This Week's Current Week in Review

The Current Week in Review

February 25, 2022

United Methodists respond to invasion of Ukraine

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brought calls for prayer and statements of deep concern from United Methodists, as well as a first-hand account from a denomination member in harm’s way.

The Revs. Julia and Oleg Starodubets were serving Kyiv United Methodist Church, in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020. File photo by John Calhoun, Global Ministries.

“We were awakened from deep morning sleep by the sound of explosions and many phone calls from friends,” said the Rev. Oleg Starodubets, a district superintendent who messaged UM News from Kyiv on Feb. 24. “People took their beloved and tried to leave the cities.”

Starodubets said United Methodists in Ukraine are opening churches as shelters. He asked for prayers for peace and a Russian withdrawal from Ukraine.

“Please pray that our people will be able to reach the shelters as many roads are blocked,” he added.

READ APPEAL FOR PEACE IN THE UKRAINE

Church courts rules GC2020 postponement resets legislative deadlines

The United Methodist Church’s top court ruled that any postponement of General Conference resets the submission deadlines for proposed legislation.

The Judicial Council ruling comes as the Commission on the General Conference is considering whether the international lawmaking assembly — already twice postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic — needs to be delayed again.

The commission plans to decide by the end of March whether General Conference can go forward as scheduled on Aug. 29-Sept. 6 this year in Minneapolis. The commission next met Thursday.

Ahead of that meeting, the Judicial Council said the General Conference commission “erred in using the original date as point of reference for the submission deadlines.

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

March issue of

The Current

The March issue of The Current should be arriving in your mailboxes in the next few days, but you can also view the publication online by clicking the cover image on the right.

The March issue features #BeUMC, a new information campaign aimed at addressing the vision of the remaining United Methodist Church should a separation occur.

Bishop Beard also shares excerpts of his homily given at McKendree University on the installation of the Rev. Dr. Beverly Wilkes-Null as its chaplain.

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.

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.