|
HOME
| e-HUM
News
|
e-HUM
ANNOUNCEMENTS
| SUBSCRIBE
|
||
|
||
|
e-HUM is a free service of Indiana Area United Methodist Communications, www.inareaumc.org. Subscribers will receive late-breaking news, announcements and Church resources via e-mail. We welcome your comments and submissions, please direct to e-HUM editor at ehumeditor@inareaumc.org. |
||
United Methodist Commercials Air on 14 TV NetworksOffering Messages of Hope During Christmas Season This is the third Advent flight of national television commercials from The United Methodist Church, sharing the meaning of Christmas with more than 45 million television viewers across the United States for three weeks beginning Dec. 8. "The Gift" and "Dream" television spots are now airing. To view the spots go to the Media Warehouse at www.mediawarehouse.ignitingministry.org The Rev. Larry Hollon, chief executive of the denomination's communication agency, said the two television commercials, "The Gift" and "Dream," are important messages of hope for viewers. "The most important part of the Christmas season is not receiving, but giving of ourselves to others," Hollon said. "Our commercials focus on simple, vital lessons of faith. We remind folks of the importance of giving and tell people going through a difficult period that the church is there for them." Look for the television messages on the following networks: A&E, BET, History Channel, TNT, Hallmark, MSNBC, HGTV, USA Network, ABC Family, Fox Sports, TLC, Lifetime, Korean-language stations, Telefutura and Telemundo.
New Fishers congregation breaks ground"The promise of life that is in Christ Jesus." 2 Timothy 1:1 FISHERS, Ind. -- More than 100 members and friends of The Promise, a new United Methodist startup congregation, recently broke ground at 116th and Brooks School Road east of Fishers, a north Indianapolis suburb. The Promise is the first congregation to be planted under the new South Indiana Conference-wide, aggressive new church-start strategy. The conference provided land and $450,000 to launch this new ministry. Construction of the 22,000 sq. ft. facility will begin this spring at an estimated cost of $2 million. The Promise serves more than 120 worshippers during Sunday morning and Wednesday night services. Most of those are what lead pastor the Rev. Rusty Allanson calls "un-churched or de-churched" people between 30 and 45 years of age, who have discovered Christ and are learning how to become Christians. Of the church's 68 members, only a handful of them were part of a congregation prior to coming to The Promise. Allanson, 42, the church's pastor-teacher, told Together the past 19 months have been some of the most challenging and exciting times in his life. During these months, The Promise meets in rented Marsh Mall property at the same intersection land is being excavated for the new building. Three years ago, Allanson was appointed with his wife Paulette to what he refers to as "a gravel parking lot." With the help of 20 mission volunteers, of surrounding United Methodist congregations who committed themselves to this new church planting for six months, The Promise took root. From this beginning 14 area residents who had little or no contact with churches formed a core team to give the fledgling church leadership to grow. The Promise sees its mission: "To develop persons into faithful followers of Jesus Christ." Allanson says The Promise's 5,000 sq. ft. rented storefront space is crowded. A quarter of the congregation is made up of children and youth. He serves with the Rev. Jennifer Greenlee, 32, associate pastor. The two lead a weekly Sunday service and Sunday school plus a unique Wednesday night ministry known as ConneXion. Wednesday night begins with dinner, prayer and praise worship and face-out learning groups for adults. Two to three adult education offerings run for six to eight weeks. Kids experience "Promise Land," what Allanson describes as a year-round Vacation Bible School with crafts, songs and stories. Allanson asks prayers for The Promise ministry and for the other new church plants at New Albany and Southport's The Harbor. For more information, log on to www.thepromisechurch.org. Blankets reach Native American destinations with help from friendsMARION, Ind. - Blankets collected at the North Indiana United Methodist Conference sessions in the heat last summer at West Lafayette will warm Native Americans in South Dakota and the Nebraska panhandle this winter. United Methodists from Christland and Hanfield United Methodist churches in the Marion area organized a modern-day wagon train to deliver the blankets. This past fall three pickup trucks, one van and one trailer loaded with blankets left Marion at the crack of dawn for South Dakota. Dottie Dexheimer, Lucy Davis, Darrel McGriff, Mike Green, and Mick and Karen Roush, delivered the blankets to the St. Joseph's Indian School in Chamberlain, S.D. and the Lower Brule Reservation in S.D. The St. Joseph's Indian School ( www.stjo.org ) was a treat for the group. The team thoroughly enjoyed a powwow, as well as delivering the blankets and touring the school. The Hoosier volunteers said their hearts went out to the school's children and administrators. "The children are often left off with only the clothes on their backs and the school must provide clothing, food, medical needs and school supplies for the entire school year," said Dexheimer. The school is a Catholic residential-educational facility for Native American children and youth operated by the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, Inc. The Lower Brule Indian (Sioux) Reservation residents have a 65 percent unemployment rate, according to Dexheimer, and their needs are great. The team also visited the Hands of Hope serving the Lakota Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation, S.D. The unemployment rate there is 85 percent. Besides needing basic clothing, medical care and financial donations, the people desperately need job training so they can earn a sustainable income to support their families. The final stop was Panhandle Rescue Ministries in Gordon Neb. There, team members met with Phil and Carole Sue Compton, former Grant County, Ind. residents who teach Native Americans a sellable job skill. Dexheimer said she observed one ray of hope on the trip. She said, "colleges are being developed right on the reservation so that Native Americans can further their education and learn basic skills from people like the Comptons." Overall team members' appreciation for Native American history and the work being done on the reservations by organizations like Hands of Hope and Panhandle Rescue Ministries increased. They respect the work of the St. Joseph's Indian School staff in teaching children about their heritage and native language, as well as usual school subjects and faith. McGriff said he intends to continue helping students and staff at the school. All of the groups who received clothing, school supplies and more than 800 blankets expressed gratitude for these needed donations. They were awed and pleased with the blankets' quality. The team returned to Indiana on September 24. The blankets delivered were only a portion of the 2,291 blankets received during the North Indiana Annual Conference session in May. Other recipients included the Appalachian Henderson Settlement and African refugees through Operation Classroom. Monetary donations of $8,815 were also received at Annual Conference for the Surviving Orphan Children program of Murewa, Zimbabwe. For more information, log on to www.stjo.org.
Bishop's retreat for clergy coming in FebruaryINDIANAPOLIS - Take up the carpet and sweep the floor, Indiana's Bishop Woodie White will led in the theme "Dancing to the Song of Life" during the upcoming clergy's retreat next month in Indianapolis. The Bishop's Retreat for North and South Indiana United Methodist clergy, diaconal ministers and their spouses or friends is schedule for Feb. 15-17 at Keystone at the Crossing Sheraton Hotel. Highlighting the event are keynote speakers the Rev. Rosemary Brown, pastor of the Monroe Street and Jordonia UMC of Nashville, Tenn., and the Rev. Cynthia A. Wilson-Hollins, pastor of music, worship and communications at Ben Hill UMC of Atlanta, Ga. Wilson-Hollins is an accomplished vocalist and recording artist. In addition to presentations and worship, the retreat will include a dinner and dance with the Indy Express. Cost: $150 per person double occupancy, $250 per person single occupancy, and $100 per person for commuters not requiring hotel accommodations. Single pastors who register for the retreat may bring a guest for Monday night's dinner and dance for $50. Registration deadline is Jan. 16. For more information and registration call the North Indiana Conference office at 800-783-5138 ext. 12. Lebanon-based home provides compassion, services for youthBy Daniel R. Gangler LEBANON, Ind. - "Providing children and families with compassionate, supportive services remains the focus of Indiana United Methodist Children's Home," according to Gary J. Davis, ACSW, executive director of the Indiana United Methodist Children's home located on a 15-acre campus in Lebannon. Davis says the home reaches out to youth and their families at a difficult time in their lives, when the feelings of despair and hopelessness are overwhelming. "Through the guidance, treatment and education offered by the home, children and families are helped to overcome significant struggles including the negative effects of physical and emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect," he said. According to Susan Bennett, the home's spokeswoman, the stresses and pressures on families today contribute to many dynamics in the home that often negatively impact children. The Indiana Division of Family and Children reports that 63,032 children in Indiana were reported to Child Protection Services in 2001 for maltreatment. Seventy children in Indiana died of abuse in 2002, according to the Indiana Division of Family and Children. This was an increase from 54 deaths reported in 2001. Figures released Dec. 18 are encouraging showing 51 children died of abuse and neglect from July 2002 through June 2003, a decrease of 19 deaths. As an outreach ministry of both the North and South Indiana Conferences of The United Methodist Church in Indiana, the Indiana United Methodist Children's Home serves an average of 175 youth and their families during the year, according to Bennett. "The home has worked diligently in recent years to implement new programs with the emphasis of offering a continuum of care which can reach out to youth and families along a diverse range of presenting needs and problems," she said. Davis said, community based programs such as Home Based Counseling and Day Treatment in addition to several levels of residential treatment, enable the Home to serve an even greater number of youth and families in need of help. "Residential treatment services for youth in need of out-of-home care remains the keystone of the services offered on our campus," Davis said. These services include two highly staffed intensive care units which serve boys ages 10 through 15 years of age. According to IUMHC reports, the annual operating budget for the home in 2003 was $5.9 million. The home provided more than $1.5 million dollars in charitable or free care this past year to youth and their families who may otherwise not be able to access the services they need. Davis recently reported to the home's board of trustees that the financial support of the home through apportionments of the North and South Indiana United Methodist Conferences has decreased. He said the support of individuals and groups remains important in helping provide these charitable care services for youth and their families. Evansville receives $15-million grant to provide educational experiences with global perspectivesEVANSVILLE, Ind. - The University of Evansville has received a $15 million grant from the Lilly Endowment enabling the university to develop an Institute for Global Enterprise in Indiana. According to UE President Stephen G. Jennings, the Institute will enable the United Methodist-related university to integrate the liberal arts with its business and professional programs through development of experiential education initiatives. "The Institute will accentuate UE's strengths in international studies, global faculty relationships and study abroad programs," Jennings said. He also said UE's British Campus Harlaxton College, which has been serving a study-abroad facet of UE for more than 30 years, will be a good base for students to explore global internships and other opportunities abroad. "UE will be looking to the regional business community for collaboration opportunities in which our students can learn experientially. We want to prepare today's students to be tomorrow's professionally and culturally astute workforce," Jennings said. "The support from Lilly Endowment will enable the University to fulfill this vital educational function." Jennings said the grant's funding provisions include approximately $10 million to support ongoing operational costs during the five years. The additional $5 million will provide resources for the development of the UE's physical facilities and technology systems to provide students with world-class facilities, including a video conferencing center. The Lilly Endowment also infused the University of Evansville with an additional $750,000 to help increase the number of students that remain in Indiana following their graduation. The $750,000 will be used to create two new positions to further enhance the University's goals to have more students involved in internship, co-op and other real-life experiences in Indiana and to help them better prepare for their job searches. A new Assistant Director of Alumni Relations for Career Development will be one of the new positions created through this grant. Wesley Manor breaks ground for $10.7 million expansionFRANKFORT, Ind. - Wesley Manor Retirement Community prepared for current and future residents by breaking ground Oct. 4 for a $10.7 million expansion to serve residents suffering from Alzheimer's disease and other causes of dementia. This expansion, attached to the manor's current health center, will add 50 memory care unit beds. Upon completion, Wesley Manor plans to renovate the ground and first floors of the health center, housing the third phase of dementia. Manor officials say additional private rooms and semi-private rooms will be included in the renovation. Manor spokesperson Nancy A. Raidy said, "the new unit will provide a significant and powerful opportunity to impact the lives of many of our Wesley Manor family members." Wesley Manor completed its first year of a $1.6 million dollar, three-year capital campaign to help fund a portion of the expansion. Manor residents, staff and the community as well as others who believe in this ministry wanted to help with this important project and have given $1.2 million in cash gifts and pledges to date. For more information contact Raidy at 765-656-2109 or by e-mail at nraidy@wesleymanor.org. Operation Classroom prepares for Liberian restorationSupplies being sent to Liberia and Sierra Leone By Daniel R. Gangler INDIANAPOLIS - Hoosiers are preparing themselves to travel to Liberia and Sierra Leone to assist United Methodist there to restore their lives, schools, clinics, hospitals and property with the ending of civil war. The countries are war torn and many United Methodist facilities are badly damaged. Operation ClassroomIn the midst of this crisis, there is hope. Joe Wagner, Indiana coordinator of Operation Classroom, reported in December to the Indiana OC committee that schools in Monrovia are open. The College of West Africa, located in the midst of heavy fighting last summer, has sustained heavy damage. All of the United Methodist run schools should be open by January. Even though Liberia is functioning under a new government and the fighting has ceased, Wagner said reports from Anthony Dioh, the OC coordinator in Liberia, indicate that there are still between 37,000 and 40,000 "child soldiers" with guns roaming the country. Disarmament has begun to take place in Buchanan and Tubmanburg. Indiana's OC has sent two 40-foot shipping container to Liberia filled with school supplies. The contents have been transferred to a safe warehouse. In Sierra Leone, all the schools are open. Operation Classroom is receiving $15,000 worth of computer equipment from the Women's Division of the General Board of Global Ministries for the schools in Sierra Leone. Operation Classroom will be providing $100 per computer for packing and shipping. Indiana has joined other OC partners in relief efforts who also are busy fulfilling immediate needs in Liberia. Hoosiers provide salary support for Liberia's OC Coordinator Anthony Dioh, support the staff at Peal Center, provide 500 scholarships [100 per school], and partner with five schools. Holstein Conference (Central Tenn., Western Virginia) has sent 4,500 student school kits, have spent $145,000 on renovations at J.J. Roberts and have worked at schools in Taptari and Marshall City. Minnesota Conference is in partnership with three elementary schools and worked last year at the Arthur Kulah School in Virginia, Liberia. Operation DoctorOC's sibling project Indiana's Operation Doctor committee also met in December. Of greatest concern to this dozen member group was the opening of the United Methodist-run Ganta Hospital in Ganta, Liberia, which sustained considerable damage this past summer during the civil war. A counseling team from Indiana plans to conduct a counseling seminar in Monrovia in March. The Rev. Herbert Zigbuo, a native of Liberia and Station Superintendent of the Ganta mission, has been appointed as the acting hospital administrator. Dr. Albert Willicor has been appointed as a physician at the new Ganta Health Center, an outpatient community clinic. More than 100 positions of the hospital's 125 employee staff were terminated when the hospital was closed this past year. Zigbuo and his wife Mary plan to move to the Ganta Mission Station the first week of February. The remaining hospital staff will run the new health center. Zigbuo hopes to open the center by mid-March, according to Wagner. Wagner also said the hospital needs a water well system, a $12,000 project for which OD is considering to raise funds. No major reconstruction at Ganta will be planned until there is stability in Liberia. Meanwhile, OD continues to raise $100,000 needed to build a 30-bed ward at the United Methodist-run Kissy Maternity and Health Center in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Wagner said $8,000 has been raised. He asks congregations and individuals to fund the rest of this goal suggesting $3,000 contributions. Wagner to retire from pastoral ministryDuring the OC meeting, Wagner informed the committee that he would be retiring from pastoral ministry in June due to mandatory retirement of clergy at age 70. He is currently appointed to Colfax UMC, 30 miles northwest of Indianapolis. However, he and his wife Carolyn will continue to work "part-time" with Operation Classroom and Operation Doctor. Wagner has been involved with these outreach projects to Liberia and Sierra Leone since they were established in 1987. In other business, the OC approved an asking of $30,056 from each of the two Indiana Annual Conference for 2005. Each conference is expected to contribute $27,832 in 2004. The Indiana Area United Methodist Foundation also contributed $6,000 in 2003 and plans to contribute $10,000 this year. For more information about Operation Class and Operation Doctor, log on to www.operationclassroom.org. Editor's note: Operation Classroom, a mission project begun in 1987 by United Methodist churches in several states, provides schools, health centers and clinics in Sierra Leone and Liberia. It is supported by the North Indiana, South Indiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, Great Rivers (Illinois), and Holston (Central Tenn., Western Va.) annual conferences and by designated contributions given through the Advance for Christ and His Church of the General Board of Global Ministries ( www.gbgm.org ). Budget woes stall new United Methodist missionariesNEW YORK (UMNS) - Lower than expected budget projections for 2004 by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries will mean a continued hold on new full-time missionaries. Despite that reality, the Rev. R. Randy Day, the board's chief executive, has announced his "firm commitment" to training and assigning new missionaries in the future. "I expect that in 2005 we will achieve a sustainable level of mission personnel," he said, during an address at the board's annual meeting in October. "I hope that we can commission some deaconesses and short-term young adult (missionaries) sooner." Norma Kehrberg, chairperson of the United Methodist Missionary Association, told United Methodist News Service that while she appreciated Day's words of affirmation, the organization was concerned about the two-year gap in the appointment of long-term missionaries. In response, UMMA is urging the board to launch a renewed fundraising campaign to support missionaries, including the use of an appeal for funds through the denomination's Council of Bishops. During 2003, the mission agency did not renew the expiring contracts of 18 full-time missionaries because of financial shortfalls. Fifteen missionaries retired in 2003 and another 18 missionaries asked not to be reassigned, leaving 93 in the category of standard support missionaries. A freeze on recruitment of mission personnel in any category also has been in effect through 2003. Statistics released during the October meeting showed a total of 711 commissioned personnel in all categories. That figure compared to 949 in 2002. The overall total, including other types of non-commissioned mission personnel and partner church mission personnel, was 1,050, a decrease of 1,001 from 2002. News In BriefAfrica church leaders pledge support to fight HIV/AIDSChristian leaders from around Africa have pledged to support a 10-point covenant for fighting HIV/AIDS that emphasizes prevention and the provision of affordable drugs for all who need them. Meeting recently in Yaounde, Cameroon, delegates to the All Africa Conference of Churches Eighth Assembly reviewed the statistics, heard testimonies from HIV-positive clergy and laity and adopted the 10-point covenant. "As far as we are concerned, this is war," said the Rev. Mvume Dandala, a Methodist pastor and chief executive for the All Africa Conference of Churches. The covenant included a pledge to promote HIV prevention for all people and to work to make anti-retroviral drugs available to all who need them. The United Methodist Church is a member of the All Africa Conference. Lack of funds restricts United States relief effortsA lack of funds is severely restricting the United Methodist Committee on Relief's ability to respond to disasters around the world. The agency's "Churchwide Appeal for USA Domestic Disasters," launched in October, had only drawn in tens of thousands of dollars in donations by early December, far short of an anticipated $2 million goal. Information on the appeal is available at http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor. Donations can be designated for "Churchwide Appeal for USA Domestic Disasters," UMCOR Advance No. 901670, and dropped in church offering plates or sent to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10015. Credit-card donors can call (800) 554-8583, and online donations can be made at the Web site. Interfaith leaders encourage Bush to continue peace efforts in Middle EastBishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader was among 32 prominent interfaith leaders who gathered recently at the National Press Club in Washington to encourage President Bush to continue his efforts at building peace in the Middle East. Rader, bishop of the United Methodist Church's Wisconsin Area and secretary of the denomination's Council of Bishops, attended the meeting as a representative of the council. "The significant thing about this group is that it involves Jews and Muslims and Christians together," Rader said after the press conference. "It involves not only Protestant Christians but Roman Catholic Christians, evangelical Christians as well as mainline, and that's very significant." Social action agency want presidential candidates to put poverty at top of listWith the U.S. presidential election less than a year away, major religious leaders sought to put poverty in the United States on the top of the electoral agenda during a recent roundtable discussion on poverty. The Nov. 24 National Religious Leaders Roundtable on Poverty in Washington gathered religious leaders and heads of faith-based organizations from a wide spectrum of Christian denominations to craft strategies to highlight poverty-related priorities. James Winkler, top executive of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, said a presidential electoral focus on poverty is critical. The meeting was held by the Call to Renewal network. |
||
 for more details and additional events, visit our Happenings page. |
||
|
"e-HUM" copyright 2003 by
Indiana Area United Methodist Communications. |
||
