News for the Week of December 11, 2017
In this Newsletter:
  • Migrant Churches Provide Piece of Home
  • It's That Time of Year Again!
  • Rev. Nema LeCuyer Goes to Washington
  • Color Your Way into Advent
  • Mission Leaders Express Appreciation for GivingTuesday Support
  • Upcoming Events
Migrant Churches Provide Piece of Home
The Revs. Chi My Nguyen and NM Conf Member, George Miller visit outside the United Methodist Church-Frankfurt City.
Story by Vicki Brown, photos by Mike DuBose(UMNS)
Even as new immigrants from the Middle East and Africa struggle to find a place in German society, many from Ghana and Vietnam have been here for decades. Those who are United Methodist mostly worship in their own language at their own churches.
Ghanaians were often Methodists in their homeland and wanted their own churches - churches then started as part of an agreement with The United Methodist Church in Germany. There are   10 Ghanaian United Methodist churches  in Germany.

...The Rev. George Miller, coordinator for International and Migrant Ministries for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, said the Vietnamese are one of the best-assimilated group of migrants in Europe. "They are well-educated; their children go to general schools," Miller said.
 
He said the migrant model in Germany has been a separate church and adds that "there hasn't really been a good integration effort."  "It takes a strategic will and persistence at all levels of the church to become reconciled and be in unity," Miller said. "Where the more recent migration waves have created church openness, along with the German identity of second-generation youth, we are now seeing new models of diversity and intercultural church."
It's That Time of Year Again!
Your December Tithes are due by January 10th.
Church statistics are due by January 24th.   
The website to input your info will by open  
on December 31st.  For assistance, please call 505-255-8786.
Rev. Nema LeCuyer goes to Washington
Pastor Nema LeCuyer's back was against the gates lining the White House grounds. She was surrounded by Dreamers who were there for an emergency rally to speak against President Trump's discussions about their possible deportation.  Having already participated in the scheduled protests, Nema was dressed for the airplane trip back to NM, not for national media attention, but when asked to bless the protesters and then at the last minute, to preach, she prayed and stepped up.  She put her collar on beneath her Guatemalan shirt but to sanction her place further, the young organizer from Church World Services insisted on giving her his stole.   As she always does, she began by saying "The Lord be with you" around the circle of those gathered and then, she turned with her bullhorn and facing the White House, she said "Mr. President, the Lord be with you."  And then, she said the Holy Spirit encompassed her and she began to recite from the Sermon on the Mount but substituting words of comfort to the Immigrant and the Stranger.  She said that the moment transformed her and she wondered how she could ever preach the same way.  

For Creative Souls:  A Different Way to Contemplate the Meaning of Advent
There are many ways to   prepare your heart and soul for Christmas. You may attend a   children's Christmas pageant, join an   Advent  Bible study, or read a meaningful book.   Coloring Advent: An Adult Coloring Book for the Journey to Bethlehem  offers a unique way to approach your devotional time, a coloring page for each day of Advent.
(Provided) are four downloadable sample coloring pages from  Coloring Advent  accompanied by devotions written by United Methodist Communications. We hope these enrich your Advent journey.
 
May the glory be to God who can strengthen you with my good news and the message that I preach about Jesus Christ. He can strengthen you with the announcement of the secret that was kept quiet for a long time. Now that secret is revealed through what the prophets wrote.( Romans 16:25-26 CEB)

Toward the end of a mystery novel or movie, many of us have wondered, "How did I miss that?" Skilled authors and directors hide clues in a story we do not immediately see.
It happens in real life, too. After a relationship goes bad, we see all the red flags that were there all along. After friendship turns to romance, we see what our friends saw long before we did. Only after receiving the perfect gift do we recognize the clues we'd been giving for months.

That which once seemed mysterious, appears obvious. What seemed like a secret was no secret at all.

In the final sentences of his letter to the church in Rome, the Apostle Paul calls the message of Jesus a "secret that was kept quiet for a long time." The prophets wrote about him, but everyone missed what now seems obvious.
As we enter into Advent, we enter a mystery, a secret made known in the birth of a child. Let's enter this season of expectant preparation with open hearts, minds, and doors, waiting upon God to reveal the secret in us.

Mission Leaders Express Appreciation for GivingTuesday
 
Support
By Elliott Wright
More than 3,350 gifts totaling $677,398.80 were received for missionary support, mission projects, and disaster relief in the 2017 UMC Giving Tuesday campaign on November 28. 

The annual event benefits mission work supported in part through The Advance, the designated mission giving channel of The United Methodist Church, related to the General Board of Global Ministries and its United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) agency. The theme this year was "Connect Your Passion with God's Mission." 

"We are grateful for the continuing faithful giving of United Methodist to mission outreach," said the Rev. Russell Pierce, director of Global Ministries' Mission Engagement Unit, which includes The Advance. "Giving Tuesday 2017 affirms United Methodist commitment to designated mission support." 

The 3,357 gifts came from 15 countries, the largest number from the United States, with the United States accounting for $670,290.80 of the total amount received. Of the gifts, 149 totaling $74,395 are for missionary support and 233 totaling $303,197.92 are for a range of worldwide mission projects. Sixty-seven donations totaling $299,805.88 are designated for UMCOR. One hundred percent of every Advance gift goes to the designated program.
Upcoming Events
 
December
Dec 22 - 26 - Conference Office Closed for Christmas
Dec 29 - Jan 2 - Conference Office Closed for New Year's
January  
Jan 9 - Coaching Skills Training - Highland UMC-Odessa 
Jan 13 - ABQ Emergency Response Team Training - Christ UMC
February  
Feb 9-11 - CCYM - Sacramento
April 
April 5-7 - TX UM Historical Society Meeting - Trinity-First UMC, El Paso 
 
Annual Conference - June 13 - 15, 2018 - ABQ Marriott
NM Conference | 505-255-8786 | frontdesk@nmconfum.com| www.nmconfum.com
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