THE CLARION. PRESIDENT S REPORT Mary Lou Wurth

Transcription

1 Memphis Conference United Methodist Women Spring 2019 THE CLARION PRESIDENT S REPORT Mary Lou Wurth Happy New Year! The Memphis Conference United Methodist Women s first conference event was called Membership Celebration. Dexter-Harden UMC was the location of this new event. It combined officer training and a Membership celebration. I hope each of you were able to attend. Local presidents or membership chairs need to complete your 2018 Census report. This is done on-line at It is very important for each unit to complete this form. Please Contact Phyllis Gay, Conference Membership/Nurture/Outreach at or at phyllispgay@yahoo.com, or your District MNO. Some happenings for 2019 you may want to know about and share with other UMWs. 1. Response Magazine is going to 6 issues a year 2. New World Outlook is no longer being published. 3. Reading program books will no longer be carried by the Mission Resources. You will need to purchase them from bookstores, Amazon, or other sources will be the last time For Leadership Development Days. A new event or way for the National office to train newly elected Conference officers will be developed. 5. Southeastern Jurisdiction Quadrennial Meeting 2020 Calling U to celebrate (Romans 1:6) will be in Mobile, Alabama, April 17-19, 2020 The Conference Mission Team has a very busy calendar planned, with lots of opportunities for growth, education, and fellowship. Please plan on attending all the activities you can. See you there... Mary Lou Wurth, President, Memphis Conference United Methodist Women MISSION U 2019 CROSSROADS UMC The 2019 mission study themes are: Practicing Resurrection: The Gospel of Mark and Radical Discipleship by Janet Wolf. Women United for Change: 150 Years in Mission by Ellen Blue. What About Our Money? A Faith Response by Susan Taylor. Youth: Who Do You Say That I Am? Meeting Jesus Through the Eyes of Mark by Carolyn Poling. Children: Marked: A Mission Journey with Jesus in the Gospel of Mark by Rita Hays.

2 SPIRITUAL GROWTH Deborah Poole Hello and Happy 2019! It s a new year, a new position as the Memphis Conference Spiritual Growth Coordinator and I am excited to share with each of you some of God s words through scripture as well as some thoughts of encouragement from me and others. Finding God s Will - Don t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12: 2 NLT) Well friends are you having trouble determining God s will for your future? You aren t alone. Every new responsibility brings new decisions. Hum-m-m, How do we know what God wants? The good news is to know God s will we must totally surrender to his will. Our human nature has us trying to make decisions, plans and opinions without seeking God s will first. We expect Him to choose our way. Hum-m-m! Well friends we need to come to God with and open heart, empty hands and a willingness to surrender our will so that God can equip you with everything good for doing his will (Hebrews 13: 21 NIV). It is a Promise you can count on - Wow! Take your position in UMW and be assured the God has called you, equipped you and is with you every step of every day. Ladies thank you for your willingness to be the hands, feet and voice of God. Wow, what an awesome privilege! The Spiritual Growth Retreat will be held at Lakeshore United Methodist Assembly in Eva, TN on March 29th and 30th, Friday 3 pm (registration) through Saturday 4 pm. The theme is While We Were Yet Sinners God s Abundant Grace. Our dynamic speaker Rev. Diane Harrison is the founding Minster of Grace Place United Methodist Church and Two Sisters Ministry. Diane has a love for the Lord, her mission/ministry and she has lifelong love for UMW that was instilled in her by her Mother. You are in for a treat; be prepared to laugh, cry and to grow spiritually. Mark your calendars, we want, and we expect to see you all at The Lakeshore for great Bible study, worship, singing, fun, food and fellowship! We are accepting reservations for children ages 3(potty-trained)-13 and youth to adults from ages 14 to Bring your checkbook or cash to shop at the canteen and at the Grace Place Market. The goods have been hand crafted by the women of Grace Place UMC. This is their way of paying an apportionment to the UMC. This sale has blessed by the Conference UMW Team. Our offering will also go to Grace Place UMC. The deadline for all reservations is March 21, If you have children coming, we really need your reservations as soon as possible so that we will be prepared with leaders to shepherd and share fun activities with your young ones. As we did last year, we are offering the opportunity for another Grace Moment any individual or UMW unit can help by sponsoring a child ages 3-9 ($25) or a youth ages ($65) or an adult age ($80). This is a small way we can help our Conference and our younger Mothers have the opportunity to grow Spiritually while their children are being cared for and having great time. Don t forget to mark your check with the additional funds for a Grace Moment if you wish to participate. Remember our children are our future, it is our responsibility to plant those seeds so that the next 150 years of UMW can continue serving women, children and youth here and around the world! A Great Weekend is awaiting your attendance. Share this article and the reservation forms with your District, Local Units and your Friends. You will have Fun as you Grow Spiritually in a Wonderfully Sacred Place with a Fantastic Speaker and a Great Group of United Methodist Women. Peace of Christ, Deborah Please feel free to contact me anytime, I would love to share your joys and concerns. dpoole52@bellsouth.net - Cell # Home #

3 SPIRITUAL GROWTH RETREAT 2019 Rev. Diane Harrison While We Were Yet Sinners March 29-30, 2019 Lakeshore Assembly and Retreat Center Name Phone Street City State/Zip Church District Emergency Contact Phone I will need a cabin for persons with limited mobility List any special needs or accommodations that you wish Please realize if you request a cabin used for persons with limited mobility (Cabins 1 and 2), you may not get the roommates you requested. Space in Cabins 1 and 2 is limited.) Roommate Perference I am enclosing (make checks payable to Memphis Conference UMW) $80 Full-time registration for lodging, 3 meals and materials $50 Commuter registration for 3 meals and materials Check if you are a first time attendee Registration deadline is March 21, No refunds after March 21, Send completed form to: Meredith Bingham, 267 River Commons Circle, Memphis, TN mbingha@bellsouth.net Retreat begins with check-in at 3:00 p.m. The first session begins at 5:30 p.m. on March 29 and will conclude before dinner on March 30. Meals included are supper on day one, breakfast and lunch on day two. What to Bring: Writing materials, Bible, comfortable clothing, including a jacket or sweater, comfortable shoes, linens (pillow, blanket or sleeping bag), sheets for twin bed, towel, washcloth, and personal items. There are items available for purchase from the canteen and book room. Offering will be for Grace Place. The cost for children/youth are: ages 3-9 $25.00, ages $ There is a separate registration form for children/youth. Grace Moment: Want to fund the cost of a child age 3-13 to attend? It can be a donation as small as $25 or a fully funded $65. Funds will be awarded to Mom s on a first come first serve basis. It will help defray Conference expenses as well as giving our younger Moms the opportunity to attend without financial hardship. Just mark your check for the amount to be put towards to Grace Moment. Thanks Y all! Questions contact: Deborah Poole, dpoole52@bellsouth.net,

4 SPIRITUAL GROWTH RETREAT 2019 Children/Youth Registration Rev. Diane Harrison While We Were Yet Sinners March 29-30, 2019 Lakeshore Assembly and Retreat Center We are so excited again this spring to offer fun activities for your children/youth at our Spiritual Growth Retreat. In order to make sure we have supplies, rooms and counselors available we need your reservation by March 21, Name Phone Parent/Guardian s Name (must be in attendance) Street City State/Zip Church District Emergency Contact Phone I will need a cabin for persons with limited mobility List any special needs or accommodations that you wish I am enclosing payment (make checks payable to Memphis Conference UMW) $25 Ages 3-9 $65 Ages Check if you are a first time attendee Check here if you need or want Grace Moment funding Registration deadline is March 21,2019. No refunds after March 21, Send completed form to: Meredith Bingham, 267 River Commons Cr, Memphis, Tn mbingha@bellsouth.net Spiritual Growth Retreat begins with check-in at 3:00 p.m. The first session begins at 5:30 p.m. on March 29 and will conclude before dinner on March 30. Meals included are supper on day one, breakfast and lunch on day two. What to Bring: Writing materials, Bible, comfortable clothing, including a jacket or sweater, comfortable shoes, linens (pillow, blanket or sleeping bag), sheets for twin bed, towel, washcloth, and personal items. There are items available for purchase from the canteen and book room. Offering will be for Grace Place. Questions contact: Deborah Poole, dpoole52@bellsouth.net,

5 FROM THE VICE-PRESIDENT Myra Cleaver Dexter Hardin United Methodist United Methodist Women hosted the Memphis Conference UMW Membership Celebration and Officers Training Saturday, Jan. 19. After a brunch and time of fellowship focused on Sharing the love, 43 members from throughout the conference gathered in the sanctuary. After an invocation by pastor Richard Burkeen, Conference Spiritual Growth Leader Deborah Poole presented an inspiring devotion. Conference Membership Nurture and Outreach Coordinator Phyllis Gay then led the Membership Celebration by using questions and prizes to provide joyful moments of learning about the history and activities of United Methodist Women. Officers Training allowed time for conference officers to meet and inform district officers of their responsibilities. Vice Presidents shared ideas for Annual Day They also discussed activities they lead in their local districts. The Program Committee will meet March 23, at 10:30 A.M. at Fulton First United Methodist Church. time, decisions as to theme, speaker and committee responsibilities for Annual Day will be made. At that Trusting that all United Methodist Women will be greatly blessed as we continue in our Lord s service throughout our 150th Anniversary year! LOOKING AHEAD The 2021 mission study themes are: Spiritual growth: The Moral Witness of the Church Geographic: The Two Koreas Issue: Mass Incarceration (a two-year study that starts in 2020) Youth and Children s studies: Living as Christians in a Violent Society

6 40 DAYS OF PRAYER FOR GENERAL CONFERENCE From Harriett Jane Olsen United Methodist Women calls on members to pray for the upcoming special session of the United Methodist General Conference. In 40 days, a special session of the United Methodist General Conference will convene in St. Louis, Missouri. The leadership of the General Conference has been planning for the sessions, working to help the General Conference hear the call of God and make decisions together. Delegates have been preparing, praying, sharing and listening. The Commission on the Way Forward and people across the church have been working to clarify and express their own understanding of God s call and whether The United Methodist Church in its current form and with its current membership is able to live that out. As members of United Methodist Women, we also have been engaged in study, listening, conversation and proposals about what God s call to our church looks like. We too are feeling the growing uncertainty that naturally grows as the special session grows closer. Instead of focusing on the uncertainty, I invite you to a position of confidence that God is at work and that God invites us to work. I invite you to pray with this conviction. Many of us are engaged in a pattern of prayer as part of the Council of Bishops Praying our Way Forward, and others are in prayer with conferences or congregations. We pray daily using our United Methodist Women Prayer Calendars. Another way we pray is through the making of prayer shawls. If this is your special call during this time, please pray this way. Once worked out, we will post details about how you can send prayer shawls to St. Louis for General Conference delegates. If you are not currently engaged in a pattern of prayer or if you would like to add to your ministry of prayer, I invite you to join me in the following weekly pattern: Sunday: Pray for The United Methodist Church, for its lay members, clergy members, fellowship, discipleship and leadership work. Pray that we would ground our feet firmly in hope. Pray also for the future work of the church. Monday: Pray for the delegates. The responsibility they carry can feel heavy, and the emotions they are feeling and receiving can take a toll. Pray for their resilience and openness to the Holy Spirit, who speaks even when we are in self-protection mode but to whom are most receptive when our hearts are open and we are hope-filled. Tuesday: Pray for all who will be presiding and leading during the session and for the staff who will be serving. Their clarity and wisdom make a big difference in the kind of conversation that the delegates are able to have and whether the delegates have confidence in the processes surrounding their work. Wednesday: Pray for the outreach and mission service of The United Methodist Church and how this will be enhanced by the structures and directions set by the special session. Pray for the ministry of congregations, conferences and agencies serving people in need around the world. The Prayer Calendar is a great resource to be reminded of some of these.

7 Thursday: Pray for the education ministry of the church and the ways that this equips us to engage in a future full of possibilities. Pray for the students and faculty that we support through scholarships, student ministries and publishing. Pray for the tutoring work of congregations and national mission institutions, for secondary schools, colleges, universities and seminaries who are also dealing with uncertainty about how they will connect with the church in the future. Friday: Pray for all the justice ministries of the church and for how these will be strengthened by the work of the special session. Pray for the work to address policies that marginalize and patterns that demean. Pray for our relationships with ecumenical partners and persons engaged locally, regionally, nationally and globally in God s love and the vision of justice we are called to lift up. Pray for a commitment to hope that shapes our engagement with a fractured but beautiful world. Saturday: Pray for all of us across the church who are charged with the stewardship of the resources entrusted to us and how our hope, rooted in faith, shapes our use of these resources of time, commitment, effort and finances so that we might give neither too much nor too little regard to the potential of these gifts and our responsibility to use them well. United Methodist Women, we are praying people. Let us pray focusing not on our own uncertainties but on God s leading and the great mission and ministry ahead of us. Harriett Jane Olson is General Secretary and CEO of United Methodist Women. Prayer shawls should be mailed to arrive by February 20, 2019 to: Katie K. Willis 1568 Highway J Wright City, MO

8 On Saturday, September 14, 2019 from 9:00-3:30 Scarritt Bennett Center in Nashville, TN will offer the mission study Women United for Change: 150 Years in Mission. The leader will be Sandy Wilder, former staff of United Methodist Women and coordinator for The Legacy Fund living in Texas. The study will explore United Methodist Women s history of mission to women and children through advocacy, leadership development, spiritual enrichment and direct service ministries. We will hear the stories of the involvement of individual and groups of women; their motivation; their decision-making processes; their preparation through prayer and study; and their courage and faith to participate in God s mission under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The cost of this special event is $25 and includes lunch. Registration is available at Come and join your sisters so that together we may continue the legacy of women organized for mission. If you have questions, please let me know. Thanks. Joyce o. Sohl, Laywomen-in-Residence Scarritt Bennett Center, th Ave S., Nashville, TN jsohl@scarrittbennett.org The Mississippi River District had their first Mission Study of 2019 at Salem Methodist Church in Milan, TN on Saturday, January 26. The Study was Embracing Wholeness - An Earth Perspective for Covenantal Living, with Rev Joe Thorn teaching. During the study each person shared what their sacred space was, and what made it special to him/her. The Salem United Methodist Women provided a light breakfast and a soup-and sandwich luncheon. Rev. Thorn offered to come speak to groups at the various churches in the district. If you did not have a chance to attend the study, do contact him to come to your church.

9 2019 Memphis Conference United Methodist Women Calendar of Events Month/Date Event Location Time January 1 Directory Information to Meredith Bingham January 19 Membership Celebration Dexter Hardin UMC 10:00 AM February 1 Clarion Deadline to Karen Freeman March 15 First Quarter Treasurer's Report to Marie Lamon March 23 Mission Team Meeting Fulton First 12:00 noon Committee Meetings: Mission u, Nominations, Finance, Spiritual Growth, Education & Interpretation, Charter for Racial Justice, and Scholarships during lunch March Spiritual Growth Retreat Lakeshore May 1 Clarion Deadline to Karen Freeman June 2-5 Memphis Annual Conference Collierville, TN June 15 Second Quarter Treasurer's Report to Marie Lamon June 30 Mission Study Info to Barbara Boden July Mission u Crossroads UMC August 1 Clarion Deadline to Karen Freeman August 10 Mission Team Meeting Paris First 11:45 AM Committee Meetings: Membership, Finance, Program August 17 Social Action Day August 25 Reading Program Info to Deborah Vaughan / Mission Today Info to Barbara Boden / Candle Burning Info to Barbara Boden September 15 Third Quarter Treasurer' Report to Marie Lamon September 28 Memphis Conference Annual Day Milan First November 1 Clarion Deadline to Karen Freeman 'December 15 Fourth Quarter Treasurer's Report to Marie Lamon The first Team meeting is March 23 at Fulton First UMC, Fulton, Ky. Team meeting 12:00, noon. Note...The Charter committee no longer exists. If you have a committee that needs to meet, please contact your committee members to make sure they know they are to attend. Remind them that lunch is brown bag. The committees that have requested meeting times are: MissionU. 9:30 am Program 10:30 am. Scholarship lunch If your committee isn t listed, please contact Mary Lou with the time you prefer.

10 SOCIAL ACTION NEWS! Chevron Corporation is the second biggest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world since It one of the top 10 producers of natural gas globally, and its production is only increasing. In a 2017 special edition of Disclosing the Facts report about methane, Chevron substantially lagged behind its peers in efforts to reduce methane leaks and in its reporting of methane emissions. In May United Methodist Women members delivered almost 2,000 letters and met with Chevron staff pressing them to sign on to Reducing Methane Emissions Across the Natural Gas Value Chain guiding principles and reduce leaks across the supply chain. We are pleased to learn that Chevron has signed on, and with recent attempts at federal methane reduction rollbacks, we urge Chevron to act on their commitments. In particular, guiding principle #4 states: to advocate sound policies and regulations on methane emissions. Tell Chevron to Plug the Leaks Now! Write to the new CEO of Chevron Mike Wirth, urging that Chevron take important steps towards fixing their leaks, supporting sound methane regulations, stopping new natural gas projects, and investing in renewable energy. Learn more at A LIVING WAGE FOR ALL! United Methodist Women's Living Wage for All Campaign seeks to engage members as allies in passing state and local legislation that lays the base for a living wage for everyone. The living wage is what it takes for a family to meet basic needs of housing, food, transportation, utilities, etc., in their locale. United Methodist Women joins faith and labor coalitions working to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. But that's still below the living wage, and that alone will not guarantee a living wage for all families. Wage theft and lack of sufficient work hours pose additional obstacles, for example. Domestic workers, tipped workers, farm workers then majority African American and now mostly immigrant workers were excluded from New Deal labor legislation and continue to be excluded from some labor rights today. This is a racial justice issue! There will be different legislative entry points depending on your state or municipality. Sign up for Social Action Alerts at:

11 THE PURPOSE OF UNITED METHODIST WOMEN The Purpose is adopted by the General Conference of The United Methodist Church as the official mission statement of United Methodist Women. United Methodist Women shall be a community of women whose purpose is to know God and to experience freedom as whole persons through Jesus Christ; to develop a creative, supportive fellowship; and to expand concepts of mission through participation in the global ministries of the church. Out of the Purpose are four mission foci that relate to the mission initiatives and priorities of United Methodist Women. To be a community of women To know God To develop a creative and supportive fellowship To expand concepts of mission Memphis Conference United Methodist Women - Mission Statement We, the Executive Committee of the Memphis Conference United Methodist Women, reaffirm the reasons for which we came into existence over 100 years ago; to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ through outreach of the church, especially to women and children throughout the world. This is emphasized in our Purpose which states: The organized unit of the United Methodist Women shall be a community of women whose PURPOSE is to know God and to experience freedom as whole persons through Jesus Christ; to develop a creative supportive fellowship; and to expand concepts of mission through participation in the global ministries of the church. We are, therefore, committed as United Methodist Women to continue our giving through the proper channels of our organization. Acting upon our Purpose, United Methodist Women do not deviate from the Discipline or The Social Principles of the United Methodist Church COMMUNICATIONS NOTES Karen Freeman Send your articles and news items to kfreeman@olbiz.net Look for us on Facebook! Memphis Conference United Methodist Women Coming soon! The Clarion Call news coming to your inbox! Share your events and news with the Conference instantly! Don t wait for the quarterly newsletter! More news and resources available at: