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THIS WEEK'S NEWS
Bishop shares findings of clergy tour with Connecting Council
Diversity, Equality, Inclusivity Task Force begins work in conference
Central Kansas UMC/Presbyterian church proud to be a 'melting pot'
Study: Female clergy still paid less than male counterparts
Bishop Asbury still shapes churches today
CLERGY EXCELLENCE
Self-care mini-grants up to $450 available for clergy
Boundary 201 trainings offered this fall in face-to-face, online formats
EQUIPPING DISCIPLES
Pandemic gave us time to slow down, renew relationship with God
CLM course in preaching begins next week; registration due Friday
Missouri River District conducts LSM courses in three languages
ADMINISTRATION
Here's the new administrative assistant in the Missouri River District
RESOURCES
Christmas, Advent books, studies available for adults
New Advent, Christmas studies available with discount from publisher
ACROSS THE CONNECTION
In other news
Newsletters
Classifieds
Bishop shares findings of clergy
tour with Connecting Council
Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. is concluding his fall tour of the Great Plains Conference, meeting today with clergy in the Wichita East and West districts.
Bishop Saenz shared with the Connecting Council at its meeting last weekend the lessons churches have learned since the onset of the pandemic. Chief among those lessons: “Flexibility is not an option, it’s a must,” the bishop said. “And we learned we need to celebrate the church that we now have, not the church that we had.”
Read more here.
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Diversity, Equality, Inclusivity Task
Force begins work in conference
Fulfilling a promise he made during his annual conference episcopal address this year, Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. convened the first Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity Task Force last week at the conference office in Topeka.
The purpose of the advisory task force, the bishop said, is to provide the cabinet and conference leaders with findings and recommendations that counteract unconscious bias, and reduce and eliminate discriminatory practices at all levels of the conference so the conference can leverage the full potential of our diverse clergy, laity and congregations.
Read more here.
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Central Kansas UMC/Presbyterian
church proud to be a 'melting pot'
Our series "Under One Roof," about dual-denomination churches in the Great Plains, concludes this week with a look at the United Church of Bennington in central Kansas, which has served both the United Methodist and Presbyterian denominations since the mid-1970s.
“The biggest misunderstanding by others, I’ll put it, is that we’re not Presbyterian, we’re not Methodist, we’re both. We truly members of both communities,” one member said. “I even heard this morning, ‘the Methodists and the Presbyterians.’ We are a United church. Other churches, I think, keep their identity, but we’re just a melting pot."
Read more here.
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Study: Female clergy still
paid less than male counterparts
Compensation for women clergy in The United Methodist Church continues to trail that of their male peers, according to a new study, despite progress in many annual conferences.
In the United States, United Methodist women pastors made 8.2% less than their male counterparts in 2020, and there are far more male clergy than female in the denomination. Men make up 68.1% and women 31.9% of all United Methodist clergy.
Read more from United Methodist News Service.
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Bishop Asbury still
shapes churches today
Francis Asbury played a key role in developing what is now The United Methodist Church. As people celebrate the 250th anniversary of his arrival in America, fresh discoveries continue about his extraordinary ministry.
Read more from United Methodist News Service.
View a map of Asbury’s travels.
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Clergy Excellence
Self-care mini-grants up
to $450 available for clergy
John Wesley was known to ask, “How is it with your soul?” The Office of Clergy Excellence is offering clergy the opportunity to create space to ask that ever-important question by investing up to $450 per clergy in a self-care mini-grant to be used before Dec. 31, 2022. The grants could be used to enhance a planned renewal leave or to create space for spiritual self-care in the midst of your ministry.
We have generous but limited funding and will be funding three cycles:
- 2021 — applications received through Dec. 1
- 2022 — Early: applications received Feb. 1 to May 1
- 2022 — Late: applications received July 1 to Nov. 1
Check out some soul-care resources for planning your own solo (or small group) retreat, meeting with a conference peer coach or having conversation with a Spiritual Director. Clergy, would you give yourself the gift of reflection?
Check out our website for self-care mini-grant opportunities.
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Boundary 201 trainings offered this
fall in both face-to-face, online formats
If you need to renew your Boundary 201 training before the end of the year, the conference will be offering face-to-face trainings in November for you to attend. The dates and locations will be announced soon.
You may also renew your Boundary Training online if you prefer not to attend a face-to-face training. The links to take the training online are listed below. Once you complete the online training, please be sure to send your certificate to Julie Kohr, jkohr@greatplainsumc.org, so she can update your information in the conference database.
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Equipping Disciples
Pandemic gave us time to slow
down, renew relationship with God
Depression, boredom, fear, despair, and loneliness, all taking its toll on many of us during the pandemic, Mary Feit, Great Plains director of Lay Servant Ministries, writes in this month's LSM blog.
"I certainly felt the effects of the isolation," she writes. "Attempts to recover from the pandemic are still preventing “back to normal” for most of us. I believe we are in a process of defining a new normal. Accepting that life will never be the same again is a hard pill to swallow."
Read her blog here.
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CLM course in preaching begins
next week, registration due Friday
A Certified Lay Ministers course in preaching will begin next week.
Designed for United Methodist CLMs but is open to anyone desiring to learn and grow, this course is designed to help students learn how to prepare a sermon that delivers the good news. This course also assumes a basic biblical knowledge and ability to exegete the biblical text. It would be helpful to have had at least the Old Testament or the New Testament class.
At the culmination of the class the student will deliver a sermon to the class, the instructor, and some well-established preachers. The student will then receive helpful feedback for their preaching.
The class is limited to a maximum of 10 students to allow plenty of time for student presentations. The goal of this class is to have preachers who can proclaim the Good News to a congregation.
The course will start Monday, Nov. 1. Please register here https://gp-reg.brtapp.com/CLMPreachingNovember2021 by Friday, Oct. 29.
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Missouri River District conducts
LSM courses in three languages
A successful day was had on Saturday, Oct. 16. There were 42 people taking classes which included Lay Servant Ministries Basic Course in English, Spanish and Swahili. Prairie River/Elkhorn Valley District Superintendent Rev. Dr. Charles Murithi personally translated the textbook into Swahili. Pastor Juan Carlos Veloso led the Basic Course in Spanish. The Rev. Dr. Chad Anglemyer, Missouri River/Elkhorn Valley District Superintendent led students in the Leading Missional Small Groups class. Rev. Stephanie Ahlschwede and Rev. Debra McKnight led students in the Worship and Altar Decorating class. Rev. Andrew Finch and CLM Bryan Hankins also taught a course helping to meet the participants’ certification requirements and learning.
Special recognition to former Missouri River District administrative assistant Kris Eschlimann for all her work in making this happen. Thanks to the two Great Plains Conference District Superintendents who volunteered their entire day to further the ministries of these students. A shout out to Pastor Juan Carlos for leading the Hispanic class and providing music for the worship service. Thanks to Rev. Ahlschwede for welcoming us into Saint Paul Benson and co-teaching with Rev. McKnight and thanks to Rev Finch for teaching the English language class.
The day began with prayer and ended about 6 p.m. with a combined worship experience in the St Paul UMC (Benson) chapel.
--Bryan Hankins, CLM
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Administration
Here's the new administrative
assistant in the Missouri River District
Sarah Couillard is the new administrative assistant for the Missouri River District, based in Omaha.
She has 20 years of experience as an assistant in real estate, as well as bookkeeping for concrete construction and carpet companies. She is a stepmother to four daughters, two sons-in-law and two grandsons.
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Resources
Christmas, Advent books,
studies available for adults
“Making Christmas Meaningful (Again),” “Birth: The Mystery of Being Born,” “Handel’s Messiah: Comfort for God’s People” and “It’s a Wonderful Life Study Guide” are among the 50-plus Advent and Christmas books available for adults through the United Media Resource Center.
Discover more here.
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New Advent, Christmas studies
available with discount from publisher
Advent is just over a month away, and Market Square Books has several new studies for groups and individuals.
They include “God Broke Through at Christmas” by Debra Wallace-Padgett; “The Voices of Christmas” by Rachel Gilmore and Kay Kotan; “From Heaven to Earth: Christmas for New Believers, Old Believers and Nonbelievers” by Wil Cantrell and Paul Seay; and “Hope: An Advent Journey (Updated Edition)” by Olu Brown.
Use the discount code bulk20 to order 20 or more books at a 20% discount before Oct. 29.
See more here.
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Across the Connection
In other news
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Newsletters
- Safe Gatherings, October 27, 2021
- Ministry Matters, October 27, 2021
- Leading Ideas, October 27, 2021
- BeADisciple.com, November 2021
- Discipleship Ministries: Generous Living, October 2021
- A Sermon for Every Sunday, October 26, 2021
- Camp Norwesca, November 2021
- CCLI, October 25, 2021
- Discipleship Ministries: Worship Planning, October 25, 2021
- United Methodist Communications (in Korean), October 22, 2021
- GCORR, October 22, 2021
- Discipleship Ministries: Equipping Disciples, October 21, 2021
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Classifieds
Classifieds are posted for 30 days unless otherwise requested.?Please allow three business days for your classified to appear on the website. Email jmcfarland@greatplainsumc.org to update or renew your classified. Submit your classified here.
- Spicewood, TX church is seeking a children’s ministry director
- Free roll top A/V desk in Lincoln
- Looking for Carolyn Moore study books
- Nursery director needed in Stilwell, KS
- GCORR seeking senior director of program and educational strategies
- Director of youth ministries position open in Little Rock, AR
- Great Plains Conference seeks controller
- The General Commission on Religion and Race (GCORR) is recruiting an executive assistant
- Director of communications position open at Shawnee UMC in Shawnee, KS
- United Methodist sign with letters for sale in Monroe, NE
- Administrative assistant position open at Sterling, KS First UMC
- Free choir robes available in Grand Island, NE
- Countryside Topeka is hiring full-time custodial/janitorial services
- Camp Fontanelle seeks an assistant director of facilities
- St. Paul's UMC in Lenexa, KS seeking director of children and family ministries
- Communications coordinator position open at Topeka First UMC
- Topeka First UMC is accepting applications for a church business administrator
- Topeka First UMC is accepting applications for a media tech
- Topeka First UMC is searching for a media tech and communications coordinator
- Director of youth ministries position open at First United Methodist Church, Emporia KS
- Chief Financial Officer/Director of Administrative Services, United Methodist Churches of Indiana
- Communion rail to give away in Wichita
- Director of youth ministries needed at Christ Church, Winnetka, Illinois
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