1968 Uniting Conference sermon still remembered

For the most important sermon of the 1968 conference uniting the Methodist Church and Evangelical United Brethren Church, organizers turned to “Mr. Methodist,” the Rev. Albert C. Outler.

The famed Wesley scholar and ecumenist also was a top-tier preacher, and he measured up to the historic occasion, delivering an address that’s still talked about 50 years later.

“The sermon itself is vintage Outler,” said the Rev. William Abraham, the Albert Cook Outler professor of Wesley Studies at United Methodist Perkins School of Theology. “It’s brilliant rhetorically, with amazing vivacity and turn of phrase.”

Outler, speaking in Dallas at the uniting service of the Uniting Conference, celebrated the creation of The United Methodist Church. But he also pushed for it to be catholic, evangelical and reformed, teasing out what he meant by each adjective, and building to a stirring, poetic conclusion.

Annual Conference registration is open!

Registration for the 2018 Annual Conference is now open through May 17. Registration has also opened for Youth Camp and Childcare during Annual Conference.

The Annual Conference will get underway at 10 a.m. Thursday, June 7, with workshops and conclude by noon on Saturday, June 9 following the Service of Ordination. A tentative agenda has been posted and persons can use the Sched app to create their own customized schedule for the Annual Conference. The Sched app also allows for last-minute changes that are pushed out to everyone who is using it.

New process for Annual Conference materials

All 2018 Conference Registration Material packets will be picked up ON SITE in the Registration Office in the Terrazo Lobby beginning Thursday, June 7 at 7:30 a.m. Registration materials include parking passes, special meal tickets, roll call card, name badges and supplemental packets.

Tornado totes offering at Annual Conference

Churches in the Illinois Great Rivers Conference are urged to purchase plastic totes that are invaluable during tornadoes and floods. This is an item not a part of UMCOR's response but are warehoused by the Midwest Mission Distribution Center and distributed when the need arises.

Specific sizes are still being finalized but what would be envisioned is that totes could be filled with heavy duty trash bags, work gloves and permanent markers.

More information will be shared shortly.

The in-kind offering is in addition to special offerings for Our Conference, Our Kids; the Tom Brown Scholarship at Wiley College and an offering for the Ordinands' Trip.

Revised Social Principles open for comment

The process for the writing of the first United Methodist Social Principles in 1968 was done in a room by 12 men who were mostly scholars and all from the United States.

The revised Social Principles, released in draft form Thursday, comes after years of listening sessions with more than 200 United Methodists from around the world and is only about 50 percent finished, said Randall Miller, vice president of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society and chair of the Social Principles Task Force.

The draft and subsequent materials are available in English, French, Portuguese and Swahili , said Tricia Bruckbauer, director of communications for the board. People can weigh in on the draft until the end of August. At that point an editorial team will compile the feedback and edit the document for presentation to the Board of Church and Society.

The board ultimately hopes to bring the proposed revised Social Principles for a vote in 2020 at General Conference, the denomination’s top policymaking body.

Zimbabwe women embrace orphans

The Fairfield Children’s Home at The United Methodist Church’s Mutare Mission in Zimbabwe got a shot in the arm after receiving a donation of goods worth more than $5,000 from United Methodist Women in the Harare East District.

The center is home to more than 70 orphans of different backgrounds and age groups.

Juliet Sithole, who lives at The Fairfield Children’s Home at The United Methodist Church’s Mutare Mission in Zimbabwe, said her life has been transformed through donations to the center. Sithole plans to enroll at Africa University in August.

IGRC congregations endowed a scholarship for a student of the children’s home like Juliet as part of the $1 million Jonathan and Beverly Keaton Endowment to AU that has endowed eight scholarships each year. Combined with four other endowed scholarships, the IGRC now has 12 AU endowed scholarships.

Council of Bishops request declaratory decision

The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church is asking the Judicial Council for a declaratory decision on what petitions can be submitted to the denomination’s Special Session of General Conference called for February 2019.In an electronic vote that affirmed the request made at their February 2018 meeting in Dallas, the bishops voted to seek a ruling from the highest court in the denomination on the meaning, application and effect of Paragraph 14 in relation to Paragraph 507 of the 2016 Book of Discipline.

Paragraph 14 deals with how a special session of General Conference is called and conducted while Paragraph 507 deals with how and when petitions to General Conference are to be submitted.

“The intent is to resolve the question of whether additional petitions, beyond the report of the Commission on a Way Forward and the Council of Bishops, can be submitted to the Special 2019 General Conference prior to the convening of the Special General Conference,” said Bishop Bruce R. Ough, president of the Council of Bishops.

To help facilitate a timely decision from the Judicial Council, the bishops also voted to ask the Judicial Council to convene a special meeting to address the request for a declaratory decision and any others that might arise from the upcoming April/May Council of Bishops meeting.

EZRA Year-End Reporting deadline is Sunday!

The deadline for 2017 year-end statistical reports is Sunday, April 15.

At of Friday morning, 89 percent of congregations have completed the Ezra year-end statistics.That means about 90 churches still need to complete their report.

The Internet address for on-line submission is: http://ezra.gcfa.org or you can use the link from www.igrc.org at the top that says “Ezra Report Login.”

Your Username is the six-digit number assigned to the church by GCFA. This number is found on your remittance report.

Your initial password is "password". Even if you established a password last year, it has been reset to “password”.

A reminder: once the information on the various tables have been completed, churches are reminded they still have to submit their forms in order to complete the process.

Golden Cross Sunday

May 13

God works through your prayers and support in acts of mercy to bless the lives of individuals of all ages and at all stages of life.

Your 10 Golden Cross ministries are hard at work every day in their individual settings across our conference bringing hope and healing to people from cradle to grave.

Golden Cross Sunday is always the second Sunday in May, Mother’s Day. When you give, your offering is divided equally among all 10 ministries.

And it is also multiplied, because we are stronger and more efficient together. When you give to support these excellent ministries, God blesses your generosity and the lives you touch will be forever changed.

Sunday is

Native American Ministries Sunday

Native American Ministries Sunday is one of United Methodism’s six churchwide special Sundays with offerings.

Our gifts on Native American Ministries Sunday support work with Native Americans in annual conferences and across our connection. Native American ministries are located in both rural and urban communities.

Half of the gifts collected on this special Sunday provide seminary scholarships for Native Americans, training leaders to be in ministry with Native Americans many years into the future. 

We celebrate Native American Ministries Sunday with a spirit of celebration and reconciliation. We celebrate the rich and vibrant contributions made by Native Americans to The United Methodist Church

Sexual ethics makeup session

A Sexual Ethics Training makeup session has been scheduled for those who were unable to attend any of the three February sessions, on Saturday, June 23, at the Sugar Creek UMC, 1022 New City Road, Chatham. The session will be from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and is mandatory for all pastors and laypersons appointed or assigned to local churches.

Registration is open through June 16.