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Training events for learning about the new online charge conference forms are still underway. Pastors were mailed links to the forms on July 27. However, pastors serving multi-point charges may have only received a link to one of their churches.
If you are unable to access ALL of your charge conference forms with ALL of your churches, contact your District office and they will be able to send those links to you. Or you may call or
email Michele Willson in the IGRC Communications office and she will be able to assist you.
ONE NOTE: The Pastor's Financial Worksheet has been updated with revisions. EVERYONE will need to
download the new form. There was a revision after the last email went out. The name of the file ends with "revised2."
Training events that remain include:
- Saturday, Aug. 12 -- Champaign New Horizon UMC, 10 a.m.
- Wednesday, Aug. 23 -- Peoria University UMC, 10 a.m.
- Saturday, Aug. 26 -- O'Fallon First UMC, 10 a.m.
- Monday, Aug. 28 -- Neoga Grace UMC, 6:30 p.m.
- Tuesday, Aug. 29 -- O'Fallon First UMC, 6 p.m.
Each workshop lasts about an hour with time available to answer your questions and provide any missing materials you may need.
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Deadline to register for choral reading event is today
Today is the final day to register for the choral reading session, sponsored by the IGRC chapter of the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts on Saturday, Aug. 19
The session is from 9 a.m. to noon at Vandalia First UMC. Your cost to register is $5 at the door, and covers thecost of the packet of music, which is being provided by Kidder Music Service.
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Photos of missing clergy sought for clergy directory
Final touches are being done on the layout of the new Clergy Directory. Photos for roughly 125 persons serving churches currently in the IGRC are missing and we want to include you!
We are also missing many retirees.
If you would like to be included in the 2017 directory and didn't have your photo taken at either Covenant Keepers or Annual Conference, please submit your photo
no later than Aug. 25 to Michele Willson at
[email protected]. Photos can be in a digital format or they can be mailed to the Conference office where they can be scanned and the original returned to you.
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Southern Illinois prepares for eclipse
The Aug. 21 Total Solar Eclipse promises to be an amazing experience for all who can behold it, but here are three interesting and potentially nightmarish travel impacts that may result from the event produced by the Weather Network.
The last total solar eclipse over this area was in June 1918.
Read more...
Related story:
Author has seen five solar eclipses...
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Use of incompatible language on fall docket
The United Methodist Judicial Council will consider two petitions arguing that the issue of homosexuality does not fall under the denomination's doctrinal standards.
The petitions are among
the 12 docket items for deliberation when the denomination's top court meets Oct. 24-27 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles Airport. As usual for the council's fall agenda, most items are related to bishops' decisions of law or petitions for declaratory decisions from recent annual conference sessions.
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Staying attuned to the community and how do new people see your church
The longer a church has been in existence, the less knowledgeable it is about its community and the less connected it becomes. Lovett H. Weems Jr., offers suggestions to help churches "bring the outside in."
Read more...
Church members in several states to attend nearby churches as visitors and report on their findings. Many reflected on the difficulty churches have in
viewing things from the perspective of persons new to their church. The challenge is to think of everything from arrival to departure - signage, hospitality, bulletins, and more - from the perspective of someone who has never been to your church before.
Read more...
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Book drive underway for Philippine pastors
A campaign across Illinois is underway to collect books for shipment to the Philippines.
Rev. Noah Panlilio of Malta UMC and Mr. Pong Javier of Cosmopolitan UMC in Melrose Park are leading the drive in the Northern Illinois Conference along with Superintendent Stephen Granadosin of the Spoon River District in the IGRC. This is a national campaign for the National Association of Filipino American United Methodists (NAFAUM).
Would you help give a gift that lasts?
Books will be shipped Oct. 15 for arrival in the Philippines by Dec. 15.
Click here for details and drop-off locations...
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Imagine No Malaria publishes global impact report
As the Imagine No Malaria campaign transitions out of the active fundraising phase, the global health initiative has published a Comprehensive Impact Report to update the church on global malaria statistics and programmatic progress.
Global malaria mortality has been reduced by more than 60 percent with nearly 6.8 million deaths averted and life expectancy of children born in sub-Saharan Africa improved by nearly a decade in the short time that the church has engaged in this initiative. Through the efforts of the Board of Global Ministries and partners at the Global Fund, more than 4 million insecticide-treated bed nets have been distributed, 61 health facilities renovated, 2.7 million people treated and thousands of community health workers and volunteers have been trained.
Download the Comprehensive Impact Report...
Download the Comprehensive Impact Report Statistics...
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Liberian United Methodist pastor raises bees
The Rev. Joe Gatei is a pastor in Ganta, Liberia. Like many rural Liberian churches, his congregation struggles to pay his salary. Thanks to training through the United Methodist Committee on Relief, Gatei learned beekeeping, the proceeds of which now supplement his income. Here, he demonstrates how to construct a hive.
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Sincerely,
Paul E. Black
Illinois Great Rivers Conference
217-529-2848
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