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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 and submissions, please direct to e-HUM editor at ehumeditor@inareaumc.org. |
Indiana delegates pick two episcopal hopefulsBoth North and South Indiana United Methodist delegates endorsed senior pastors as episcopal candidates during mid-November meetings. North Conference General and Jurisdictional Conferences delegates have endorsed the Rev. Mark Fenstermacher, senior pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Elkhart (www.3umc.org) as an episcopal candidate. South Conference General and Jurisdictional Conferences delegates have endorsed the Rev. Gregory McGarvey, senior pastor of Carmel United Methodist Church in north suburban Indianapolis (www.carmelumc.org) as an episcopal candidate. Candidates do not need to be endorsed by an annual conference to be elected bishop. Episcopal elections are open to all qualified Elders of The United Methodist Church. Each delegation spent five months using a discernment process to endorse their candidate. Both candidates are delegates to the 2004 General Conference of The United Methodist Church. These two pastors will join other candidates from other conferences of the North Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church who will meet July 14-17 at Davenport, Iowa to elect three ordained ministers to the episcopacy. The other four jurisdictions of the church will elect bishops at the same time. Bishops will be installed in their episcopal assignments in September 2004. The Indiana Area will receive a new bishop. Indiana's current Bishop Woodie W. White will retire in August 2004 and move to Atlanta, Ga. McGarvey, a native Hoosier, brings more than 28 years of experience to his candidacy. He is a graduate of DePauw University at Greencastle, Ind., and Asbury Theological Seminary at Wilmore, Ky. He has served several South Indiana churches and was New Albany District Superintendent from 1983 to 1988. Before being appointed to Carmel, he was senior pastor of Old Bethel UMC located on Indianapolis' east side. McGarvey has specialized training in supervision from UM-related United Theological Seminary at Dayton, Ohio, where from 1977 to 1982 he served as a field associate and supervisor for students who were serving as student pastors in South Indiana. At Asbury, Greg majored in missions and made two trips to developing countries. He and his wife, Peggy, a registered nurse, have traveled in India, Nepal, Jordan, Israel and Egypt. Along with his pastoral duties, McGarvey is a board member of the Confessing Movement within The United Methodist Church based in Indianapolis. He also serves on the church's General Board of Pensions and Health Benefits and the South Indiana Conference Board of Pensions. The McGarveys have two sons, Christopher and Joshua. Fenstermacher, began his ministry as a part-time youth director at South Bend All Saints UMC in 1973. Currently he is the Senior Pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church, an energetic congregation in Elkhart. He is a graduate of Indiana University in Bloomington and Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C. He holds a Doctor of Ministry Degree in parish revitalization from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. His service to the church includes pastoral appointments as associate pastor at Trinity in Elkhart, pastor at Mishawaka Coalbush UMC, senior pastor at New Haven UMC and is currently senior pastor at Trinity. Along with his pastoral duties, he serves on the North Indiana Conference Board of Ordained Ministry and has served on the Dean's Task Force of Institute at Epworth Forest, a retreat center, and as the North Indiana Conference Coordinator of Workers with Youth. He recently convened a Task Force on Ordination for the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry that developed petitions for the upcoming 2004 General Conference. Fenstermacher received the Indiana Youth Institute's 2002 statewide Youth Investment Award for helping establish a city-wide tutoring effort in the public schools called C.A.R.E.S. (Communities Actively Relating to Elkhart Schools) which has more than 800 volunteers serving in Elkhart schools each week. He is married to Sharon Chapman Fenstermacher. They have three adult sons, Bryan, Nathan and Michael. General Conference prayer ministry sets agendaA grassroots group of Western Pennsylvania United Methodists plans to saturate the church's 2004 General Conference in prayer. The General Conference Prayer Ministry Team has a clear agenda. Not a political agenda, but a prayer agenda. According the co-chair, the Rev. John Seth of Harmony-Zelienople UMC, the team wants every aspect of General Conference - from preparations to deliberations, from delegates to bishops, from the Western Pa. host committee to the General Commission on General Conference -- covered in prayer. The team's Web site, www.gcprayerministry.org, explains how every individual and every United Methodist congregation can join in covering General Conference in prayer. Most of the site is already operational. Please check back often for updates and additions. General Conference petition deadline hereIndividuals and groups wanting to change policies, procedures and practices of The United Methodist Church have only until Saturday, Nov. 29 to submit petitions to the 2004 General Conference, the denomination's top lawmaking body, which meet next spring in Pittsburgh. The Rev. Gary W. Graves, petitions secretary, said he has received more than 1,000 petitions to date. The church's general agencies and many of the annual conferences have already submitted their petitions, according to Graves. Send petitions (three hard copies required and 3.5 inch diskette requested) by USPS mail to: Gary W. Graves, petitions secretary, United Methodist General Conference, P.O. Box 6, Beaver Dam, KY 42320. Send petitions (three hard copies required and 3.5-inch diskette requested) submitted via commercial carriers (FedEx, UPS, DHL) to: Gary W. Graves, petitions secretary, United Methodist General Conference, 302 N. Lafayette St., Beaver Dam, KY 42320. Send petitions by fax to 270-274-4590 or by e-mail to petitions@umpublishing.org. Liberians help country recover from civil warA UMNS-UMC.org Report by Joni Goheen MONROVIA, Liberia (UMNS) -- Fourteen years of conflict in Liberia came to an end in mid-October when Gyude Bryant became the leader of 2.7 million citizens of that West African nation. The United Methodist Church is helping reconcile former enemies while refurnishing and reopening schools and clinics, reconstructing Ganta United Methodist Hospital, and repairing buildings at United Methodist University in Monrovia. The Liberia United Methodist Annual Conference tries to reconcile supporters of former President Taylor with members of rebel factions and average citizens. "If you were a war leader or belonged to a rebel faction and you come back to church, how do we receive you?" asked Edwin Clarke, Liberia Conference director of communications. "The role the church is now playing is bringing its members back together for reconciliation." The church must also help some 45,000 fighters, half of them children, disarm and contribute to the rebuilding of the Liberia. Most schools and clinics run by the Liberia Annual Conference were temporarily closed during the war. The Ganta United Methodist Hospital, about 128 miles from the capital, was damaged so badly it will take thousands of dollars and months to get it back to its pre-war state. The United Methodist Committee on Relief has established Advance Fund #150385 to aid in rebuilding the hospital. Indiana's own Operation Classroom will meet in December to decide how to assist the hospital and schools and when to go to Liberia with a team of volunteers to work in Ganta. United Methodist University and nearby First UMC in downtown Monrovia also sustained heavy damage. The school was forced to close last May. Upon returning to the school this fall, students found they were sharing facilities with displaced persons. Final exams, which were interrupted in May, are under way, and commencement ceremonies are scheduled for late December or early January. "All is not lost," Clarke said. "At least there is life and with life we can go on doing what we have to do without feeling any remorse or feeling any hatred that we lost our place." The denomination has been active in Liberia since the early 1800s. The Liberia Annual Conference provides an array of services, including Ganta United Methodist Hospital, United Methodist University, a Human Rights and Peace With Justice Program, a school for deaf children, the Judith Craig Children's Village, a sanitation team, mental counseling programs and assessment teams. Contributions for ministries in Liberia may be designated for the United Methodist Committee on Relief's Liberia Emergency, Advance #150300, and dropped in church collection plates or sent to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. More details are available at http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/emergency/liberia.stm. For latest reports on and contributions to Indiana's Operation Classroom in Liberia and Sierra Leone, log on to www.operationclassroom.org. Operation Classroom is seeking $100,000 to construct a 30 bed ward at the UMC Maternity and Health Center. Congregations can help but offering alternative Christmas gifts to the work of Operation Classroom. A list of needs is available on the Operation Class Web site. A TV special on "Liberia - American Dream?" will be telecast Sunday, Nov. 23 at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on MSNBC. National Geographic Ultimate Explorer (www.msnbc.com/news/993327.asp) correspondent Michael Davie and a film crew journey to Liberia to investigate the civil war. Hoosier shares experience with AIDS orphansBy Gina Riendeau, Asssociate director MARION, Ind. -- After traveling in Africa, I was touched as never before by the impact AIDS is having on families and communities. When experts call this pandemic the "humanitarian issue of our day" I agree, remembering the many are suffering. Imagine if half of the children in a Sunday school classes or schoolroom were orphans, or if a third of our congregations was HIV positive, with no hope for a future and little for today. The impact on families and churches, even countries and the global community, is incalculable. The General Board of Global Ministries has an extensive listing of resources for World AIDS Day in early December or anytime of the year. Log on to: gbgm-umc.org/health/wad02/. Along with others throughout the world, United Methodists observe World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 or a Sunday close to this date. This year's theme, "Live and Let Live," is part of a two-year campaign focusing on eliminating stigma and discrimination. Bishops change structure, set up office in D.C.WASHINGTON (UMNS) -- In an effort to provide stronger leadership across the denomination, United Methodist bishops have voted to lengthen the term of their president and establish a permanent, staffed office. With the new structure approved during a Nov. 2-7 meeting, the Council of Bishops' president will serve two years instead of the traditional one-year term. Bishop Peter Weaver of the Philadelphia Area was elected to that post. He will succeed Bishop Ruediger Minor of the Eurasia Area during General Conference. The council's new office will be in the United Methodist Building, across the street from the Capitol and the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. The bishops elected additional officers, including president-designate, Bishop Janice Riggle Huie of Arkansas; secretary, Bishop Ernest Lyght of New York; and ecumenical officer, Bishop William Oden of Dallas. Minor will remain on the council's Executive Committee as immediate past president. Huie will take office during General Conference, and Oden will take office Sept. 1. Lyght's effective date could not be confirmed at press time. In a newly created position, an executive secretary will serve as chief operating officer for the council. The executive secretary will be a retired bishop who will serve a four-year term and receive compensation. Bishop Roy Sano of Oakland, Calif., was chosen as the first executive secretary. He will take office Sept. 1. The council's semiannual meeting drew 112 active and retired bishops from around the world to Washington. The bishops represent about 10 million United Methodists in the United States, Africa, Asia and Europe. Book series tells history of UM missionNEW YORK (UMNS) -- In the 19th century, the religious groups that eventually formed the Evangelical United Brethren Church ministered to the German immigrants who made their home in the United States. But the mostly rural Protestant denomination had an international impact far beyond its size, eventually establishing mission work in Sierra Leone, China and elsewhere in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and South America. And its involvement in the ecumenical movement was so strong that it became the first denomination to join the World Council of Churches when the organization was founded in 1948. "By the time of its union with the Methodist Church in 1968, the Evangelical United Brethren had developed mission leadership so well that in many places, churches were able to be come autonomous at the same time as their countries became independent following the colonial movement," reports a new book, On the Journey Home: The History of Mission of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, 1946-1968. Published by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, On the Journey Home is one of a seven-volume series exploring the history of mission within the United Methodist Church. The book, written by J. Steven O'Malley, can be ordered through the agency's Service Center. For more information, call 800-305-9857. Widow of prominent Hoosier UM leader diesSara Ester Clapsaddle, widow of the late Rev. Gerald L. Clapsaddle, died Nov 12, at Warren, Ind. Mr. Clapsaddle, a retired elder of the South Indiana Conference who served North Indiana Conference churches, died Aug. 30. He was the first general secretary of the General Council on the Ministries based in Dayton, Ohio, a post he held until his retirement in 1978. A memorial service for Mrs. Clapsaddle was held Nov. 15 at the United Methodist Memorial Home in Warren. Memorials may be sent to the United Methodist Women of the South Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 5008, Bloomington, IN 47407, attn: Rev. Harlan. One of ours has a song in one of their songbooksINDIANAPOLIS -- Speedway UMC Associate Pastor Scott Tyring has an offertory song in the new Chalice Praise contemporary songbook from Chalice Press a division of the Christian Board of Publication of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). "What Can I Give?" is a short song to be sung during the offering. For more information about Chalice Praise, call 800-800-366-3383. Church reads entire Bible in two hoursSELLERSBURG, Ind. - Impossible? The members of Sellersburg UMC read the entire in a little more than hours on Nov. 16. In celebration of National Bible Week, more than 30 readers were scattered around the church with Bibles in hand. A few minutes past Noon, a wonderful swelling of voices filled the sanctuary. Pastor John Abbott, who organized the read, said you could not discern the words, but the melding of voices reading aloud God's word sounded like heavenly music. There were husbands and wives sitting together, readers of all ages, readers with whispered breath, others with lilting tones that mingled with the bass notes of men ripe for the choir. A little after two o'clock, the last "Amen" was read. Abbott said he dreamed of this moment for many months. He knew churches had done this before but it had taken about 90 hours, reading sequentially. After looking at the number of pages in the Good News Bible and calculating what it would take to read all of them in a short time, discovered that if 50 people read 30 to 40 pages a each, reading the entire Bible could be done in less than two hours. For more information on how Sellersburg UMC did it, call Pastor John Abbott at 812-246-2502 or by e-mail sumc845@aol.com. Help soldiers phone homeNASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- As Americans ready themselves for the holidays, United Methodists are being invited to reach out and touch a soldier serving in Iraq with donations of phone cards. The United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry, the agency that oversees military chaplains endorsed by the church, is calling on United Methodists to consider sending long-distance phone cards to soldiers in time for the holidays. "Many of our troops are missing critical events in their families -- births, deaths, serious illness," says the Rev. Greg Hill, a director with the United Methodist Endorsing Agency, a unit of the board. "Phone cards would show how much our troops and their families are appreciated." The agency will collect the phone cards and send them to United Methodist chaplains for distribution to the troops. Phone cards can be sent to: United Methodist Endorsing Agency, General Board Higher Education and Ministry, P.O. Box 340007, Nashville, TN 37203-0007. Introducing new online course about the UMCNew! UM101, a computer online introductory course about The United Methodist Church, premiers Dec. 1. The course is intended for busy people who want to learn about The United Methodist Church -- its roots, theology, structure, connectionalism and current challenges - on your own time schedule. Beginning Dec. 1, the course will be available 24 hours a day as an online learning opportunity and multi-media experience. United Methodists can join the first online class and have the opportunity to interact with facilitators and other participants through online discussions. The first class is December 1-22. Cost is $12 per person. Sign up for UM101 produced by United Methodist Communications by going to http://training.umcom.org. News In BriefUnited Methodist News Service Court awards instructor at DePauw damage suitAn Indiana court has ruled that DePauw University did not properly follow its faculty handbook when the United Methodist-related school suspended the teaching duties of part-time instructor Janis Price after she distributed religious materials in her classroom. Price, who remains an administrator in the school's education department, was awarded $10,401 in damages after a five-day trial. The monetary award is the amount of her lost wages as an instructor for a year. Bishops call for African priorityUnited Methodist bishops have unanimously called for a four-year effort to help African nations address issues of famine, floods, drought, disease and malnutrition. The bishops voted to ask the 2004 General Conference to establish a coordinating committee and assign a bishop to focus on aid to Africa during 2005-08. If Africa becomes a special program of the denomination, church agencies will be asked to prioritize their program work to support a holistic approach to ministry there. A task force is also calling on churches to commit to giving 100 percent to apportioned funds. Council of Churches endorses consumer boycottFor the first time in more than 15 years, the National Council of Churches of Christ has endorsed consumer boycotts. The decision to immediately join boycotts against Taco Bell and Mt. Olive Pickle products occurred during the council's general assembly, Nov. 4-6, in Jackson, Miss. The boycott against Taco Bell was called in March 2001 by the Coalition of Immokalee (Fla.) Workers after the company refused to address charges of exploitation in the fields of its tomato suppliers, particularly Six L's Packing Co., one of the largest U.S. tomato growers. Bishop R. Marvin Stuart dead at 93PALTO ALTO, Calif. (UMNS) - Retired United Methodist Bishop R. Marvin Stuart, 93, who advocated full clergy rights for women in the denomination, died Nov. 11 at his Palo Alto, Calif. retirement home. Born in Paullina, Iowa, Stuart was ordained in 1934 and elected bishop in 1964. He served 16 years as bishop in Denver and San Francisco. At the 1956 General Conference, Stuart was the chairman of the legislative body for the committee on ministry and presented the report for the church to approve full clergy rights for women. As a result, the assembly granted clergywomen full rights in the United Methodist Church that year. Stuart served as a General Conference delegate from 1952 to 1964. A memorial service will be held Jan. 17 at First UMC in Palo Alto. |
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