|
THIS WEEK'S NEWS
3rd annual Laity Summit scheduled for March 19
Great Plains team heads to Louisiana this weekend
Kansas UM Foundation’s new chief development officer touring state
Sixteen ways that you can say ‘I appreciate you’ to pastors
CLERGY EXCELLENCE
Moderators workshop trainings scheduled for October, November
EQUIPPING DISCIPLES
Fall kicks off at Fontanelle with barbecue, quilt auction
Bless someone with your words through our daily devotions
MERCY & JUSTICE
Creation Care online event scheduled for Oct. 20
Kansas Interfaith Action to host public policy forums
ADMINISTRATION
Application deadline for ministry grants is Sept. 30
RESOURCES
Materials will aid in celebrating World Communion Sunday, Oct. 3
ACROSS THE CONNECTION
Wichita Chapel Hill offers online conversation series
Volunteers pack 10,000 meals in 50 minutes during Rally Sunday
19 from Nebraska church volunteer to clean yard
In other news
Newsletters
Classifieds
3rd annual Laity Summit
scheduled for March 19
The next Laity Summit is scheduled for Saturday, March 19, 2022. Laity Summit is a one-stop virtual leadership event for church and community leaders, like Lay Servants, Speakers, Ministers, Leaders and anyone discerning a call to leadership. The overall theme for the 2022 gathering is “Courage to Thrive.” Each of the workshops will facilitate a courageous conversation around a key leadership learning. More details and registration are coming this winter. Check this page for updates - https://www.greatplainsumc.org/laity-summit .
Conference Director of Lay Servant Ministries Mary Feit, Conference Lay Leader Lisa Maupin, Gateway District Lay Leader Kathy Pierce, and Conference Coordinator of Lay Leadership Shane Warta have been planning this gathering since the summer. If you have any questions, please email:
To Top
Great Plains team heads
to Louisiana this weekend
The Great Plains Conference will be represented by nine Early Response Trained individuals and one from the Missouri Conference, next week in Louisiana. The group will be in Algiers and will be doing damage assessments and work found from those assessments.
We will leave Kansas on Saturday the 25th, spend the night at FUMC Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and travel the rest of the way in on Sunday the 26th. The team will work Monday through Friday, taking Wednesday afternoon off to rest and see New Orleans. Travel home will start on Saturday, Oct. 2 and we will be back into Kansas on the 3rd in the early evening. FUMC Algiers will be our home away from home for the week.
Your prayers are welcomed as we travel and assist in the relief of Hurricane Ida.
--Rev. Hollie Tapley, disaster response coordinator
To Top
Kansas UM Foundation’s new chief
development officer touring state
A month and a half into the newly created job as chief development officer for the Kansas Area United Methodist Foundation, Tyler Curtis is touring the state to learn about the works that churches and organizations are doing.
“I’m really intrigued by seeing some of the great work that Methodists are doing across the great state of Kansas and figuring out ways to inspire giving to those programs,” Curtis, a former teacher and school principal who had been working for 11 years in alumni and government relations at Emporia State University.
Curtis said he wants to improve the outreach of the Foundation to churches statewide.
“We’re wanting to get more intentional about engaging our members as well as our churches and agencies, on ways they can build resources for sustained and growing ministry in the future,” he said.
Curtis praised Rev. Dr. Dustin Petz, the Foundation’s executive director, with building key partnerships, including with Wespath.
“We feel like we’ve got a really good partner in Wespath,” Curtis said. “We can take care of money today and tomorrow and allow us some growth in that so we can invest back in our operation.”
Curtis said he and Petz were available to pastors and churches for sermons on giving as stewardship season approaches.
Based in Emporia, Curtis telecommutes with the Hutchinson-based Foundation, and said the agency may expand in the future to add regional development coordinators.
--David Burke
To Top
Sixteen ways that you can say
‘I appreciate you’ to pastors
October is Pastor (or Clergy) Appreciation Month with the second Sunday designated as Pastor Appreciation Day. It is a time to say “thank you” to the people who may be most visible as preachers and teachers, but who, in reality, are on-call 24/7 standing with congregants and others to offer spiritual and other support in times of confusion and transition, times of heart-wrenching sorrow and times of overwhelming joy. They laugh, cry and pray with those whom they shepherd and serve.
Resource UMC suggests 16 ways that you can show appreciation to your pastor in the month ahead.
Read more here.
To Top
Clergy Excellence
Moderators workshop trainings
scheduled for October, November
Would you like to be equipped to find common ground within the red/blue divide in your congregation? This one-day training is designed to equip clergy and laity to facilitate deliberative dialogue in “The Purple Zone.” Investing your time and energy for this training will serve as a refresher of what you learned last January during Orders & Fellowship and also prepare you for making an impact in your context.
Workshop dates and facilitators:
Monday, Oct. 18: Amy Lippoldt, Jeff Clinger
Thursday, Oct. 28: Brad Wheeler, Marshall Johnson
Monday, Nov. 8: Morita Truman, Kara Eidson
Tuesday, Nov. 16: Loren Drummond, Grace Gichuru
- Choose one of four online trainings.
- Time: 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. CT
- Maximum of nine participants in each workshop; minimum of four.
- Training is open to clergy and church leaders.
- CEU available.
- Cost for the 1-Day training is $10
Put this on your calendar today. Further details are coming soon!
Register here.
To Top
Equipping Disciples
Fall kicks off at Fontanelle
with barbecue, quilt auction
Fall has “officially” arrived at Camp Fontanelle with the opening of their pumpkin patch and corn maze this past Sunday. It was also the day to raise money for the ministry at the camp with their annual BBQ and Quilt Auction.
Both events had a lower number of guests, compared to a “normal” year, but those in attendance enjoyed good food, a nice worship service, fellowship and a fruitful quilt auction. The camp was blessed to have joyful givers and the money raised will help with programming for the summer ministry.
Donations may still be made for the BBQ. Make checks out to Camp Fontanelle and mail to 9677 County Road 3, Fontanelle, NE 68044, or go to the camp website, click on the DONATE tab and then click on “one-time donation.”
Volunteers are still needed for the next few weeks at the corn maze and pumpkin patch. Would your church be willing to commit to adopting a day at the corn maze and provide volunteers for a day? The maze is open from 1-7 p.m. Saturdays, and 1-6 p.m. Sundays. There are volunteer positions for teens through our older adult population. Some positions are sitting, while others are active.
Camp Fontanelle hopes that individuals and groups will consider volunteering to make sure that guests receive the radical hospitality that our United Methodist congregations are known to give. Please contact Jane Van Horn at jvanhorn@greatplainsumc.org on how you can volunteer individually, or how to get your church or service organization involved. You may also sign up through our SignUpGenius page. It may be found on our website under MORE, CORN MAZE, VOLUNTEER.
--Jane Van Horn, Camp Fontanelle
To Top
Bless someone with your words
through our daily devotions
The October-November sign-up is available now at this link.
Can you believe this is our third year sharing your stories with the conference? What a blessing it continues to be!
Feel free to share this with friends, nudge those who you think would be great additions to our writing community or send us an email highlighting a social media post you've seen that inspires you and you think more people should see.
It could be from your pastor, small group leader or church member but someone from our conference that we should reach out to and request permission to use what they have written.
You never know who your words will bless, but they will bless someone.
To Top
Mercy & Justice
Creation Care online
event scheduled for Oct. 20
Join the UMC Great Plains Conference Creation Care team for “And God Saw That It Was Good: Christians & Climate,” via Zoom from 7-8:15 p.m. CT Wednesday, Oct. 20. The webinar is a time of affirming God’s good creation and taking seriously the realities of a changing climate.
Martha Shulski and Rachel Myslivy will help us face challenges and see opportunities for faithful action. Dr. Shulski serves as the director of the Nebraska State Climate Office and State Climatologist for Nebraska. Myslivy is associate director for the Climate and Energy Project in Kansas.
Register here.
To Top
Kansas Interfaith Action
to host public policy forums
This October, Kansas Interfaith Action will lead a series of conversations with advocates and activists on the most pressing social, economic, and climate justice issues facing Kansans. Further details will follow on the Faith & Public Policy Forum Series event page.
To Top
Administration
Application deadline for
ministry grants is Sept. 30
The Nebraska United Methodist Foundation is pleased to announce a ministry grant opportunity available to Nebraska churches and affiliated agencies of the Great Plains United Methodist Conference.
The Foundation is able to award these grants due to the generosity of donors to the Gifts from the Heart Endowment Fund. These grant dollars are available to enhance and expand your ministries. The ultimate goal of these awards is to provide assistance both for new ministries and thriving ministries wishing to grow.
These grants are made for programs and activities and include operating expenses and supplies necessary for those programs or activities. They are not made for building repair, replacement, or expansion.
The application deadline is Sept. 30. For application materials and more information, please visit our website at https://www.numf.org/scholarships-grants.
If you have questions about the application process or would like to talk to the Foundation about how you can help grow these types of grants, call 877-495-5545.
To Top
Resources
Materials will aid in celebrating
World Communion Sunday, Oct. 3
On Oct. 3, United Methodists will join Christians around the globe to recognize oneness in Christ and celebrate World Communion Sunday. In The United Methodist Church, donations to the World Communion Special Sunday support scholarships to equip U.S. students of color and international students to transform the church and their communities as both laity and clergy.
Download resources here.
To Top
Across the Connection
Wichita Chapel Hill offers
online conversation series
Join Wichita Chapel Hill UMC for its fall speaker series “Courageous Conversations.” The church is hosting host four Zoom/webinar conversations with experts with authority on each challenging question.
This speaker series presents a great opportunity for anyone seeking answers on Christianity and faith, or for whatever reason, feels Christianity is beyond their reach.
The questions and speakers:
- Oct. 3: “If God is good, why do people suffer in this world?” – William Paul Young, author of the book “The Shack”
- Oct. 10: “Science or faith or both?” – Dr. S.E. Kim, deputy chief program officer at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Office of Science, Policy, and Society Programs
- Oct. 17 – “What’s in it for me? Why should I want to be a Christian?” – Rev. Dr. James Bryan Smith, theology professor at Friends University and teaching pastor at Chapel Hill
- Oct. 24 – “How can a good and loving God send people to hell?” – Rev. Adam Hamilton, Church of the Resurrection
All are at 4 p.m. CT.
The conversations are presented in a safe place where all are welcome. Chapel Hill is encouraging people to share this opportunity with family and friends who may be hesitant to explore these questions in a church setting. This could be especially beneficial to those who may be struggling with issues related to the Christian faith. Each conversation will begin with a 30-minute presentation by the speaker, followed by a 30-45 minute opportunity for questions and answers.
Those attending the fall speaker series may take part in any or all sessions. There is no cost and no need to sign up in advance. Go to the Chapel Hill website, www.chwichita.org before the session begins and clink the link on the home page.
To Top
Volunteers pack 10,000 meals
in 50 minutes during Rally Sunday
What an amazing morning at Norwich United Methodist Church on September 12, 2021! Rally Sunday to kick off the Sunday school year was spent packaging meals for Numana. Over $3,000 was raised in 2019 but COVID delayed this event. There were 64 volunteers from Norwich UMC, Cheney UMC, New Covenant UMC and the Kays from Norwich High School. All ages from 3rd grade to 70-plus years participated. Excellent organization made it possible to pack 10,000 meals in just 50 minutes!! Each bag contains six meals of rice, beans, soy and vitamins. These meals are going to El Salvador.
Based in El Dorado, Kansas, Numana, Inc. is a nonprofit charity formed in 2008 as an international hunger relief organization. Since then, more than 43 million meals have served the hungry around the world.
It was a true blessing to be a part of this program ... we will do it again.
--Pastor Cathy Holley
To Top
19 from Nebraska church
volunteer to clean yard
The Re-Think Church project at Nebraska’s Culbertson Trinity UMC to help a disabled man who lives alone and cannot afford to hire yard clean-up.
“This was a group of 19 who volunteered and came with brooms, tools and mowers to get this yard looking better,” the church’s Karen Morthole said.
See more photos here.
To Top
In other news
To Top
Newsletters
- UMCom Communications Essentials, Sept. 22, 2021
- Ministry Matters, Sept. 22, 2021
- Safe Gatherings, Sept. 22, 2021
- GCORR, September 2021
- UMCom (Korean), Sept. 22, 2021
- MyCOM, Sept. 22, 2021
- UMCOMtigo (Spanish), Sept. 16, 2021
To Top
Classifieds
Classifieds are posted for 30 days unless otherwise requested. Please allow three business days for your classified to appear on the website. Email info@greatplainsumc.org to update or renew your classified.
To Top
|
