans guidance on which schools are doing the most to embrace them as students. Schools on the Military Friendly Schools list also offer additional benefits to student veterans such as on-campus veterans programs, credit for service, military spouse programs and more. The list may be found at http://www.militaryfriendlyschools.com/media/2010_Military_Friendly_Schools_list.pdf.