Crossing Racial Lines

Light Partners are churches that share experiences across racial lines. Bible study, worship, prayer and many other activities increase cultural understanding

Many churches in the Mississippi Conference have already become Light Partners. We hope that your church has begun this journey, if not; today is a good time to start.

Forrest Hill UMC and Middlebrook UMC are prime examples of Light Partners. Conference staff members, the Reverends Steve Casteel and Fitzgerald Lovett, are the pastors of Forrest Hill and “The Brook” respectfully. The two churches are next door neighbors with a pine tree grove between them.

There have been several projects Forrest Hill and Middlebrook have sponsored such as:

• The 40^th anniversary of the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• A pew exchange where five (5) members of Forrest Hill worshiped at Middlebrook and vice versa.

Little things can make a big difference!!!

During the Christmas season, the two (2) churches came together for worship and fellowship. After worship one Sunday morning, the churches met in the pine tree grove. They fellowshipped, prayed, sang Christmas carols and decorated the Christmas tree, which had been planted a few years earlier. Later the churches came together in the fellowship hall of Middlebrook for soup, chili, stew, gumbo and fellowship.

Light Partners are living examples of the love of Christ.

Blacks and Whites worshiping together from Christmas at Middlebrook to Ash Wednesday service at Forrest Hill.

Forrest Hill UMC and Middlebrook UMC are examples of the light that continue to shine across the state of Mississippi. If you would like more information about Light Partners, contact the Office of Connectional Ministries at connectionalministries@mississippi-umc.org or (601) 354-0515 ext. 14.

Thoughts on Form and Focus...

Sometimes something right in front of you deserves a closer look. To put something under the magnifying glass is to do two things. First you focus on it. Your field of vision is narrowed to give attention to the thing you wish to examine. Secondly, to put something under the magnifying glass is to look for clarity and definition.

For the last two years we have been putting ourselves under the magnifying glass. There have been four (4) rounds of listening sessions around the Annual Conference. Two have dealt with stewardship and budget and two have explored our shared ministry and call. We talked about "open space" and our fears and passions as leaders. We explored our brokenness and the power of the "potter's hands." Parker Palmer's piece helped us explore our brokenness. We talked about self care. We shared visions of ministry and our diverse calls and passions for ministry. Then we explored Lovett Weems 10 Provocative Questions and found a great resonance around #8 "more people, more young people, and more diverse people.” We looked at Bishop Job's Three Simple Rules, and wrestled with "first do no harm."

We have learned so much together and continue to learn and grow.

In the midst of this, your Leadership team met in January to explore directions and vision for the coming year. There seemed to be three (3) areas of focus that emerged. First, it is time to reorder ourselves, but we must do it in a simple and transparent way. Secondly, this must be driven by God's spirit and the passion of the people. Thirdly, we must invite and include "more people, more young people, and more diverse people" in our leadership, ministries, and local churches.

So...what does this mean? As a result of the conferencing process we will invite members of Annual Conference to consider a new order. The truth is, it isn't new. In the midst of listening and learning, we have been becoming a 'new thing.' In June, the Annual Conference will seek to bring definition and clarity to this "new thing" through changes in the standing rules, nominations, and our order.

It doesn't seem like an exciting thing, but it is!

These tools will allow us to live into our mission," to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world." The examination of our order and process has led us to a place we can magnify our mission.

Here is a thumbnail sketch:

1. Connectional Table: 20-25 Exceptional leaders challenged with keeping our Vision/Mission of "Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world" This table will look at the general challenge of inviting and including "more people, more young people, and more diverse people."
2. Core Tables: 5 tables focused on the core value you helped us discern as the areas we will direct our attention to help us carry out our mission. Each table will be convened by an excellent leader/process person and the table will gather groups and individuals focused around that core value.
1. Spiritual Leadership: This table will engage the challenge of helping people discover their call to leadership, grow in leadership skills, and develop procedures and tools to equip leaders in the home, congregation, district, and Annual Conference.
2. Mission: This table will gather to help individuals, congregations, districts, and the Annual Conference engage in the Kingdom work of serving a broken and needy world.
3. Reconciliation: This table will engage the areas of injustice and conflict. Racial Reconciliation, conflict resolution, peace and justice issues will be centered here. We will focus on "more diverse people" here.
4. Young Peoples' Ministry: This table will take youth and young adult ministries and the part of question 8,"more young people" Empowerment of the young will be at the heart of this table's work.
5. Stewardship: This table will focus on the broad spectrum of gifts God has entrusted us with to use for the building of the Kingdom. Financial stewardship, health and wellness, care for the earth, and human resources will all find their place at this table.
   

In addition to these tables there will be several standing committees as required by Discipline and practicality. The Board of Ministry, Conference Finance and Administration, Parish and community Development, Equitable Salary, and several others will serve to resource the Vision/Mission of our Annual Conference. All the appropriate connections will be provided to the General Church.

In order to facilitate this order, the Standing Rules Committee has been working hard to bring our rules into focus with this order. You will be invited to consider these at Annual Conference. Since this is a Quadrennial Year,we will be making several nominations. This year we have opened the process and invited people to self-nominate. I have been amazed at the response we have received. Over 150 people sent in their nominations. The nominated committee will meet the first week in May to fill the necessary (Required) committees, to select the Connectional Table, and to select conveners for the Core Tables. At Annual Conference, we all will have a chance to find our places at the Core tables. It is amazing what you discover when you begin to put something under the magnifying glass of God’s grace. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this.

We serve together in an incredible place and God is being magnified every day. Please be in prayer for us to find even greater clarity as we seek to fulfill our mission “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

If you have questions or comments, please contact me at steve@mississippi-umc.org.

Live loved,

Steve

Praying...Giving...Doing

How Can We Magnify God in Missions and Outreach?

Mission development consists of reminding everyone of their calling and of helping guide churches and individuals to engage in this most fundamental of Christian duties to magnify God’s name by praying and giving and doing in His name and for His sake to all who are needy materially or spiritually.

In the past nine months I’ve discovered that as in most all things there is a great disparity in the level of mission work being done around the Conference (no great news here!). Some churches and individuals have always been about doing the Lord’s work in missions, some have rediscovered the call, some are “on fire” and others are just ‘lukewarm;’ in some churches 20% of the folk do all the missions work, etc. A great deal of the differences can be accounted for by how churches (individuals) view ‘their mission.’

See how you or your church view missions and outreach involvement and you will see a correlation in the results you or your church are getting … Is it just a task, a vague aim, just part of the church business, or is it a Worthwhile Goal? Is it aresponsibility we take seriously or just another undertaking? Is it just a church job or a Lifework? Do we treat it as a Christian Vocation or treat it as just ‘holy’ work. One of so many planning objectives in the church, something done by someone else such as a missionary or a church staff member or is it something we all do with purpose in pursuit or in a Quest for Holines? Is it just a duty, part of what we must do as Christians, an errand we do once and then forget, or is it a Calling, a Holy Charge, a Divine Commission?

While we are often reminded that as Christians we have been commissioned to be in mission and ministry; we should, likewise, be reminded that we are most privileged to be allowed to tend to the Lord’s work here on earth!

And now to an update of some things that have occurred in missions and outreach since the beginning of the year … there have been three missions training events at the district level, a Strategic Plan was developed and approval of a major grant for the Hispanic ministry in our conference have occurred, Choctaw Mission development talks are being developed, a $10,000 grant for the Trinity Mission Center has been received from GBGM, a Nicaraguan Covenant agreement is in the process of being formed, cooperative engagement with the community centers in the Conference has been started, a Missions and Outreach Handbook for our Mississippi churches has been developed and printed and will be distributed at annual conference. Of course, there have been many other lesser but no less important mission outreach projects in which Connectional Ministries has been involved not least of which has been being involved in outreach in our own home churches.

Help us Lord to always and everywhere magnify your name, your love and your mercy, by loving You and serving others in Your name! Amen.

YOUTH: On the Rise

Arise Shine: Magnify

The lens for looking at Young People’s Ministry is huge. There is lots going on. Many things are being planned & created.
Listed are some of the things going on:

• Mississippi Youth Annual Conference (MYAC) is scheduled for June 11-13. The cost is $160 per person. It is being held at the Clarion Hotel in Jackson, MS. Two students from every church in Mississippi is invited to participate.

Great music, worship, fellowship, food and fun is expected

• Youth Day at Geyser Falls is scheduled for Saturday, August 2 in Philadelphia, MS. The cost is around $24, which includes park admission & lunch.

• Community College Wesley Foundation Directors have spent a full day together in two different locations to talk about their units, get to know each other better, & for evaluation. Let me tell you exciting things are happening on our Community College Campuses.

• April 1 all Wesley Foundation Directors on the University & Community College Campus’ received the Emma Rogers Grant Application provided by the Higher Education Committee of Mississippi. The HEMC is giving six $3000 & nine $1500 matching grants for programming at our Wesley Foundations. It’s going to be exciting to see what great ideas come from our Directors as to how they use the funds to do ministry on their campuses.

• The Connectional Ministry Office is in process of rolling out a new program called “Change 4 Change.” Basically inviting United Methodist around the country to collect change to send to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for Youth & Children’s Ministry. Already we have received $225 from First United Methodist Church in Phoenix, NY to go to three locations on the coast. Who knows the total impact possible as United Methodist around the United States send us their change for ministry purposes?

• As I write to you there is a Web Site being built to cover all the activities across our Conference regarding the ages of 13 to 30. It will be linked to our Conference Web Site and will be a one stop site for everything surrounding Young People’s Ministry in Mississippi.
  

This is just a short list of all that is going on in Mississippi under the umbrella of Young People’s Ministry. Please be in prayer for our young people & our young adults, along with our Church as we attempt to minister to them the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Magnifying Season

Arise! Shine! Magnify! These words have been chosen to thematically lead us through our annual conference as we reflect upon and look forward to our shared ministry in disciple making for the kingdom of God. According to dictionary.com magnify is a verb which can be defined as “making greater in actual size; enlarging”.

According to the definition given above, we participate in the work of magnifying the kingdom of God when we are actively working in ways to make greater the number of disciples of Jesus Christ. We enlarge the kingdom of God when we live into and out of the words and example of Christ.

The magnification of God’s kingdom in Mississippi is overwhelming! Let us celebrate the gifts of God’s grace as they come to us!

In the ministry of Safe Sanctuaries people are embodying what it means when Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them.”

• Over 400 churches have had at least one person in their congregation attend a Safe Sanctuaries workshop
• Approximately 250 churches have adopted a Safe Sanctuaries policy for their particular ministries with children and youth
• At least three churches without children in their congregation are utilizing the ministry of Safe Sanctuaries as a way of inviting children and their family into their congregations
• Boards of Trustees and church councils are intentionally discussing ways to reduce known liabilities and accusations of child abuse
• Pastor/ Staff Parish Relations Committees are utilizing the background screening services that are offered as a tool in their thorough hiring processes
• People with particular gifts relating to child abuse, its victims and the perpetrators are finding their voice and place in our annual conference
  

Jesus also said, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Family Ministries in our conference is exemplifying and magnifying Christ’s love.

• We have established a partnership with Marriage Mississippi, an initiative of Mississippi State Extension Services, to promote healthy marriages in Mississippi
• 5 churches within our conference participated in a Sunday morning celebration service focusing on Black Marriages with over 100 couples participating.
• There is a renewed focus in many local congregations to promote, encourage and cultivate a family centered model of spiritual formation
• Numerous churches throughout our conference used the printed and on-line versions of the family friendly 2007 Advent calendar highlighting the ministries of the conference-related community centers and Methodist Children’s Home
• The summer camping ministries of our conference are now including at least one week of family camp into their summer programming schedules.
• Annual Conference 2008 is magnifying the gift of family with the inclusion of children into our nightly worship services
  

Arise! Shine! for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord
has risen upon you. (Isaiah 60:1) Let us magnify the glory of the Lord!