Mid-Winter Pastors and Spouses Retreat: We have decided to lay down the Mid-Winter Pastors and Spouses retreat. We have tentatively set the retreat for the same weekend in 2022. Would you, as a church, consider treating your pastor and their spouse with time off and funding for a personal retreat for rejuvenation and relaxation?
Pastor & Recorded Ministers Reports for 2020 have been sent out and are due by January 15. Annual status cards will be provided to those who submit their completed reports. If you did not receive a report or your dog ate yours, it can be found at https://www.iym.org/page/reports-forms-resources.
Statistical reports will be sent to each church the first week of January. Please watch for your reports and plan to have them completed and returned to the yearly meeting by January 31. The reports can also be found at https://www.iym.org/page/reports-forms-resources.
From Christian Service: IYM is joining forces with Friends Counseling at Wabash Friends to offer some sessions on topics we believe will benefit us all. The sessions will be offered in February. Dates and times for the zoom gatherings will be available later this month. Here are the topics we will be considering: loneliness, support services, options for people struggling with anxiety, depression, how to support our extended families and build relationships, grief support, how to support school age kids and parents in dealing with the pandemic and the ramifications surrounding education, church participation, etc. PLEASE join us as we try to gain guidance and direction during these uncertain and difficult times.
From the Advancement Committee: It is wonderful to see IYM figuring out ways to best support our members and impact our communities. If you want to know what is happening around IYM, please check in with us about the ministries, services, and other tremendous efforts being offered. Your generosity keeps us moving forward. We need to raise $110,000 for our 2022 budget, this is the total giving so far towards the 2022 IYM budget:
$33,337.10 - cash already received
9,600.00 - pledges still to be paid
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$42,937.10
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We express our deepest sympathy to
Paula McKnight,
the McKnight family and
Jonesboro Friends
in the recent tragic passing
of Jonesboro Pastor,
Mark McKnight.
Please hold them all in
your prayers.
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Evangelical Friends Mission is collecting contact information in order to be in touch with people in IYM with prayer updates, information about Missionaries, etc. If you would like to receive EFM information, click HERE and fill out the online form.
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Upcoming IYM Events:
January 9 – Executive Committee; 9am via Zoom
January 17 – Youth Invasion at Carmel Friends (WYM); 5-8pm
January 18 – Program Committee; 6:30pm via Zoom
January 21 – Pastor Gathering; 10am via Zoom
February 5-7 – Winter Sneak Teen Retreat at Quaker Haven
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Youth Activities:
Youth Invasion is a three-hour program where the Quaker Haven Camp program ‘invades’ a church with worship music, games, food, and teaching. The next one will take place at Carmel Friends (651 W Main St. Carmel, IN). Please contact Andrew Heald or Brock Sizelove if you are planning to attend with the number of people who will be coming with you so enough food is ordered. Social distancing and masks will be required.
Winter Sneak is a weekend event for 6th-12th graders to experience Quaker Haven in the winter. The speaker will be Tabitha Lumpkin from Farmland Friends. Dates are February 5-7. Check in will open at 7pm on the 5th and end at noon on the 7th. Go to qhcyouthprogramming.com to get signed up!
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Monthly Pastor Gatherings will start back up in January via Zoom. Even though we are not able to be together face-to-face, we can connect through virtual means for prayer, encouragement, and fellowship. We will study the book Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory by Tod Bolsinger. The gatherings will be at 10 am on the following dates:
January 21
February 18
March 17
April 15
We will leave the possibility open to meeting in person in May and for Pastor's Short Course in late June. Pastors will receive a Zoom link via email soon for the January gathering.
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Good Morning!
Our God is doing a new thing! And, no, I am not talking about the new Superintendent of IYM. Well, not entirely…
It is a new year, 2020 is now in the rear-view. 2021 is here! And, even though we are only a few days in, it is my hope and prayer that in the newness of the year, our eyes are opened to something new Jesus is doing.
The Apostle Paul gives these words in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!" What I pull from this passage today is that God is always doing some-thing new. As we are ‘in Christ’ the new creation is always coming. That which is outdated, used up, or tired within us is constantly going.
As I get started as General Super-intendent, I am so thankful that I am not the only ‘new’ one around here.
If we take these words of Paul seriously, we are all new. As we continue to be ‘in Christ’, this ever-moving process of God doing new works within us, continues as well. And may this also pour from us in order that the new works our God desires to do amongst us come to fruition.
--Pat Byers
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