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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, please direct to e-HUM editor at ehumeditor@inareaumc.org. |
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North Indiana flood survivors are asked for patience in clean upBy Matthew Oates ACROSS NORTH INDIANA -- As communities across the North Indiana United Methodist Conference begin to clean up, the United Methodist Committee On Relief and other disaster-relief organizations are heeding residents to proceed with caution and to seek help. The Rev. Don Weaver, an UMCOR volunteer from Buffalo, N.Y., is advising people who are cleaning up in the 40 counties of northern and central Indiana to be careful and not rush repairing houses, as well as the importance of contacting FEMA, no matter how much or how little damage the property received. According to Weaver, some families have received their checks from FEMA and have been replacing drywall over wet studs and insulation, which encourages the growth of mold and mildew. "This is a critical issue," said Weaver. "They need to be patient." To help combat the potential health hazards of a quick fix, Weaver and other members of the North Indiana Conference are awaiting the arrival of moisture meters from UMCOR. The meters are placed in the studs to measure the amount of moisture; if the studs, drywall and insulation are still wet, homeowners are told not to replace the drywall just yet. Weaver and the Rev. Paul Wohlford, conference disaster coordinator, also are meeting and working with the Indiana Voluntary Organizations Assisting in Disasters (INVOAD), FEMA, the American Red Cross and other faith communion groups to establish six areas of local disaster response to aid the recovery effort. "We're trying to break it up in workable groups," said Weaver, noting that while the waters are decreasing in the eastern part of the state, they are still high in the western and southern parts of the state. The two are looking at the flood recovery to take about two years. "I wish we could do some magic and get everyone back settled in their own homes," said Wohlford. Other actions UMCOR is taking with the area include:
UMCOR did not assign an advance number for the Indiana flooding, but did send a $10,000 gift from the "One Great Hour of Sharing" fund to start the work. Weaver explained that while Indiana and other parts of the nation may have experienced flooding, many of the same areas have also experienced severe weather. Bishop pleas for helpTo help the cleanup, Bishop Woodie W. White, Indiana Area bishop, sent a letter to all the churches of the conference asking for not only prayers but also special offerings to be received for flood and disaster relief for north Indiana United Methodist churches. Gifts need to be sent to Brent Williams, NIC treasurer, at the conference office in Marion. He asked churches to send contributions "North Indiana Conference Disaster Response" and send them to the North Indiana Conference Treasurer, P.O. Box 869, Marion, IN 46952. He also asked churches to send these fund immediately after receiving them to facilitate in clean up efforts. Those interested in volunteering for clean up work may contact the following people:
Matthew Oates is the North Indiana correspondent for the Indiana Area United Methodist Communications. He may be contacted at 765-423-6565 or by e-mail at wmmattoates@hotmail.com; wmoates@nlci.com Mission coordinators please with Bush's plan for LiberiaCOLFAX, Ind. -- With the recent move by President George W. Bush to place troops offshore of Liberia, Indiana Area's Operation Classroom coordinators, are pleased with the prospect for the United States intervention in this war-torn country. The Rev. Joe and Carolyn Wagner have worked for years with churches across the United Methodist North and South Indiana Conferences sending supplies to Liberia and Sierra Leone through Operation Classroom. "We are very much in favor of President Bush sending troops into Liberia. We have written U.S. Senators Lugar and Bayh and President Bush four times over the past few months about the U.S. involvement in Liberia," said the Wagners. "We have encouraged others to do the same. There has been so much destruction and loss of life." They believe the United States should have intervened in 1990, and if the U.S. had done so, the situation today might be much different. "We do not think the U.S. soldiers will be in the kind of danger they are in Iraq. The Liberians are asking for U.S. intervention. The U.S. needs to take the moral lead and help organize a peacekeeping force," they said. The Wagners have been in contact with missionaries and others in Liberia during this present crisis. "The situation is very critical in Monrovia and in greater Liberia. Operation Classroom is very committed to assist our brothers and sisters through this difficulty and will be helping to reopen the schools and Ganta Hospital as soon as possible," said the Wagners. "It is important that some stability come into Liberia as soon as possible. They have suffered long enough." For more information about Operation Classroom, log on to www.gbgm-umc.org/operationclassroom. Giving to UMC general church ministries down for first half of 2003Indiana giving down but recovering UMNS -- United Methodist giving to apportioned funds, which support the bulk of churchwide programs, dropped 3.3 percent during the first six months of this year. Indiana giving continues to be down, but showing signs of recovery. Apportioned-fund receipts, at $37.1 million, were about $1.3 million less than what church members had given by June 30 last year, according to the General Council on Finance and Administration. Giving to all churchwide ministries, including outreach and relief funds, totaled $53.1 million at the end of June. Sandra Kelley Lackore, GCFA staff head and the denomination's treasurer, told United Methodist News Service she was concerned by a 4.7 percent drop in contributions to the World Service Fund -- from $20.6 million during the first half of 2002 to $19.7 million this year -- which she said could affect program Agencies' ability to carry on their work. Apportionment giving for the South Indiana Conference as of June 30 is down 5.8 percent from last year having received 73.7 percent of this year's apportionments, according to SIC Treasurer Brent Wilson. But there is some improvement. Wilson told Hoosier United Methodist News that "while the amount given as a percentage of the amount apportioned is lower than in 2002, the difference between the two years has been improving over the past several months." As of June 30, SIC has received $200,000 more than last year at this time. This year receipts total $4.4 million; last year at this time, receipts totaled $4.2. The story is similar for the North Indiana Conference. According to NIC Treasurer Brent Williams, the percentage of receipts are down 4 percent from 2002. Apportionment receipts as of June 30 totaled $3.8 million or 75 percent. Last year at this time apportionment receipts totaled $3.9 million or 79 percent. NIC has experienced a decrease in both the amount of money received and the percentage of the apportionment expected by year's end. Burton named chaplain at DePauw UniversityGREENCASTLE, Ind. -- United Methodist-related DePauw University announced that effective July 1, the Rev. Larry Burton, pastor at Gobin United Methodist Church in Greencastle adjacent to the school, became University Chaplain at DePauw. Lewis Bogage will continue as University Rabbi and the Rev. William Hamilton has become coordinator of the Religious Life Office. Upon the announcement, Hamilton said, "We will work as a team with representatives of local churches and faculty-staff advisers to Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim students." Sweet to lead workshops about reaching people beyond the churchThe Rev. Dr. Leonard Sweet has a unique understanding of how to reach people of today who are not ordinarily found within the walls of the church. He will lead two workshop sessions on how the world has changed in this new century and what we, as laity and clergy, can do to bring them home to Jesus and to the church. He plans to lead a discuss on how to present the ancient Faith to a post-modern people. The workshops are scheduled for October 4 for the Elderhostel at Epworth Forest Cost is $89. For more information contact Epworth Forest Conference Center, P.O. Box 16, North Webster, IN 46555. Phone 574-834 2212. Scouting asks churches to strengthen ties with unitsNASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- United Methodists, already major sponsors of scouting programs, will be asked to strengthen their congregations' ties with scouting when the church's lawmaking assembly meets next spring. United Methodist churches sponsor 408,000 Boy Scouts and Venture Crews -- which are coeducational groups -- in 12,200 units. That's the highest number in any denomination, according to the church's Commission on United Methodist Men in Nashville. The number of Venture Crews units has doubled in the last five years. The denomination also has 108,000 Girl Scouts in 15,000 troops -- figures that are also believed to be the highest among all churches. In an effort to strengthen local church ties to scouting, the Commission on United Methodist Men will ask the church's General Conference next year to define the duties of a scouting coordinator who would relate to the church council, the church school superintendent and the coordinators of children and youth ministries. Some churches already have such a coordinator, but many do not. The coordinator would work with the pastor to plan Scouting Ministries Sunday and promote recognition awards, including the Bishop's Award of Excellence for scouting units, the Cross and Flame, and the Good Samaritan. More information about scouting is available from the Office of Civic Youth-Serving Agencies/Scouting, P.O. Box 340006, Nashville, TN 37203-0006; phone: 615-340-7129. Log on to www.naums.org. Beans, rice and oil bound for Haiti missionBy Mike Blalock Volunteers from Arizona, California, Illinois and Michigan loaded July 10 more than 11 tons of beans, rice and oil headed for the Methodist D'Haiti group in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Volunteers loaded the provisions onto a 40-foot oceangoing container at the United Methodist Midwest Mission Distribution Center in Chatham, Ill. near Springfield. First United Methodist Church of Springfield, Ill., headed the food drive other UMCs throughout the Illinois Great Rivers Conference supported the project. Volunteers also loaded another 10 tons of Project Schoolroom items onto the container. The additional items included more than 4,000 hand-sewn school bags filled with school supplies and 110 handmade school desks. Combined this with school items shipped to Haiti four weeks ago, more than 30 tons of educational materials will aid Haitian schools. A total of more than 11,000 school bags plus 500 school desks were shipped in the two loads. The distribution center is related to the United Methodist Illinois Great River Annual Conference and supported by Midwest United Methodists. For more information call 217-483-7911, or writing to PO Box 56, Chatham, IL 62629. The email address is midwestmissionDC@aol.com. News In BriefBy United Methodist News Service The United States and the United Methodist Church must take immediate action to bring peace to Liberia, says Bishop Felton Edwin May, who has consulted with the White House on humanitarian and economic issues in Africa. "It is with peace in mind that I congratulate President George W. Bush on his recent trip to Africa, and urge him to authorize American participation in an international peacekeeping effort in Liberia," said May, leader of the denomination's Washington Area, in a July 10 statement. Concerned about Liberia's deteriorating situation, the Rev. R. Randy Day, top staff executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, is calling on the international community to act. Day voiced particular concern for the loss of life and the destruction of basic institutions. United Methodists can respond through the Liberia Emergency Fund, Advance #150300. Donations can be dropped in church offering plates or sent to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Credit-card donors can call 800-554-8583.
The percentage of clergywomen at the General Conference of the United Methodist Church will continue to rise following the election of delegates to the 2004 assembly in Pittsburgh. A record 34 percent of the 400 clergy delegates from the United States will be women. This figure compares with a recent report that 18.5 percent of all active United Methodist clergy are women. United Methodist News Service analyzed data on the delegates to develop a profile of the church's top lawmaking assembly. At the 2000 gathering, 27.8 percent of clergy delegates from the states were female -- a record level at that time. The church is sending 984 voting member delegates from around the world to the assembly in Pittsburgh meeting April 27-May 7. Bread for the World Institute, an international research organization, has issued a new edition of "Hunger No More," a packet of educational materials designed for use by congregations. Both the new materials and last year's "Hunger No More: Decisions 2002" were sponsored by the United Methodist Committee on Relief. The "Hunger No More" packet is available for $5 from Bread for the World at www.bread.org or may be downloaded without cost at that site. Orders may be also be sent to Bread for the World, 50 F St. NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20001. Church World Service, the humanitarian agency supported by the United Methodist Church and many other denominations, is shipping $1.2 million in donated medical supplies to Iraq. The United Methodist Committee on Relief is responding to the crisis in Iraq through ecumenical agencies such as CWS. Contributions can be designated for UMCOR's Advance #623225-4 "Iraq Emergency" and placed in church offering plates or sent to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. United Methodist leaders are calling on the church to provide immediate food relief to avert starvation in Zimbabwe. The food shortage, affecting nearly 12 million people, is a result of the controversial land reform program of the government and is worsened by runaway inflation, pegged by the government at 268 percent, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, unemployment, a breakdown in the rule of law and other factors. Donations can be designated for the Africa Famine, Advance #101250-4, and dropped in church offering plates or sent to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Credit-card donations can be made by calling 800-554-8583. The Shared Mission Focus on Young People is accepting grant applications through Nov. 15 from United Methodist ministries concentrating on young people 12-30 years old. The up to $15,000 grants will be awarded to local churches, annual conferences and districts and other entities focusing on young people in the United States and in Central Conferences. Other information is available online at www.idreamachurch.com/grants.asp The nine-member Judicial Council will meet Oct. 22-25 in San Diego and will consider a varied docket including an appeal from Seattle Bishop Elias Galvan regarding the Rev. Karen Dammann, a lesbian pastor, as well as a request for a declaratory decision on equitable compensation for women pastors and several matters of due process. The United Methodist Church's Book of Discipline affirms gay people as persons of sacred worth, but it forbids the ordination and appointment of self-avowed, practicing homosexuals. Galvan did not appoint her to a church that year, and she appealed to the Judicial Council, the denomination's top court. United Methodist Commission on Communication asks the 2004 General Conference to expand significantly the church's Igniting Ministry initiative in 2005-2008. The expansion, if approved by the church's top legislative body next year, would include ads designed to appeal to young people as well as people outside the United States. UMCom will ask the denomination's 2004 General Conference to budget $33.5 million for the television advertising campaign during the 2005-2008 quadrennium. The separate youth expression is proposed at $5.4 million over the four-year period. With a wide-open mission field of people who have no formal religious affiliation but are on a spiritual journey, the Rev. Mary Scifres sees ample opportunity for United Methodist churches to fill pews with people hungry for Christ. But first, churches must learn to become "seeker friendly," she says. Scifres, a Seattle pastor and author, led two classes at the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts' biennial gathering, July 10-15, in Dearborn, Mich. Africa University in Zimbabwe is offering a new endowed scholarship for students enrolled in its education, theology, and agriculture and natural resources programs. The William L. and Martha P. McFadden Endowed Scholarship will educate one student annually for as long as Africa University exists. For details, contact the Africa University Development Office, P.O. Box 340007, Nashville, TN 37203-0007; telephone: 615-340-7438; fax: 615-340-7290; e-mail: ejenkins@gbhem.org. "Sisters" is a new, video-based Bible study for women produced by United Methodist Communications and United Methodist Publishing House. For details, contact EcuFilm, 888-346-3862, or Cokesbury, 800-672-1789. Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., has established a scholarship for entering freshman students that honors the school's eight alumni bishops. Organizers have set a goal of $500,000 for the fund, and the first scholarship will be awarded in fall 2005. The eight Millsaps alumni bishops are Roy Clark of Nashville, Tenn.; Ellis Finger of Asheville, N.C.; Larry Goodpaster of Montgomery, Ala.; Clay Lee Jr., of Jackson; Mary Ann McDonald Swenson of Pasadena, Calif.; Timothy Whitaker of Lakeland, Fla.; the late Joel McDavid and the late Nolan Harmon. For more information, log on to www.millsaps.edu. United Methodists can portray their view of the United Nations through essays and art for a contest sponsored by the Board of Church and Society's United Nations office. People from all over the world may participate. Cash prizes will be awarded, and the winning entries will be published. The contest seeks to encourage people throughout the church to think about the role of the United Nations as an instrument of peace and justice. The contest theme is "multilateralism," a term that describes the United Nations' decision making. Deadline for submission is Oct. 10. Details are at www.umc-gbcs.org or may be obtained by calling 212-682-3633. Winners will be announced on U.N. Sunday, Oct. 26. |
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