09/18/06

Gathering to celebrate rural communities and church ministry
Theology and Medicine at Duke Divinity School and The Duke Endowment are hosting Love God, Honor the Land, Celebrate Community as a gathering to celebrate rural communities and the ministry of rural churches on Friday and Saturday, September 22-23 at Cedar Grove United Methodist Church in Cedar Grove. This two day gathering is to honor the faithfulness of rural churches in sustaining a vision for thriving rural communities throughout North Carolina. If you plan to attend, please reply by email to:  theomed@div.duke.edu   There is no registration fee, but a ticket is required for your attendance.  You may also call for your ticket: (919) 383-0615, ext. 105.  For more information and to download the flyer, please see:  www.theomed.divinity.duke.edu

UMW Annual Meeting is October 14
The 2006 NC Conference United Methodist Women Annual Meeting begins at 9:30 am on Saturday, October 14, in Reeves Auditorium on the Methodist College campus.  For more information:  http://www.gbgm-umc.org/ncconfumw/

Bishop's Day Apart canceled for October 17
The Bishop's Day Apart which was to have been held on October 17 has been canceled by Bishop Al Gwinn.  Bishop Gwinn is a trustee of Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY.  That board has called a special meeting in Atlanta on October 17.  Bishop Gwinn regrets this conflict and encourages pastors and deacons to attend the Convocation and Pastors' School at Duke University Divinity School in Durham which will be held October 9-11.

Congress of the Deaf meets October 20-22
The SEJ United Methodist Congress of the Deaf will be meeting October 20-22 in Lineville, Ala. This event is for persons with hearing loss or hearing and vision loss, sign language interpreters, pastors, persons who work in this ministry, or persons who are interested and would like to know more about ministry with the deaf and hard-of-hearing. A registration form with additional information can be downloaded from http://www.umcd.org/Documents/SEJ_UMCD_October06[1].doc . To learn more about United Methodist ministries with the deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf/blind, go to the General Board of Global Ministries website, http://gbgm-umc.org/disc/deafministries.stm .

Living into Safe Sanctuaries Workshop with Joy Melton
This follow-up workshop for those churches having adopted a safe sanctuaries policy and begun implementation of safe sanctuaries procedures and practices for ministry will be held Friday, October 27 at Garner UMC and Saturday, October 28 at Queen St UMC in Kinston from 10am to 4pm each day.  Pre-registration is required with a nonrefundable cost of $10 per person.  The brochure with more information and registration form is available at the Conference children's ministry (and safe sanctuaries) website:  www.nccumc.org/childrnmin/children05.htm .  These brochures will be mailed to pastors, church council chairs, children and youth ministry leaders in local churches this week. 

Camp Song Sing-a-Long for youth groups
The Camp Song Sing-a-Long for youth who have attended Conference youth events and their friends and youth groups will be Saturday, September 23 at Edenton St UMC in Raleigh.  A flyer with more information is linked to the Conference youth webpage:  www.nccumc.org/youthministry .  Please note - an RSVP email of those planning to attend is requested - reply with plans to attend to camp_song_sing_a_long@yahoo.com .