This Week's Current Week in Review

The Current Week in Review

February 11, 2022

Indoor Facemask Update released

This week the Illinois Department of Public Health announced its plans to relax its COVID-19 mandate on wearing facemasks in indoor public settings on Feb. 28, 2022. Our Illinois Great Rivers Conference churches should carefully review these updated recommendations and convene their church health safety teams and leaders to update their congregation’s safety plan.

Our IGRC Bishop and Cabinet recommend that our churches consider the recommendations of our local, state, and federal public health officials, and your local church health safety team and leaders will need to meet and discuss what makes the most sense for your church in keeping your congregation and community safe while fulfilling your mission. Some churches with higher-risk older congregants or with large numbers of unvaccinated children may choose to be more cautious and ask everyone to continue wearing masks while indoors. Some congregations with high numbers of fully vaccinated people, great ventilation systems, and other precautions in place may decide to relax their precautions or decide that unvaccinated people need no longer wear masks while in their indoor gatherings. In any case, our church decisions should be based in our Biblical values such as caring for our neighbors, reducing harm, and sharing our witness to the love of God for all people including the most vulnerable in our communities.

In keeping with the IGRC workplace policy established in August 2021, all staff and visitors who are not yet full vaccinated will be required to wear a face mask while inside the IGRC Conference Center or other IGRC staff workplaces. Additionally, all staff and visitors who are fully vaccinated will be required to wear a face mask while inside the IGRC Conference Center or other IGRC staff workplaces whenever the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the Illinois Department of Public Health, or local county Department of Public Health recommends doing so during times of “high” or “substantial” community transmission risk.

Denman, Cartwright award nominees sought

Nominations are now being accepted through April 25 for the Denman Evangelism Award for clergy, laity and youth, and for the Peter Cartwright Lifetime Achievement Award in Ministry. These awards are presented by the IGRC Evangelism Committee.

The Denman Evangelism Award honors an IGRC United Methodist lay, youth lay and clergy person who exhibits unusual and outstanding efforts for work in Christian evangelism by faithfully carrying out the mission of “making disciples of Jesus Christ.”

The Peter Cartwright Lifetime Evangelism Award of the Illinois Great Rivers Conference is awarded to someone who has exceptional leadership qualities to help our conference in making disciples of Jesus Christ. This person’s lifetime example challenges pastors and lay people to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with others. Where the Denman award is given for a period of work, the Peter Cartwright Lifetime Evangelism Award is given to a retired pastor who has reflected this work throughout their ministry career.

READ MORE AND DOWNLOAD NOMINATION FORMS

Observations of a church visitor

She visited 26 churches in 26 weeks. This is what she learned. Although not United Methodist, her insights are pretty on-target for our midwestern congregations. Which of these ideas would help your church take the next step in welcoming new people?

Church court clarifies disaffiliation rules

The United Methodist Church’s top court released six decisions Feb. 9 related to a new provision governing how congregations can leave the denomination with property.

All six rulings from the United Methodist Judicial Council stem from questions of law raised about the Book of Discipline’s new Paragraph 2553 — approved by the 2019 Special General Conference in St. Louis.

Passed during the same legislative assembly that strengthened church bans against same-sex weddings and “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy, the church law allows congregations to exit with property for “reasons of conscience” related to homosexuality if they meet certain requirements.

The disaffiliation plan offers a limited way to release congregations from The United Methodist Church’s centuries-old trust clause, which states that church property is held in trust for the benefit of the entire denomination. The provision permits such disaffiliations through Dec. 31, 2023.

Up to 1/3 of delegates cannot get visas in time for General Conference 2022

Visas are just as important as vaccinations for allowing General Conference to happen. And new data show that it may be visas, rather than vaccinations, that are the more insurmountable obstacle. Up to a third of General Conference delegates (and three-quarters of those from outside the United States) may not be able to obtain visas in time to participate in an August 2022 General Conference.

Visas are difficult to obtain even in normal times, as previously reported. But the pandemic has created anything but normal times over the past two years, making the process much slower and more difficult.

This group includes all of the delegates from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the country with the second highest number of United Methodists) and the Philippines (representing an entire central conference). It also includes a variety of other African and European countries, including Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Russia, all of which have substantial delegate counts. If they start now, at current rates, Nigerian delegates couldn’t get visas in time for General Conference in 2024.

IGRC delegation issues statement

on General Conference

As the Commission on General Conference meets in the next few weeks to decide on whether General Conference is possible in August and September 2022, the IGRC delegation met Wednesday and has issued the following statement which was approved by all 24 General and Jurisdictional Conference delegates and alternates:

We, the General and Jurisdictional Conference delegates of the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference, commend the Commission on General Conference for the tireless efforts being made to hold an in-person General Conference in 2022. A task which is challenging in the best of times has become monumental in the midst of the pandemic.

We realize that the Commission perceives the importance this General Conference has for the normal function of our denomination, the constant need to vision a new future, and to address the denomination’s current theological divides over human sexuality, scriptural interpretation, and structures of authority and accountability. Our delegation hopes for General Conference to convene as soon as possible so that we may faithfully and respectfully engage this work

We also acknowledge the complexity of coordinating a safe, global gathering in the midst of the pandemic and we pledge as a delegation to fully support the efforts and all decisions of the Commission on General Conference, whether the decision is made to hold General Conference or to postpone it. When it is held, our delegation will follow every safety protocol established. We are confident in and grateful for the servant leadership staff and members of the Commission provide.

It is believed that a decision on General Conference will be made and announced sometime in March.

Ministry opportunity with UMRC

United Media Resource Center Director Jill Stone is retiring at the end of May and new UMRC management using volunteers will be needed.

Does your church or community feel a calling to serve churches by connecting them to a wide variety of resources for Christian education, leadership development, and personal spiritual growth? Do you live in the Springfield area OR have a large space for housing the UMRC’s collection and office?

Having a small group of volunteers to share responsibilities would be ideal.

Please contact Jill Stone, UMRC director (jstone@igrc.org), or Curtis Brown, Director of Connectional Ministries (cbrown@igrc.org), for more details.

Applicants sought for IGRC scholarships

The Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry Illinois Great Rivers Conference Undergraduate Scholarship is being offered. Applicants must be members of a United Methodist Church in the Illinois Great Rivers Conference for a minimum of one year. Scholarships awarded will be sent to the community college, college or university that the student will be attending during the 2022-2023 school year to help pay for their undergraduate tuition.

The scholarships awarded will be a minimum of $500.

Applications must be submitted by midnight on Feb.15. If you have any questions, contact Christy Blickensderfer at cblickensderfer@igrc.org.

EZRA portal open for year-end reports

The Ezra portal for year-end statistical reports is now open through Feb. 28. Remember - your user name is the church's six-digit GCFA number and the password on the initial log-in is password This is reset annually.