Refugee Crisis in our Conference & How we can Help
The Needs are Immediate & On-Going.
photo: Latino Fox News
     Annunciation House has been providing hospitality to refugees and immigrants in El Paso for nearly 39 years.  They recently reached out for help from the NM Conference and other faith communities in managing a refugee crisis in El Paso.  There is a surge of migrants crossing in or near El Paso (mostly from Central America and Mexico, but also from Brazil).  Currently, the average number of arriving refugees has increased to about 400 per week and spiking to 600, sometimes 800.  Most of these refugees are families escaping the violence, extreme poverty and chaos.  They have been vetted by Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security.  Most migrants only require assistance for 24-72 hours until they find transportation to join their families elsewhere in the U.S.
     The two major general needs are for local volunteers who can help with the operation of hospitality centers and for facilities that can be used to provide hospitality.  Monetary donations and supplies are also needed.  During CCYM, our youth created 700 Health Kits which will be transported to El Paso. The document provided contains an overview of the current situation, background and specific needs.  Please read through the material and prayerfully consider how your congregation might be able to respond.  Please read - Annunciation House Needs Doc.

If you would like more information, please call Roselie Johnston, Ministry/Program Coordinator at 505-255-8786, ext. 101 or rjohnston@nmconfum.com.  You may also contact Ruben Garcia, Director of Annunciation House at 915-533-4675 or rubengarcia@annunciationhouse.org

Why are Central American refugees seeking asylum? Click here

NM Conference Fall Festival Memory Book
Zia UMC - Santa Fe Pumpkin Pickers

Click here to view the Memory Book

Abundant Grace: Living Grace
by Tiffany and D.G. Hollums
Grace, Tiffany, D.G. Hollums
 
     Grace.
     One tiny word that will change your life.
     We know, because grace has forever changed our lives.
     D.G. and I met in college and D.G. remembers one conversation in which he asked me this question: "Tiffany, what do you think it all boils down to? I think it boils down to love." And D.G. remembers my saying "God doesn't have to love you ... and that is grace." He said that this conversation was life-changing theologically for him because it changed his thinking and his actions in that moment.
     We have seen grace lived out in breathtaking and humbling ways. We both grew up with parents and in small United Methodist churches that took the covenant they made at our baptisms as infants seriously. They loved and nurtured us in grace. Whether it was teaching a Sunday school class or a note on our birthdays, our lives were impacted in powerful ways through the grace that was lived out before us.
     Grace.
     Living grace.
     We have seen grace lived out in places and people that have forever changed us. Yet, nothing left an imprint of grace quite like our journey to be parents. We had been married only a few years when we decided, as most young couples do, that it was time to start our family. Yet one year ... four years ... 10 years and still no baby. We saw multiple doctors and braved tests, procedures, rounds and rounds of fertility shots and surgeries. We had to grieve that what we both prayed and hoped for was just simply not going to happen as we had planned. We were barren.
      God doesn't stop.
      One night, in the midst of the endless fertility treatments, I woke up and had a deep sense that God was saying something very important. When I woke up the next day I read these words over and over: "Stop. I will do this, so my glory will be revealed."
     So, D.G. and I stopped. But the grace of God did not; in fact, God had only begun!

Read the full article

Messy Church is Coming to the NM Conference!

Save the Date!
  Saturday, February 11, 2017 
St. John's UMC - ABQ @ 10 am - 3 pm 
$15/person - Bring your church team! 
Presenter: Rev. Nicole Reilley, Director of New Ministries from the Cal-Pac Conference. 
Registration will start in December. Stay Tuned! 
Questions:  Roselie  at 505-255-8786, ext. 101. 

Moving on after Election Day: Tips for Finding Healing and Peace
A umc.org feature by Joe Iovino  
photo by martinvl
 
    November 9, 2016 has finally arrived. The votes have been counted and the United States has a new president-elect.
     After more than a year of campaigning, it's over. Or is it?
     The Rev. W. Craig Gilliam helps us find ways to reconnect after times of conflict. Photo courtesy of the Rev. W. Craig Gilliam. 
     To help us move forward, we asked a United Methodist pastor, the Rev. W. Craig Gilliam, for techniques and tips about how to begin a  process of healing and find peace. Gilliam is an expert on conflict transformation in the church. He serves as Coordinator of Congregational Services for  JustPeace, Director for the Center for Pastoral Excellence for the Louisiana  Annual Conference, and is the author of  Where Wild Things Grow, a book of poetry that "invites us to grapple with the relationships between and among people and things."
      Reconnecting
      The divisiveness of the campaign has made many uneasy, or what some counselors call anxious. 
     "We are living in an extremely anxious culture," Gilliam reports.
      When we are anxious, we tend to rely on emotional reactions rather than reasoned responses. You probably saw this in your social media feed.
In our anxiety, Gilliam reports, "We do each other harm in ways we didn't even know we had the capacity to do, or in ways we're not even aware we're doing it."
One unhealthy way we cope with our anxiety is to retreat to safe places by finding people with whom we agree and limiting our connection to others. We unfriend people on Facebook, limit our phone calls with that one uncle, and avoid certain people at church.
Living in these "safe spaces," however, allows us to fool ourselves.
"When I cut off from another," Gilliam notes, "I begin to create narratives about them." Those stories often include what we believe about ourselves and God. 
     The false narrative usually goes something like this: They are bad. We are good. God is on our side.
     This, of course, is not true. The Bible tells us that all of us are  created in God's image, are loved by God, and have God's grace available to us.
     Now that the election is over, we need to reconnect. Where we once moved away, we must now move toward.
     "If I'm interacting with that other, if I'm sitting down looking at them eye-to-eye, if I'm listening to their stories," Gilliam says, "that very interaction helps make space for the alternative narratives and for the correction in the narrative I'm telling myself about the other."
     Our diverse United Methodist churches provide wonderful opportunities for connection. Worship, Sunday School, choir, committee meetings, and the sacrament of Holy Communion bring us into contact with one another, and reinforce the true narrative that we are all children of God.

Read the full article 
 

7 ways you're Completely Killing your iPhone battery

     If you're like the majority of   iPhone  addicts, you're constantly scanning for outlets the second you walk into a room, hoping to find a spot to charge your phone before it dies... again.
     But before you find yourself stuck without a cord, available outlet or portable charger, you may want to consider taking a more proactive approach to preserve battery life.
     Here are 7 ways you could be draining your   iPhone's battery  without even knowing it:
1. Plugging your iPhone into a computer that's not active.

 

Traditional passing of the mantle

SAVE THE DATE!
Annual Conference 
Date: May 31 - June 2, 2017
Place: Las Cruces Convention Center
Theme:  New Places for New People

United Methodist Student Day is November 29th
UM Student Day Video
UM Student Day Video
 
Our church is at its best when we reach out to sisters and brothers in need. Our generous gifts through the United Methodist Student Day offering provide scholarship funds, often for young people who are the first in their family to pursue higher education. On Nov. 29, our congregations will receive this special offering, which ensures a brighter future for United Methodist students. Download the United Methodist Student Day pastor's kit at umcgiving.org/umsdkit.

Order leaflet offering envelopes and posters to enhance your United Methodist Student Day celebration at www.umcgiving.org/ss or call 888-346-3862.

Multiethnic Church Ministries Training
Celebrating Ethnic Diversity: God's Image in Many Faces

     The USA is becoming more multiethnic each year. As demographics change, we need churches that can reach and welcome our richly diverse communities. 
     Path 1 New Church Starts is hosting a training on planting multiethnic churches March 29-31, 2017. Church planters, potential planters, and conference leaders are all invited. Training will be led by Dr. Brian Leander from Adelphia University. Cleve May and Gloria Winston-Harris from City Well UMC will also share their church's story with participants during the training.
     This is an opportunity for networking and focused conversation for anyone interested or involved in multiethnic church planting. Whether you've already planted a multiethnic church, are interested in trying, or have led an existing church to become more diverse, this event is for you. Come help us reach new people!
    

Upcoming Events

November 
Nov. 18-19 - CCYM - Sacramento (Bishop Preaching)
Nov. 24-25 - Conference Office Closed
Nov. 29 - UMC #Giving Tuesday
 
December 
Dec. 23 & 26 - Conference Office Closed for Christmas
Dec. 30 - Conference Office Closed for New Year's Eve
January 
Jan. 2 - Conference Office Closed for New Year's Day
Jan. 27-29 - FUMC-Bloomfield Lay Servant School 
February
Feb. 6-8 - Mid-Winter Clergy Retreat - Sacramento
Feb. 11 - Messy Church - St. John's UMC - ABQ
Feb. 19 - Mountainside UMC's 50th Anniversary - Bishop Preaching
Annual Conference - May 31 - June 2, 2017 
 
Click here for the Conference Calendar

Classifieds
Conference Calendar
UMC website
 


RELEVANT, PASSIONATE, AND LIFE-CHANGING CHURCHES

New Mexico Annual Conference  

11816 Lomas Blvd. NE Albuquerque, NM 87112

Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Receptionist Hours: 9:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m.

(800) 678-8786 toll free; (505) 255-8786; (505) 265-6184 fax

 Click here to view our staff listing  

 



 

Please send photos, articles, events, etc. to Alli Costello, Communications Director at alli@nmconfum.com.  Send classified ads to frontdesk@nmconfum.com.