Conference Vision: "to be disciples of Jesus Christ who are lifelong learners who influence others to serve." |
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A Message from your
District Superintendent
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Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
As we continue our Lenten journey during the month of March, I pray that we are focusing on our minds, hearts, and souls, and examining our relationships with God. I pray that we are finding intentional time to make this a meaningful time of spiritual formation. Confession, repenting, and growing in grace are fundamental to the journey of following Jesus.
One of the significant scriptures for Lent, in the gospels, involves Jesus’ time in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights. There are many examples of ways that we may feel like we have been in the wilderness for much longer than forty days already this year. Wilderness is part of the Christian journey.
The gospel accounts of these events are often subtitled, “The Temptation of Jesus.” Indeed, Jesus was tempted to do many things, none of which are “not good” in and of themselves. He would actually do them all at a later time in some form or fashion.
I believe that the greatest temptation that Jesus faced was to “compromise.” He had power to do great things. He was tempted, however, to compromise the will of God. It wasn’t the act, but the timing of the act. It wasn’t the act, but the motivation to perform them. It wasn’t the act, but the voice that was encouraging the act.
Jesus ordered his life so that there would be regular time in the presence of God, time to be still, time to listen, time for restoration so that he would fully embody God’s will.
Perhaps, one of the greatest questions for us to ponder during this season of Lent is, “How am I being tempted to compromise? Where am I being tempted to compromise? Are people or circumstances putting pressure on me to compromise the will of God in my life and ministry?”
I fully believe that regular discernment of the will of God is foundational for us and our churches. You and many in your churches are bright and creative. There are many good things that you can do together. When we plan and act based upon this alone, however, we miss the mark. Without the call, direction, empowerment, and power of God, we compromise the work of God.
Let’s be still and listen…as individuals…as the Body of Christ. That still small voice is still calling your name. That still small voice is still directing you. That still small voice continues to have power that is beyond human understanding. How are you being tempted to compromise?
The world is in desperate need of Emmanuel, God in us, revealed in us. The Spirit of God is calling me to start a revolution of God’s love! Let’s do it!!!
Grace for the journey,
Sylvia
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News from your
Director of Congregational Excellence
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Dear Friends,
I pray you are well today and that the joy of the Lord is giving you strength for life and ministry! I want to let you know about a couple of great training opportunities on the horizon which will be helpful for those of you wrestling with ministry in our increasingly "virtual" world.
The Elizabeth River District has invited us to join their webinar on Saturday, March 27 from 9 am to 12 noon for clergy and laity on being in Ministry in a Digital Age.
Rev. Dr. Michael Beck and Rev. Dr. Roz Picardo, authors of the new book "Fresh Expressions in the Digital Age," will be our speakers. They will share about the shift into digital ministry brought on by the pandemic and share practical steps to getting started. Clergy who attend will receive 0.3 CEUs. Register here.
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"Both/And" Ministry Bridging Online
and In-Person
We are jointly hosting with the Elizabeth River District a webinar on "Both/And" ministry on Saturday, April 24th from 9 am to 12 noon. Registration is not yet open, but mark your calendars! For more information, read on...
Before the global pandemic, the majority of congregations who were streaming worship online were (more or less) creating an experience for the people gathered in-person in their buildings. Leaders would often (at some point) look into the camera and say, "And if you're worshiping with us online, we're glad you've joined us." They'd then look back at the people gathered in-person and continue on with a worship experience designed as a physical gathering.
This meant that the home audience were observers of what was happening in real time on-site. They could watch, but not truly participate. This model (arguably) worked because - at the time - we knew nothing different.
In March 2020, when congregations ended in-person worship and went online (many for the first time) the methodology for streaming worship completely shifted paradigms. Everything was about the home audience. There was no one in the room, and the people at home could feel that shift. They knew they were being talked to directly.
Now we face one of the most critical moves in the next iteration of the online worship experience. As we move back into our buildings, we mustn't return to making people at home observers after talking directly to them for so long. They'll feel that too.
We also can't take an approach where we treat the in-person crowd as the studio audience, providing the laugh or clap track, for the people watching at home. Neither of these audiences should feel secondary.
If we fail to think about how to create a BOTH/AND scenario as we go back to in-person worship, we will lose so much of what we've gained in these last seven plus months.
Join us for Both/And: Maximizing Hybrid Worship Experiences For Online and In-Person Audiences
This 3- hour workshop will delve into strategies for how to create powerful transformative worship where no one feels like they’re an afterthought. It will explore:
• Re-imagining worship for both/and
• How to create interactive both/and experiences
• Bringing at home and in-person audiences together in real time
• Alternative opportunities for online audiences watching in-person livestreams
• Repurposing in-person worship for online audiences
• Strategies for adapting practices for both/and
• Avoiding letting your groove becoming a rut
• And more
Registration coming soon!
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Two Become Certified SAS Coaches |
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Over the course of three intensive days in February, Tom Slippy (Main Street, Emporia) and Rev. Steve Snodgrass (Waverly-Carsley Cooperative Parish), joined with two dozen others from six Conferences in our connectional system (some from as far away as Illinois and New York) as all attended training via ZOOM to become certified coaches in the Simplified, Accountable Structure (SAS) system of church organization. This class was the third such gathering in the past five months, and the graduates are now a part of only 102 coaches in this system, across 18 Conferences in our denomination.
SAS was developed as an alternative way to organize our church leadership teams. Instead of having the multitude of committees that many UMC churches follow, ¶247.2 of the Book of Discipline allows for modification to organizational plans, “when the membership size, program scope, mission resources, or other circumstances so require.” As such, Kay Kotan (the Director of Equipping Vital Congregations for the Susquehanna Conference of the United Methodist Church) and Blake Bradford (Superintendent of the Central District of the Arkansas Conference) developed this system to enable churches seeing this need to make their Mission Possible (also the name of their co-authored book regarding this system). In this model, there is one primary leadership team responsible for the governance of the church. Instead of anywhere from 30-50 people sitting on committees and getting wrapped up in church administration, the team is narrowed down to nine, allowing the remaining individuals to be freed up to perform the church’s ministries – to truly be involved in the mission! Just imagine how much more time there could be for ministry, if we weren’t all always caught up in some committee meeting or another!
Sound interesting? We pray that it does and we look forward to being able to share more information with you and your church on how to make it possible. To schedule an informational workshop for your church, please contact Andrew Book (andrewbook@vaumc.org). We look forward to helping your church grow into a new way of future possibilities!
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Shalem Institute
Experiencing the Beloved Community
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Visit Shalem for more information.
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Where did life begin for you?
My life started in the womb of my maternal grandmother, Margaret Dunnivant Owens, born in 1908 in Giles County, Tennessee, the birthplace of the KKK.
Participants in Shalem’s Heart Longings program listened to stories of my grandmother on January 9, 2021, as I honored her legacy, her struggles in the Jim Crow South, and the faith she left my family as an inheritance. The historian and scholar Dr. Vincent Harding taught students to call the name of their “mama’s mama” to access the strengths of their ancestors and elders who ushered them into the community before birth and to honor their ancestral lives as a testament to “How We Got Over.” In our Shalem program, we likewise honored our mama’s mama, each of us naming his or her grandmother and where she grew up. Thirty-nine humans listened to stories about our maternal grandmothers. We spoke of how our grandmothers’ communities of origin affected our mothers’ health, resilience, or defeat – leading them to rise to their potential, or suffer a slow decline. As we listened to each other, the holy mystery of our human connectedness emerged, and a beloved community formed that we felt powerfully in our spirits.
As they reflected on ancestors who had helped build beloved communities and basked in the experience of forming a beloved community themselves, members of the Heart Longings program named characteristics of beloved community: enthusiasm, trust, faith, giving back, joy, open-heartedness, generous collaboration, dignity, engagement, connection, involvement, optimism, curiosity, humility, availability, and listening for each person’s gifts. We explored how we can live into this experience of beloved community more fully.
What can we do to strengthen our beloved communities? One participant called us to action with his words, “I do know that the beloved community does not work to break down structural racism without direct action.” Participants then shared stories of intimate, direct action. From civil disobedience in the South to anti-Vietnam War protests, from a March for our Lives to demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice, from standing up against White Nationalist groups in a Tennessee state park to walking around the Wisconsin State Capitol to protest budget cuts for the poor, from Women’s marches in California to anti-police protests in southern Texas, we saw how we had resisted the powers that would prevent the formation of a beloved community. As we had worked for justice, we had strengthened beloved communities.
What spiritual wisdom might our maternal grandmothers offer us today? Will the spiritual wisdom of a young person guide us to connect the secular and the sacred? Our National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, calls to us like our grandmothers of old:
We will rise from the golden hills of the West.
We will rise from the windswept Northeast where our forefathers
first realized revolution.
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states.
We will rise from the sun-baked South. We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover.
And every known nook of our nation and every corner called our
country, our people diverse
and beautiful, will emerge battered and beautiful. When day comes, we step out of the shade of flame and unafraid.
The new dawn balloons as we free it.
For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
Excerpt from “The Hill We Climb”
May we be brave enough to build our beloved communities in the holy places where we live.
Audrey Cox Smith is a graduate of the Soul of Leadership Program with Shalem and leads group spiritual direction cohorts. She promotes dialogue between community members, residents, and interfaith partners to build a resilient Petersburg in her role as Director of the Petersburg Project, and she is co-author of the curriculum Virginia Roots, Race, and Discipleship offered through the Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.
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Updates from the Virginia Conference
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Bishop Sharma D. Lewis, together with the Annual Conference Planning Team, announced the 2021 Virginia Annual Conference will be a virtual event held June 18-19.
Business of the Annual Conference will be limited, due to economic constraints, only to Friday, June 18. The conference will again be using Lumi Global as the platform vendor.
Worship services and time for district-based service opportunities will be conducted on Saturday, June 19.
Annual Conference theme - The theme for 2021 is “United as One” with the guiding Scripture of John 17:20-23 (NRSV).
“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
Bishop Lewis shared that this Scripture shows Jesus praying for himself, his disciples, and for all believers. “This Scripture shares the importance of us being One,” she said.
Preparing for the Annual Conference session - Annual Conference members should begin to let their districts know if they have concerns about their ability to connect and interact in a virtual Annual Conference session. With this advance notice, districts, together with the conference office, can best assist members in the coming months.
Members can expect practice sessions closer to the June session to test their devices and learn about the Lumi platform. Information will be forthcoming concerning Kit Collection and a district collection plan for this year’s conference.
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Dear Virginia Annual Conference:
Peace to you as we continue in this season of pandemic and challenge. The world, in fact, seems quite changed in recent years, something we have felt for some time as a conference. Thankfully, we serve a God who is unchanging, unfailing and unending.
As Virginia United Methodists, we have met this moment in our history with renewed vision, setting our eyes on the One who is unfailing. Our vision remains strong: “To be disciples of Jesus Christ who are lifelong learners who influence others to serve.” We have begun to dream together of how we might bring this vision to life in our conference, in our churches, and in our communities. In 2020, with the formation of my District Alignment Team (DAT), we asked, “How can districts most effectively order themselves for the adaptive challenges of the 21st century?”
The question propels us to be innovative and collaborative, especially as we have not significantly changed our order for more than 40 years. Our District Alignment Team made six forward-looking recommendations that we are now considering for implementation.
Please take a moment to watch my video about the first steps of alignment. This contains important information about our district superintendents. I’ve also provided FAQs for more detail and information that pastors may use in sharing with members who do not have easy access to Internet communications.
Our first steps are part of a larger plan that will span more than a year. This is intentional, to give us time to pray, to dialogue and to collaborate. To start, please use this questionnaire to share feedback that will shape a number of virtual listening posts in coming months. All the resources listed above can also be accessed at www.vaumc.org/dat.
We were made for a time such as this. We will move forward in unity, guided by our vision: “To be disciples of Jesus Christ who are lifelong learners who influence others to serve.”
Peace and Blessings,
Bishop Sharma D. Lewis
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Retirements, Appointments of District Superintendents, Conference Director of Connectional Ministries, Assistant to the Bishop, District Alignment Transition Coordinator |
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Bishop Sharma D. Lewis is pleased to announce the appointments of district superintendents effective July 1, 2021:
Alexandria and Arlington districts – The Rev. Dr. Sarah L.K. Calvert
Danville and Lynchburg districts –The Rev. Denise P. Bates
Harrisonburg and Winchester districts – The Rev. Dr. Victor R. Gomez
York River and Rappahannock River districts – The Rev. Dr. Charles F. Ledlum-Bates
Charlottesville and Richmond districts – The Rev. Dr. Hyo J. Lee
Elizabeth River and Eastern Shore districts – The Rev. Seonyoung Kim
Farmville and James River districts – The Rev. Jay Carey
Roanoke and Staunton districts – The Rev. J. Douglas Forrester
The following district superintendents will be retiring on June 30, 2021. Join Bishop Lewis in expressing appreciation for the work and ministry for the following individuals:
The Rev. Jeff Mickle – Alexandria District
The Rev. Wayne Snead – Elizabeth River District
The Rev. Sylvia Meadows – James River District
The Rev. Danny Kesner – Charlottesville District
The Rev. Alex Joyner, current Eastern Shore District superintendent, will be appointed to a local church effective July 1, 2021. Bishop Lewis said she is very thankful for Joyner’s work on the Cabinet and his ministry and witness on the Eastern Shore.
Please join Bishop Lewis to show appreciation for the years of dedicated ministry of the Rev. Tom Joyce as assistant to the Bishop. Joyce will be retiring on June 30, 2021.
The Rev. Dr. Steve Summers will begin in a new position as Director of Connectional Ministries/Assistant to the Bishop. The Rev. Scott Davis, current Lynchburg District superintendent, will be the District Alignment Transition Coordinator (DATC) effective July 1, 2021.
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Technical Assistance Manual (TAM) Update |
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The work group created by Bishop Sharma D. Lewis to help move back to in-person worship safely has issued its first update to its Technical Assistance Manual (TAM) since December 11. The new update from the Return to In-Person Worship Work Group takes into account new research and best practices and provides new guidance in the following areas. Specific requirements are in the latest TAM found on the conference webpage at www.vaumc.org/return. Churches that update their plans as a result of these changes should resubmit their plans to the District Superintendent.
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Blood Drive held at Waverly UMC |
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On February 10th, Waverly UMC hosted the Town of Waverly as they conducted a blood drive in conjunction with the American Red Cross. 26 individuals came out to support this endeavor, including our town doctor, Dr. George Coleman, three first-time donors and one individual who had given blood for the 78th time in their lifetime!
Waverly UMC is proud to work alongside our community to support this cause, especially as it was so close to Valentine’s Day. What a better way to truly give from the heart! The current need for blood is so high. As such, the Red Cross has been conducting events like these on a regular basis across our region. Just along the 17 mile stretch of Route 460 from Disputanta to Wakefield, there have been monthly blood donation events, with three sites rotating their times to provide as many opportunities as possible. In the coming months there will be events at the Disputanta Community Center (March 30 and April 27) and Wakefield UMC (April 7), followed by another event at Waverly UMC sometime thereafter.
Please consider participating in an event near you. Visit RedCrossBlood.org for more information and to find a donation center.
Rev. Steve Snodgrass
Pastor, Waverly-Carsley Cooperative Parish
PICTURED: Dr. George Coleman donates the gift of life at Waverly UMC.
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Chester UMW Delivers Valentine Cheer |
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Chester United Methodist Church is NOT closed! At the moment, worship is virtual and meetings occur on the WEB, but the Church is alive and serving!
Each year the Chester United Methodist Women prepare Valentine gift bags for the residential kids at United Methodist Family Services (UMFS). Normally the items are purchased and then bags are assembled at our January unit luncheon. This year, according to our Healthy Church Team, meals have been postponed and meetings limited to 10. So the Jean Craig Fellowship assumed the responsibility of assembling these holiday treats. This annual gift receives a line in our yearly budget.
Items collected this year included heart-shaped chocolates, candy conversation hearts, pencils, balloons, cartoon Valentines the kids could share with their friends, special Valentine greeting cards (for the residents) and a $10 Chick-fil-A gift card for each recipient.
Because our February circle meeting was canceled due to COVID concerns, UMW President Susan Petrey and her 7 year old granddaughter, Eliza, finished packing the bags and delivered them to UMFS in time for Valentine’s Day.
UMFS always welcomes gifts and visits. Chester UMC has donated gift bags for Valentine’s Day, Halloween, and Christmas. Lisa Nicoll, UMFS Volunteer Manager can be reached at 804/353-4461, ext. 1138 to explore options for gifts, projects and visits to UMFS.
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Attention Youth and Coordinators
Mark your calendars!
April 24, 2021
Virtual Youth Retreat
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Rev. Doug Gestwick
Rev. Garland Hines
Bishop Sharma Lewis and Cabinet
Prayers of Comfort
The Family of Mrs. Evelyn Richardson (Rev. Mark Richardson’s mother)
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Next Newsletter Deadline
March 19, 2021
Send your news and pictures to
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Rev. Sylvia S. Meadows, James River District Superintendent
Gerry Fuss & Keith Jordan, Lay Leaders
Tish Borden, Administrative Assistant
Rev. Andrew Book, Director of Congregational Excellence
Audrey Smith, Petersburg Project Coordinator
Ronnika Davis, Communications Coordinator
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