Site
Contents
 |
Imagine Indiana Transition Team Information
General Information about the Area Office
North Indiana Conference Office
South Indiana Conference Office
Area United Methodist
Foundation
Prayer Guides
(Courtesy of the NIC Prayer Team)
For resources to assist your congregation in welcoming guests,
click here
Seashore District Volunteer Center VIM project -- Completed
Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodist News |
May 2001 |
New resource published
Nashville, Tenn. (GBOD/DR-) Discipleship Resources, a publishing arm of the General Board of Discipleship, announces the publication of a 128-page resource entitled Sacraments & Discipleship: Understanding Baptism and the Lord's Supper in a United Methodist Context, by the Rev. Mark W. Stamm. Rev. Stamm draws on scripture, the Christian tradition and personal and pastoral experience to introduce readers to the meaning and practice of the sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion in a United Methodist context.
The resource is divided into six chapters:
- The United Methodist Way: Sacramental Living in Accountable Communities of Faith
- Our work in the Covenant: Renouncing Our Sin and Professing Our Faith
- God's Work in Baptism: "We Are Incorporated into God's Mighty Acts of Salvation"
- Preparation for Communion: Christ's Invitation
- Christ Present in Our Midst: On the Meaning of the Great Thanksgiving
- One Loaf: The Missional and Evangelistic Implications of Sharing Communion
Designed for new and longtime church members, this book is an accessible way to learn more about the meaning of the sacraments in the United Methodist communion in a nonsectarian, yet thoroughly United Methodist way.
Sacraments & Discipleship ($17.95), is available from Discipleship Resources, 800/685-4370 or online at www.discipleshipresources.org. It is also available from Cokesbury.
Faces Behind the Places
In an effort to depict the history of Indiana United Methodism for the church's bicentennial, archives student intern, Karen Mullins has produced an exhibit titled Faces Behind the Places. Names such as DePauw, Humbert, Asbury, Roberts and Ridpath are well known to the DePauw and Greencastle communities through places bearing those names. But few know much about the people who are memorialized by those places. Mullins provides a look at their lives in her exhibit at the Roy O. West Library and through a new area to the archives, the web site exhibit. The web version, located on the archives web pages at http://www.depauw.edu/library/archives/, provides photographs, documents, pictures of artifacts and historical information about the places and their namesakes. Also included is a film clip of former DePauw president, Russell Humbert speaking about UM-related DePauw University.
George Barna to visit Indianapolis
If you want your church to be healthy, deep and strategic, plan to join George Barna when he visits Indianapolis on May 22 to present his new seminar, entitled BARNA 200-2001. Four challenging, fact-filled, practical sessions will be presented: Outreach, Ministry Evaluation, Discipleship, and Leadership Teams. To receive a registration form, please contact 800/55-BARNA or visit www.barna.org.
Celebrate UM Archives 50th!
The United Methodist Archives at DePauw University, Greencastle will extend its annual open house Alumni Reunion Weekend to include a special exhibit of "Treasures From the Archives." The event will take place June 1, from 2-4 p.m. and June 2 from 1-3 p.m. with a tour being offered on June 1 from 3:15-4 p.m
Many interesting and old, but rarely seen items from the collections of the archives will be on display. Elijah Evans Edwards' Civil War diary; a journal of circuit-riding preacher, Francis Asbury Hester; books from the 15th century; film clips of DePauw and taped lectures by favorite faculty of the past, are just some of the things that will be available for visitors to enjoy.
Children's activities point to 'better world'
Children will learn to build a better world with a new curriculum prepared by Church World Service. Build a Better World! is designed for elementary school-age children in vacation church school, camp, Sunday school or other settings. It features four "journeys," each involving a story of a child, along with a related Bible study, suggestions of hands-on activities and take-home sheets. Imani, a giraffe whose name means "hope" in Swahili, serves as mascot through the program. The colorful 24-page book includes a poster.
The journey to Ghana, for example, features Helene and Kojo, who are raising rabbits to eat and sell as part of a farm project supported by Church World Service. Other journeys are to Honduras, Cambodia and "around the block" to a family at a homeless shelter.
Carol Wehrheim, the curriculum's author, recently won the Educator of the Year award given by the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators. Church educators from several denominations did field testing of the resource.
Up to 10 copies of Build a Better World! are available for free. Eleven to 99 copies cost $1 each and 100 or more copies cost 75 cents each. To order, call 800/297-1516 or write to Church World Service, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, Ind. 46515. The agency's web site is www.churchworldservice.org. (provided by the United Methodist News Service)
New Study guide available
Steps Toward Wholeness: Learning and Repentance is the title of the 36-page guide intended to help United Methodist congregations prepare for "acts of repentance for racism" and to aid in pan-Methodist conversations on union. The guide was prepared by the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns for a study sponsored by the agency and the church's Council of Bishops. Members of the Commission on Pan-Methodist Cooperation and Union reviewed the guide during their March meeting. For further information on securing a copy of the guide, contact the Conference office.
Publishing House takes lively tack with VBS materials
(UMNS) - Look for next year's vacation Bible school offerings from the United Methodist Church to keep their biblical emphasis but also to reflect a new approach that makes them more exciting for children.
That's the word from the United Methodist Publishing House, which is in the middle of developing and testing its VBS offerings for summer 2002. Staff members gave the Publishing House's governing directors an overview during the board's March 23-24 meeting.
"We're having an exciting year," said Susan Salley, director of new business development, as she began describing the development of the new VBS program.
The Publishing House is trying to increase the usage among United Methodist congregations of VBS curriculum produced by its Cokesbury unit. Research shows that about 21 percent of the denomination's churches that don't use Cokesbury's materials have been using programs from Group Publishing. While survey respondents gave Cokesbury's VBS materials high marks for solid Bible teaching, Group Publishing scored highly for its exciting, interactive materials.
Last September, the Publishing House embarked on an 11-month process that involves staying in close contact with customers as it develops the 2002 VBS materials. In roundtable discussions held at the outset of the process, customers told the Publishing House that they wondered whether Cokesbury's VBS materials could maintain strong biblical teaching and also be exciting, Salley said.
Since then, however, the Publishing House has come up with a VBS program that is interactive. The new curriculum calls for involving children in the telling of Bible stories by giving them props and having them make sound effects. The lessons are designed to work within the 20- to 25-minute periods that VBS teachers typically have for presenting Bible stories.
The new program will be tested in June and July with three different types of users: a group of churches committed to Group Publishing materials, a group committed to Cokesbury materials and an evening/outreach VBS, Salley said.
The new VBS product will be called "God's Great Gallery: Exploring God's Wonderful Works," said the Rev. Judy Smith, executive director of publishing.
This summer: 'Way to Go'
"God's Great Gallery" represents a continuation of a process that has been under way for some time, as the Publishing House has tried to hone its VBS offerings. Its VBS program for this summer, "Way To Go: Good Neighbor Tours," reflects a similar approach to providing materials that are more engaging for children.
The Publishing House is projecting that "Way To Go" will propel VBS sales to the $3.3 million mark for 2001. VBS sales were $1.9 million in 1998 and $2.3 million in 2000, said the Rev. Ben Alford, board member.
Last updated January 14, 2004