Robeson County Church & Community Center Emergency - Please Help Now!
The Robeson County Church and Community Center is in danger of closing and needs your immediate support. This national level Church and Community Mission begun by Methodist people of North Carolina, has provided 37 years of ministry to some of the most vulnerable of our Conference in the 3rd most impoverished and 2nd most diverse rural county of its size in the United States. In recent years, as the economies of many rural communities have been devastated, the ministry of the Center is the difference between shelter and homelessness, a hot meal or hunger, a life-time of despair or the hope that literacy brings, and access to medication or death. Please read a plea from Rev. Jane Esdale, executive director and prayerfully consider how you might help: http://nccmission.org/rcc_&_cc_newsletter.htm
Musicians Retreat at the General Board of Discipleship, Nashville
There's still time and space to register for the January 26-28, 2007 Musicians Retreat to be held at The General Board of Discipleship and Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville. You can read about it at http://www.gbod.org/worship/default.asp?loc_id=17,323&act=nav_loc Total cost, including room, meals, and event fees is only $295 ($99 for commuters). Workshop topics will include Using Traditional Elements to Create Vibrant Worship; Contemporary/Alternative; Worship Leaders - Joyous, celebrative, and Lively; Choral Reading Session: Mixed Styles; Future Trends in Worship; and Spiritual Self-Care for Sabbath Musicians. There will also be a reading session of Abingdon resources and a tour of UM Publishing House. Contact Jeannie Musterman, event registrar at 1- 877-899-2780, ext 7070 or email jmusterman@gbod.org with questions.
Camp Sunday Bulletin Inserts - Final Call
Camp Sunday is designated for February 4, 2007. Please provide the number of inserts needed and a street address for shipping by returning the reply card recently mailed to senior pastors or by emailing your request to Wray Stephens (wray@ncumcamps.org). In addition to bulletin inserts, churches will receive summer camp materials, DVD's, and copies of the January issue of the North Carolina Conference Christian Advocate featuring Conference Camp & Retreat Ministries.
Help Seekers Find Your Church This Holiday Season
Update your church's profile on "Find-A-Church"
Make sure your church is on the map for anyone who might be looking for a place to worship this holiday season. By double-checking your church's information online at www.Find-A-Church.org <http://www.find-a-church.org/> , you make it easier for seekers to locate your church, find important information about worship times and access driving directions with an interactive map. Click here http://karchives.umc.org/Directory/login.asp?mid=222 or copy this URL into your browser -- http://karchives.umc.org/Directory/login.asp?mid=222 to find out how to update and enhance your church's page on "Find-A-Church." If you have questions about updating your "Find-A-Church" information, contact United Methodist Communications at FAC@umc.org or 1-800-251-8140.
Free 2007 Worship-Preaching-Music Planning Calendar
There is a 12-month 2007 calendar containing Revised Common Lectionary citations for each Sunday and major day of the church year, as well as dates for most of the important days of the church and civil calendars at http://www.gbod.org/worship/2007cwrlectcal.pdf
Seeking Nominations for Crum Award for Prophetic Ministry
The conference Commission on Church & Society is seeking nominations for the Jack and Kay Crum Award for Prophetic Ministry. This honor is given to churches that are on "the cutting edge for incisive prophetic ministry, first in the North Carolina Conference, and, second, throughout the nation and the world." The UM Foundation administers this endowment and a financial contribution is provided to the selected ministry. If you would like to nominate a church that is meeting this challenge, please email your nomination with a brief synopsis of their ministy(ies) to Dr. Lawrence Johnson at ljohnson@nccumc.org no later than January 16.
MHC Sunday, February 18, 2007
The annual special offering that supports children, youth, and families across the conference, Methodist Home for Children (MHC Sunday), will be celebrated by many congregations on Sunday, February 18th. If you would like a speaker at your church, need more information, or have not yet received your bulletin inserts and envelopes, please contact Jennifer Cooper at 919.754.3625 or jcooper@mhfc.com
Children's Choir Festival to be March 17
There will be a Children's Choir Festival at Christ UMC, 410 N. Holden Rd., Greensboro March 17, 9:15 until 3, sponsored by the Western NC Conference Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts. Registration fee per church is $65. Contact Rev. Carrie Wright, Tyro UMC, 336-853-7459, ext. 30, cwright@tyroumc.org. Registration deadline is March 9.
Project AGAPE and Heifer International join together!
We now have a partnership ministry through Project AGAPE with Heifer International. You can now donate through Heifer and touch refugees being served by Project AGAPE. To see how you can now make a Christmas Donation for Heifer, that will go toward the NC Conference Rainbow Covenant, please see: http://nccmission.org/agape_heifer.htm
Project AGAPE Month - January
Please remember that January is Project AGAPE month, a time when we reflect and respond to the needs of our brothers and sisters in Armenia. Continue to pray for this ministry and consider an offering on January 7, AGAPE Sunday, or some other Sunday in January. Bulletin inserts are being mailed and are available on-line as a download at: http://nccmission.org/agape_insert.htm. Project AGAPE is part of the NC Rainbow Covenant - Advance #S - 00004. Make checks payable to NC Conference marked for "Project AGAPE - S#00004" and place your gift in your Sunday offering or mail checks to North Carolina Conference/Raleigh Area, The United Methodist Church, PO Box 60053, Charlotte NC 28260-0053. More information is at http://nccmission.org/project_agape.htm
Spiritual Development-Mission Team to La Esperanza Sheltered Workshop in Santiago, Chile (LOWER AIRFARE!)
Space is available for a "journey inward - journey outward" with missionary, Rev. Shana Harrison, April 20 - May 2, 2007. Close out date for registration is January 15, 2007. Each day will begin with communion and centering prayer. Mornings will be spent with participants of the sheltered workshop. Afternoons will be filled with Bible study, biblical animation, and visits to historical and contemporary sites where we might engage in considerations of justice. Evenings will be reflections of the lives of individuals in Christ as incarnational dwelling. Estimated cost will be $937 for airfare and $500 for in-country expenses (may be some slight changes.) For more information, contact Becky Biegger in the Office of Missions, 800-849-4433 ext 256 or beckybiegger@nccumc.org Please see: http://nccmission.org/shana's_news.htm.
Rainbow Covenant due, forms available
Local church Rainbow Covenant data is due January 31 to your District Mission Secretary. Rainbow Covenant Report Forms will be mailed to pastors and mission chairs. You can also find the form in the 2007 Mission and Service Commitment Booklet and on our website: http://nccmission.org/rainbow_covenant.htm. After going to the website, scroll down and click on Download Rainbow Covenant Report Form, click here! http://nccmission.org/Rainbow%20Covenant%20Report%20Form.doc Remember, to be a Rainbow Covenant church, your church must first pay World Service & Connectional Ministries; Episcopal Fund; Interdenominational Cooperation, Black Colleges, Africa University Fund; and Past Service Liability in full, and then make a gift to one ADVANCE SPECIAL from each lane of the Rainbow Covenant. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact Becky Biegger: beckybiegger@nccumc.org or call 800-849-4433 ext 256.
Care for the Hungry at Christmas
This Christmas, many around NC will not sit down to a feast. They will not have enough to eat on Christmas Day, which is the case on many other days. Through Society of St. Andrew, more than 98 million pounds of fresh produce have reached our state's people in need - the equivalent of 294 million servings of food, and it has been accomplished at 3 cents per pound. Please give a gift to someone you love by honoring them with a donation to this Rainbow Covenant ministry, Advance #S-00081. Please see: http://www.endhunger.org/north_carolina.htm and http://nccmission.org/lane5ConferenceAdvances.pdf .
Happy Birthday Charles Wesley!
December 18th was the 299th anniversary of the birth of Charles Wesley. During 2007, many events and celebrations will be taking place as the church recognizes the approaching 300th year, in a yearlong tribute. A website is available with ideas and resources: http://www.wesley300.org/
