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JOYS & CONCERNS
Please include these prayer requests in your weekly church bulletin, in your prayers during your Sunday worship if you have a time of "pastoral prayer" and keep these pastors, their families and the Church families in your prayers throughout the week.
February 2
The Delevan and West Valley:St. Paul's Churches. Pastor Dawn Quesenberry, her husband Mike and their family.
February 9
The Dewittville-Hartfield and Mayville Churches. Rev. Mark Parsons, his wife Jan and their family.
February 16
The
Dunkirk First Church.
Matt Slaven, his wife Rochelle and their son Ethan.
We received word last Thursday that
Mark and
Jan Parsons' grandson, Isaac Edward, died Wednesday, January 22. He was 27 weeks old and had a condition that caused his body to swell and retain fluid. Continuing prayers for Mark, Jan and their family.
Also prayers for District Lay Leader
Rich and
Nancy Preston. Rich's father, Royal, 96, died January 19. The funeral was held Friday, January 24. Please keep Rich, Nancy and their family in your prayers.
We offer praise and thanksgiving that
Pastor John Green is back home after spending most of January in the hospital. John reports he is "doing good" and is glad to be home. Thanks be to God as John continues to recuperate.
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NEW - Free Community Breakfast
The congregation of
Napoli United Methodist Church, 10087 Route 242, invites their friends and neighbors to join them for a
free breakfast from
8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on
Saturday, February 1. Start the new month out with good food and friendly people. All are welcome!
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Tuesday, February 4, is the DEADLINE!
6th Annual Learning Day for Laity & Clergy
WHO - All Cornerstone sisters & brothers in Christ
WHAT - Gather together for a day of praise, worship & learning
WHEN - 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, February 8
WHERE - Bemus Point UMC, 4954 Bemus-Ellery Rd.
WHY - Take advantage of opportunities for spiritual growth and/or ways to be better equipped/informed as a church leader.
Cost is $30 per person ($24 per person if you register 3 or more from your church!).
Deadline to register is Tuesday, February 4.
Payment by
check only; make checks payable to UNYAC.
For more information, click
here to download the flyer/registration form or go to
cornerstonedistrict.com (choose Resources, then 2020 Learning Day to register online).
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REMEMBER - Time to Enter Stats
The annual statistical tables (Ezra) have been open since January 1 (
www.ezra.gcfa.org). Please be mindful that the
February 15 deadline to enter your church's 2019 statistics falls during Presidents' Day weekend. Won't it be a relief to have this task completed before then?
- If you need help with your church's login - this should be your church's GCFA number for both Username & Password - please call or email the District office.
- Line 52t from the 2019 statistical tables will be used to calculate your Ministry Shares for 2021. Please ensure you are fully and accurately reporting these figures.
- It is now required that you enter explanations in order to submit your stats. You can SAVE but not SUBMIT with an error or unexplained warning.
- Please call Erica Wentworth, 315-898-2004 with questions or concerns about the reporting before you submit.
Cathy in the District office also is available to help with data entry if you don't have access to a computer. We're here to help, so please let us hear from you.
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NEW - Regional Superintendency Plan
On Saturday, January 18, Bishop Mark Webb shared with the Upper New York Conference the Cabinet's plan for Regional Superintendency beginning July 1, 2020.
What does this mean? How will it work? Find more information below:
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NEW - Bishop Webb Announces Clergy Appointments
On January 29, 2020, Area Resident Bishop Mark J. Webb and the Upper New York Conference announced the following ad interim appointments:
Binghamton District
Jeffery Hale as a retired elder interim to Marathon UMC effective January 16, 2020 - June 30, 2020.
Barbara Green as a retired local pastor as associate to Windsor UMC effective January 12, 2020.
Genesee Valley District
Cathy Hall Stengel as an elder to extension ministry as Chaplain Resident, Department of Spiritual Care, University of Colorado Health System, Anschutz Hospital effective January 1, 2020.
Mountain View District
Brian Diffenbacher as an elder in the Wesleyan Church to United Church of Jasper effective January 1, 2020 - June 30, 2020.
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Reaching Out with the Love of Christ
The First United Methodist Church of Westfield's Mission and Outreach team started a project on December 1, 2019, the Reverse Advent Calendar project. The idea behind the project was to give an item every day of Advent that would go to the Westfield Community Food Pantry. Using a list of items provided by the Food Pantry, calendar users were encouraged to put the item listed for each day in a box or bag. At the end of Advent, faithful users had collected 24+ items for the Food Pantry! The church not only challenged their congregation, but the Westfield community and all United Methodist Churches in the Cornerstone District.
Donated items were blessed during the January 5 worship service at Westfield First. Following the service many volunteers from the church and community came to help move, sort and shelve the donations. More than 1,500 items were donated by the Westfield First congregation; with donations from other churches and the community, well over 2,000 items were donated to the Westfield Community Food Pantry through this project.
On behalf of the Westfield First Mission and Outreach Team, thank you to everyone involved in this project from beginning to end - those who coordinated the project, those who donated to the project and those who helped carry, sort and shelve all of those donations.
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Download the Latest Issue of the Bridge
The February Issue I of the Bridge is now available for download. It is available in both color and black & white formats. Click here to select the version you prefer and make copies as necessary.
This issue outlines the new Regional Superintendency Plan for Upper New York, effective July 1, 2020.
The Bridge is a communications tool designed for local churches to stay connected to each other and to the ministries taking place around the Upper New York Conference and The United Methodist Church. The newest volume will be listed at the top of the webpage, with older volumes below. The Bridge is designed to be handed out in worship, as a church bulletin insert, or as a standalone item. If you have questions or are unable to make copies, please contact [email protected].
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Opportunities for Prayer & Study
Thursday Bible Study (meets weekly), 8:30 a.m. at South Dayton Library, 17 Park St. Call Pattie Lukaszewski for more information, 716-296-1021
Jamestown Area Prayer Gathering, Thursday, January 30 & February 6, 13 & 20, 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Celoron UMC, 28 E. Livingston Ave.
Cornerstone District Prayer Gathering, Thursday, February 27, 12 noon to 1 p.m. at Christ UMC, 633 Linwood Ave., Olean.
The events listed are open to everyone! Please let the District office know if there are other opportunities for prayer & study in your church/area.
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Disability Awareness February 2-3
At the 2018 UNY Annual Conference a petition was adopted
for local churches to promote a Disability Awareness Weekend
the first weekend in February.
The UNY Accessibility Committee recommends a Disability Awareness Weekend for a special offering and for promotion of awareness issues as well as ministries that enhance inclusion
of people with disabilities.
Rev. Melissa McCarthy, Committee Chair, has provided resources to help your church broaden their awareness of disability issues. Find them
here.
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Join UMM to Feed Our Vets
Upper New York United Methodist Men are sponsoring a mission to help hungry and homeless veterans. Churches are invited to join in this mission opportunity by collecting food at church. Please display a box from February 2-29 dedicated to Feed Our Vets.
Donations may be brought to 587 Main St., New York Mills, NY, between 8 and 9 a.m., Saturday, February 29
. To make other arrangements or for additional information, contact Mark Jones, 315-749-3700, or
[email protected]
. See the flyer about this tremendous mission and
click here for a prayer for veterans
.
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INR Preaching Contest
The Upper New York Conference Commission on Religion and Race (CCORR) is welcoming submissions of sermons designed to call out and dismantle racism. A panel of judges will recognize the sermon that most effectively engages and motivates listeners to imagine and build a world free of racism. The Pastor, Lay Preacher, or Deacon preaching this sermon will be honored at Annual Conference. Excerpts of the sermon will be shared in a variety of ways. The individual who delivers the winning sermon will also be given collaborative access to our Conference staff to develop a promotional video for their church.
The deadline for sermon submission is February 29, 2020.
Click here
to learn what judges will be looking for in the videos and to find out how to submit the videos.
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Course of Study (COS) Reminder
Licensed Local Pastors - Are you are planning on attending COS for the
Spring Weekend 2020 (March 27-28 & April 24-25) at the Conference Center? If you are, please fill out your registration form and get it to the District office to have the DS sign it so it can be forwarded to the Registrar.
The deadline for registration is Friday, February 14. This is the date that Wesley Theological Seminary must receive the registration,
NOT the date to get the form to the District office for Suzanne's signature.
Please, DO NOT WAIT to the last minute to register. When a class is filled, Wesley closes the registration for that class and there is no wiggle room.
The courses being offered for this session are:
- 321- Bible 3: Gospels
- 323-Congregational Care
- 522-Theology in the Contemporary
There is no reason to wait to the last minute because you don't need to send money with your registration. So, please sign up now!!
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UPDATE - 2020 Annual Conference Info
The 2020 session of the Upper New York Annual Conference is scheduled May 28-30 at The Oncenter in Syracuse, NY.
Online registration (
www.unyumc.org) will
open February 28 and close May 1. Fees that cover meals and other amenities for Annual Conference are:
Active Clergy - $185
Lay Member -- $185
Retired Clergy - $95
Clergy on medical leave - $95
Equalization Member (at-large & District-appointed) - $95
Youth Equalization Member - $10 -
NEW THIS YEAR
Clergy Spouse (more than one day) - $185
Visitor/Vendor (one day) - $65
Youth Visitor - $10
If you are interested in serving as an Equalization Member to Annual Conference, please click
here for the
Youth application and
here for the
Young Adult/Adult application.
Monday, February 3 is the deadline for petitions and resolutions for inclusion in Volume 1 of the UNY Conference Journal -
[email protected]. Items not submitted by this date will be available on the Annual Conference app and on the Conference website
ONLY.
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Get Ready to Embark: Destination God
OUTWARD!
Youth Conference registration is open. Gather your youth and adult leaders and get ready to roll! This event takes place March 13-15 at the Holiday Inn in Liverpool and focuses on an outward expression of God's love. Youth groups will have an opportunity to get a taste for mission work by going on short excursions away from the hotel as well as have more opportunities to do things together and work toward creating a God-like community around them.
Cost is $70 per person and includes a T-shirt. Meals are on your own (not included). Overnight stay is $115 per room per night. Up to 5 people per room are allowed. A $10 charge for an additional roll-away bed applies, available on a first come, first served basis.
For more information/to register, click here.
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Please Make Note of These Dates on Your Calendar!
Through February 15
The
Ezra site (
www.ezra.gcfa.org) is
open for entry of 2019 local church statistical data. Saturday, February 15, 2020 is the deadline for 2019 local church statistical data.
SAVE THE DATE!
Saturday, February 8, 2020
6th Annual Learning Day for Laity & Clergy
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Bemus Point UMC, 4954 Bemus-Ellery Road
Click
here for more information!
Saturday, February 15, 2020
Sunday, March 15, 2020
April 19-25, 2020
Local Pastor Licensing School
Casowasco Camp & Retreat Center
Registration is now open!
Click
here
to register for the 2020 UNY Local Pastors Licensing School. Or contact Rev. Caroline Simmons,
[email protected].
May 28-30, 2020
11th Session of the Upper New York Annual Conference
The Oncenter, Syracuse, NY |
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Message from Mike Block,
UNY Conference Disaster Response Coordinator
Did you know that the Upper New York Conference has a program to send people almost immediately into disaster areas to quickly, effectively and appropriately provide a caring, Christian presence to assist survivors in recovery? It's called ERT, which stands for
Early Response Team
. Early Responders are trained by UMCOR during an 8-hour session with all the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How answers to the typical questions willing volunteers ask when they feel called to provide help. What do we do? We listen to survivors, we hold trembling hands, we hand out bottles of water, and listen some more. We give hugs, we assure that people care and then we wash walls, remove wet carpet, wet wallboard, shovel mud, carry out ruined appliances, cover holes in roofs and make homes secure again. We don't do repairs - that happens later with rebuilding teams who often are the very same people on the Early Response Team.
If you'd like more information and/or training to become an Early Responder, please consider attending one of the following Basic Early Response training events:
February 8 - Broad Street UMC, Norwich, NY (northeast of Binghamton and east of Cortland). Follow this link for registration information: http://bit.ly/20ERTNorwich
February 29 - North Chatham UMC, North Chatham, NY (near Albany). Follow this link for registration information: http://bit.ly/20ERTNChatham
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Please Complete Form from Church Mutual
All Upper New York Conference churches will be receiving a
Payroll Audit - Report of Wages form from
Church Mutual.
This report is for the policy period 1/1/2019 to 12/31/2019, during which time UNY churches were covered by Church Mutual. This form must be completed.
Please sent the completed form directly to Church Mutual by FAX at 715-539-4721 or email at [email protected].
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New Federal W-4 Form for Church Employees
Effective January 1, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) redesigned the Federal W-4 Tax Form. which instructs employers how much tax to withhold. T
his form is required to be completed by new hires, as well as existing employees who want to change their federal withholding. Current employees do not need to complete a new federal W-4 tax form unless they would like to change their withholding. Federal tax withholding will continue based on the employee's previously submitted federal W-4 tax form unless the employee completes a new form.
Click
here for the new Federal W-4 Tax Form.
Click
here for Frequently Asked Questions published by the IRS that may be helpful when completing the form.
Conference Contact:
If you have any questions regarding the new Federal W-4 Tax Form, please contact Tracy Rickett, Human Resources Generalist, at 315-898-2017 or
[email protected].
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Opportunities to Serve
The Nominations Committee is accepting nominations for almost all Upper New York Conference ministry teams. Their team has begun its work of developing a list of nominees for consideration at our upcoming Upper New York Annual Conference session (May 28-30, 2020).
While each Conference ministry team has a focus, all exist to equip clergy, laity, and their churches to live our mission of making disciples for the transformation of the world. The Nominations Committee believes all the gifts needed to live this mission have been given to the people of Upper New York by God. Prayerfully consider serving as a member of one of our Conference ministry teams.
Click here for a description of the ministry teams that have vacancies. Click here to complete a nominations form on Survey Monkey. Should you need to print the form, please use the Survey Monkey link.
For questions or information, contact the Rev. Tony Hipes at [email protected].
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Rev. Suzanne Block
District Superintendent
Rich Preston
District Lay Leader
Cathy Hall
Administrative Assistant
716-665-2423
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