Becoming Active in a Food Outreach Program

• There have been some substantive talks between Mississippi Methodist individuals and Conference representatives with the Stop Hunger Now organization to look at the feasibility of opening up a warehouse site here in Mississippi in the not too distant future.

• Also, the St. Andrews gleaning organization has recently relocated to Jackson and opened its offices at Broadmeadow UMC where you can reach the director Bob Fritchey in person or by phone at 601-850-4018 to schedule a gleaning trip for your missions group.

• In addition to its many hurdles to self sufficiency many financially strapped Mississippians are facing the task of paying for ever increasing food prices and for this reason we would like to help as many churches as may be interested in becoming active in a food outreach program in their communities.

Please let me know if you would like to get something started in your church in the area of hunger relief. Or if you and your church group would like a bit more personal help in forming your church missions group or would like some help finding out more about other mission and outreach programs for your church please call me or email me and I will be happy to work with you and your group.

Jorge

Jorge@mississippi-umc.org
601-354-0515 ext.20

In Missions and Outreach... You Do Not Have to Reinvent the Wheel!!!

Have you ever wondered what do the
nine (9) currently active community centers are about?

I say this because it could be that large or small your church missions group could partner with any of them in their mission efforts.

These institutions which are affiliated with the Mississippi Conference provide a variety of services to their local communities ranging from GED and other education services to offering help and support for women, children and seniors with medical, food and abuse issues. They are only partially supported by the conference apportionment and could benefit from additional “second mile” giving or on-site volunteer help.

Listed below are the conference's community centers:

• Bethlehem Center, Jackson
• Choctaw Mission, Choctaw
• Edwards Street Community Center, Hattiesburg
• Good Shepherd Center, Vicksburg
• Holmes County Town & Country Ministries, Goodman
• Mississippi Rural Center, Columbia
• Moore Community House, Biloxi
• St. Andrew's Mission, McComb
• Wesley House Community Center, Meridian
  

For a partial list of the above and other Mississippi missions groups click on the following link to the Conference web page http://www.mississippi-umc.org/page.asp?PKValue=715

In addition to the community centers we have 25 Wesley foundation ministries, partially supported by the apportionment, in all the community colleges in the state as well as at Rust and Millsaps Colleges. Additionally, there are 48 Habitat for Humanity affiliates and countless local school boards.

So what can your church group do to help? Why don’t you call them and find out.

When it comes to mission and outreach you do not have to reinvent the wheel you can join someone already at work in your community.

Approved Communities of Shalom Training Sites

Seek the shalom of the city where I have sent you, for in it’s shalom, you will find your shalom.” –Jeremiah 29:7

Communities of Shalom, a community development initiative of the United Methodist Church. The Communities of Shalom Program shares a vision of revitalized neighborhoods and engaged congregations together with urban, rural and suburban partners that seek renewal.

Communities of Shalom are built on four principles:

1. Faith in Action
2. Asset Based Community Development
3. Collaboration
4. Systemic Change

With these principles in mind, groups are trained to recognize neighborhoods' strengths. Communities then develop a plan that will encourage growth and development.

The Mississippi Conference has approved four churches to be recommended for training as Community of Shalom. You may receive an application by contacting Rev. Fitzgerald Lovett, at 601-354-0515, ext 29 or email fitzgerald@mississippi-umc.org.

Deadline to apply is July 30^th.

The State of the Art

As we continue this adventure in communications called Connectivity... We want to thank the over 900 that opened and read it. We sent out to 3170. We also want you to know that over 800 of our e-mail addresses produced returns. Our goal is to reduce that number significantly, which will take time. Our desire is to have a broad cast of this information.

If you feel this is valuable would you consider sharing it with some of your friends? These “connections “ give us the opportunity to hear from more people. There is so much good news to tell. Help us as we seek to share with others. Also, if you have ideas about what would be helpful additions to this piece, please let us know.

One person suggested that we offer some “it worked for us” ideas and we will start that in October. So, if you have some practical ideas let us know and we’ll share them and create a library for your use on line. We are adding a piece called “GO”. It will be short stories of churches that are making disciples and changing the world…you’ll love them!

All of this is for one purpose…”to make disciples of Christ for the transformation of the world.”

Live Loved,
Steve

Children's Sabbath: What's Your Plan?

What is Children’s Sabbath? Children’s Sabbath is a national movement that aims to unite religious congregations of all faiths in shared concern for children and a common commitment to improving their lives and working for justice on their behalf.

There is great diversity in the celebration and observance of Children’s Sabbath. There are, however, three (3) important foci of a Children’s Sabbath that is present regardless of the way you choose to recognize it:

(1) A celebration of the gifts of children
(2) Raised awareness of issues facing our children in our community, state & nation
Focused concerns for the previous legislative session have included:
a. Full Funding for MAEP (Mississippi Adequate Education Plan)
b. Funding for pre-kindergarten pilot programs
c. More accessible SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Plan)
d. State funds for childcare assistance
e. Lowering the grocery tax and raising the cigarette tax
f. Making just policies that target the cradle-to-prison pipeline
(3) Call to action responses that seek justice and equality for all children

Are you planning a Children’s Sabbath observance or celebration this year? Maybe you have already had one this summer? Free planning resource manuals are available in the conference office to everyone who requests one.

Plans are being made to recognize local churches that participate in Children’s Sabbath each year. Let us add your name to the list! Simply contact Rev. Michelle Foster at 601-354-0515 ext. 28 or michelle@mississippi-umc.org.

Praying... Giving...Doing

In the introduction to the Mission and Outreach Handbook, Bishop Ward said “Jesus graciously invites us to share in God’s mission. We reach out in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amazingly God uses us to welcome, heal and help … God is with us as we listen to the nudging of the Holy Spirit , as we sense the movement in our hearts, as we asses resources, as we watch for opportunities to serve, as we move out with boldness.” And so it was last month when several appeals for help went out (perhaps Jesus’ invitation and the follow-up nudging of the Spirit) asking our Mississippi church members to come to the aid of those involved in the clean up and recovery after the disastrous Midwest floods that an outpouring of financial donations and flood buckets started coming in.

From the raising of about $100 from the 5 and six year olds in the Chunky UMC who have been learning about missions and outreach to a couple of large donations from church Sunday School classes to countless other individual donations, over $10,000 has already been collected and continues to be received at the conference office. Over eight thousand has already been sent to the affected areas directly with additional remittances planned as long as the outpouring of concern and generosity continues to flow in.

In missions and outreach pray, give and do! I thank God for all the prayer warriors in the state and the generous givers (regardless of age!) and the ones investing time in doing eternally significant things in God’s Kingdom for God’s people in need.

CCYM: Summer Highlights

Executive Officers:

President	Hailey Peterson	Starkville District
1st Vice	Guy Wimberly	Brookhaven District
2nd Vice	Lennie Patterson	Starkville District
Recording Secretary	Carson Shock	Tupelo District
Corresponding Secretary	Callie Stewart	Seashore District

Youth Service Fund (YSF) Scholarship Fund:

$50 per student for all Mississippi Conference Events

(Dare to Lead, Overflow, Jubilee Weekend, Spiritual Life Retreats, Convo on the Coast, & Mississippi Youth Annual Conference (MYAC).

This scholarship is for all churches of 75 or less active worship participants!!!

Contact Roger Shock at roger@fumctupelo.com for more information.

Dare to Lead at Camp Lake Stephens Information:

Junior High Dare to Lead
October 11-12, 2008
Speaker: Zach Skipper
Worship: MSU Wesley Foundation Praise Band
Registration Deadline: September 26

Senior High Dare to Lead
October 18-19, 2008
Speaker: Hugh Griffith
Worship: MSU Wesley Foundation Praise Band
Registration Deadline: October 3

Cost: $65 Per Person to stay in Cabins
$60 Per Person to stay in Tree Houses

Registration & Health/Release Forms: Go to www.camplakestephens.com

Youth & Young Adult Web-site:

Thirteen2thirty.com is currently being designed by a Web-site Design Team.

Check out the site of upcoming events & activities, along with leadership information.

SBC-21's 2009 Goals: Here's More

The goal of SBC-21(Strengthening the Black Church) is to offer The United Methodist Church the gift of a transformational learning model that enables one congregation to share its gift of vitality with other churches that are seeking growth, vitality and transformation and wanting to expand their gifts in mission and ministry and, in the process, to revitalize Black congregations and The United Methodist Church. “

The SBC-21 Mississippi Conference Team had focus on the following items for the past year.

• African-American Pilot Program - six (6) churches moving from part time to full time worship service.
• Established a SBC-21 Coaching Team -10 pastors and one (1) laity were trained by Dr. Douglas W. Ruffle, author of,”The Discovery Church Journey.” They will coach churches on The Discovery Church Journey and help develop Ministry Action Plans (MAP) in response to the A2 survey ( partnership with New Church Development).
• Rev. Tyron Gordon of St Luke UMC, in Dallas, TX provided leadership training for several pastors (partnership with New Church Development).

• Several churches attended the National Training offered by SBC-21 in various locations.

• Cheryl Stevenson, SBC-21 National Coordinator, was one of the Key presenters at the Convocation on The Black Church. A covenant agreement was also initiated between Mississippi SBC-21 and the National SBC-21.

• Four pastors attended, “Embracing God’s Diversity”, conference at Lake Junaluska. Bishop Ward was one of the speakers and Rev. Theodore Williams participated on one of the panels.

Our goals for 2008-2009 are:

• Reduce the “0” churches on apportionments;
• Increase the number of churches with at least one profession of faith;
• Increase the number of districts that host events at African-American churches;
• Increase the utilization of African-American leadership;
• Support and increase the African-American covenant groups;
• Provide leadership training for pastors, laity, youth and young adults;
• Every African-American pastor will have an email address; and
  
• Identify churches which will be a part of, The Discovery Church Journey.
  

Information YOU Can Use...

We live in an age where information moves at the speed of light. There is so much information all around us. Sometimes I feel information overload. On the other hand, we live in a community of faith where we need to share information well. I have discovered so many incredible stories to be told across this conference. There is an abundance of information about ways we are making disciples and changing the world. You need to hear and share them.

Connectional Ministries has repeatedly heard that there is a lack of information flow from our office. As we have reflected on that we have had extensive conversations about how to get the word out. The problem is that our methods of communication depend on you. The Advocate, the web site, the Word, and recently Connectivity are all dependant on your receiving and responding.

In a recent conversation someone reminded me of the root word of “information”. The messages and stories we receive are “formational”. We are “in” “formed” by this endless flow. What we think and believe is shaped by information. The lack of information causes the creation of information like rumor or gossip. We are committed to help the flow of information. We want to be able to hear from you about how God is at work in your life or community of faith. For this to happen we need two things to be in place.

First you need to help us update our contact lists and let us know if you are receiving communication. We need a point of contact. Secondly we need you to know how to contact us. Our phone number is (601) 354-0515. Yes, sometimes there is an electronic answer and it can be maddening, but we are earnestly seeking to answer each call as quickly as possible. Our e-mail addresses are simple. Mine is steve@mississippi-umc.org. Krystal Bonds’ (Administrative Assistant) is connectionalministries@mississippi-umc.org. Michelle Foster, Fitzgerald Lovett, Jorge Navarrete, and Roger Shock can all be contacted by typing their first name and then @mississippi-umc.org. We are currently redesigning the web pages for our ministries and hope to have that project finished by Jan. 09.

Beginning in August we will relaunch the Connectivity e-news. Every first Monday we will send it out. It will contain information about calendar events and stories of “disciple making” and “world changing”. Then each week we will send out a Connectivity Update. For this to be truly effective we need you to send us those stories. This is only a part of our strategy. There will be more. Help us by sharing ideas and information.

May the flow begin.