The United Methodist Church
Northern Illinois Conference
e-News for July 30
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| Greetings! |
Welcome to the NIC e-News. This newsletter is published every Thursday morning.
Can we do anything to help you? If you or your church have any communication needs, please contact Matt at mkuzma@umcnic.org.
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In Step with the Bishop
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Bishop Hee-Soo Jung and many leaders from the conference will be attending or presenting at the School of Congregational Development, held in Evanston this week. Stay tuned to our website for coverage of the event.
And here's a story from the United Methodist Reporter about the recent UM Men conference in Nashville, where Bishop Jung was a featured speaker:
Photo by Rich Peck/ UMC Reporter
By J. Richard Peck , Special Contributor
NASHVILLE,
Tenn.--United Methodist men's shift to Music City USA for their
quadriennial gathering gave their 2009 assembly a little Tennessee
flavor.
Man in the mirror: Focus on relationships, men told at UM gathering
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Prayers Needed for Fiji
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From Emmy Lou John, Global Ministries secretary
Dear eNews,
Would it be possible for you to add the following to this week's message? I think that it is very important that we hold the Methodist Church of Fiji in our prayers.
Government Action Against Methodists in Fiji Raises International Concerns
By Elliott Wright
New York, NY, July 28, 2009--The arrests of Methodist church leaders
in Fiji and the cancellation by the government of the annual church
conference in the island nation are raising concerns within the
international Methodist family.
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Aurora Cluster 40-Acre Challenge
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From Rev. Alka Lyall, Bethany of Fox Valley UMC
Like many others, the Aurora cluster came back from Annual Conference energized by the excitement for Harvest 2020, struggling with the questions that still surround us of the many unknowns and challenged to continue to move on with this mission to strengthen clusters, small group ministries and existing churches.
In an effort to strengthen relations, encouragement, and the leg muscles of cluster members, Steve Good, pastor at Sugar Grove UMC, challenged all clergy to a walk-off, a five-day, "40-Acre Challenge." At the end of the challenge and on the day of our cluster meeting Steve Good was announced to be the winner with 73,153 steps. The cluster met at the 40-acre property that Sugar Grove UMC owns with the vision to build a sanctuary but for now a picnic shelter, prairie plants and playing area for children adorns the place. Aurora Cluster is scheduled to have their annual cluster picnic at this location on Saturday August 23, 2009 beginning at noon. The afternoon will be filled with worship, music, face painting, hay-rides, water balloons and many more games.
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| Important Dates |
RSVP now for these upcoming events!
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Updated Charge Conference Forms
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Annual church conferences will be here before you know it. Visit our resources and forms page on the website for updated charge conference forms. All documents are posted as Word .doc documents, and many have also been converted to .pdf for ease of printing. If you have difficulty downloading or using the forms, please contact your district office or email communications@umcnic.org.
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Communications Update - Reporter Subscribe/Unsubscribe
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From Matt Kuzma, Communications OfficeMany thanks to those who gave feedback about our print and online communications last week. While our quick poll was not scientific, we heard from you that you prefer a variety of communications media and that you want the conference to be efficient in how it spends apportionment dollars. We currently send news and messages to the conference through: - United Methodist Reporter newspaper (local and national sections mailed)
- United Methodist Reporter online (local version posted as .pdf on website and linked in eNews)
- UMCNIC.org (most local news stories posted there, new website to be released in the fall)
- eNews (links to UMCNIC.org and other features)
- Direct Mail
The Reporter newspaper is the most expensive of these media, so if you currently receive the Reporter but would prefer to receive messages through electronic media, you may unsubscribe at any time. If you are a clergy person or local church leader in the conference, you may register here for a free subscription to the Reporter. We welcome all comments and questions; please email mkuzma@umcnic.org.
PS - Here is the executive summary of our website redesign from Big Heart Design that we posted last week. The architecture of the new website looks great. Based on some initial reviews, the visual design should be very professional and appealing. Stay tuned!
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Church World Service Kit Collection at Annual Conference a Great Success!
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Gladys King-Lucas of the Marcy-Newberry Association stopped by to offer encouragement of the CWS Kit gathering project. Photo: Tessa Barnes
From Tessa Barnes, Church World Service, Oak Brook
Thank you to all of the congregations of the Northern Illinois Conference for bringing Kits to Annual Conference. The
Kits were collected this year by Church World Service (CWS). The Kit
collection at the NIC Annual Conference at Pheasant Run resulted in:
225 School Kits
298 Hygiene Kits
32 Baby Kits
66 Clean-Up Buckets
$852.00 in shipping fees
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addition, left over materials that could not be placed into kits were
delivered to the Marcy-Newberry Association, a mission of the United
Methodist Church. CWS is a relief and humanitarian organization comprised of 35 member denominations, including the United Methodist Church. For decades CWS and UMCOR have worked in partnership to respond to disasters across the globe. As a result of this partnership, millions of people have been given hope in times of great difficulty. Thank you again for being a part of this awesome effort!
http://www.churchworldservice.org
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Pancake Breakfast of the Week
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The Kildeer division of PBotW just got back from a trip to New York and is glad to be out of the Big Apple's heat! There were no pancakes, but plenty of great Chinese food and pizza.
Happy and safe summer travels, and enjoy the beautiful (and mild) Illinois weather!
Please submit details of your pancake breakfast (or other community meal) to communications@umcnic.org, subject line "Pancakes."
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