Sunnyvale First United Methodist Church

Transcription

1 Sunnyvale First United Methodist Church 535 Old San Francisco Rd, Sunnyvale, CA January/February 2019

2 Page 2 Pastor Guest Fesve February: Celebrang Our Diversity February is one of the most important months of the church, because it s a &me where we are a congrega&on of faith get to celebrate Us. I grew up knowing that February was a &me of fes&vity because my eighth grade teacher, Madeline Stra.on, taught us the importance of celebra&ng the history of Black African Americans. Back in the 1950s we learned to call ourselves Negroes (a translitera&on of a word of La&n origin, niger that means BLACK). Black History Month, also known as African-American History Month in the U.S.A., is an annual observance in Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States. The precursor to Black History Month was created in 1926 in the United States, when historian Carter G. Woodson and the Associa&on for the Study of Negro Life and History announced the second week of February to be "Negro History Week". This week was chosen because it coincided with the birthday of Abraham Lincoln on February 12 and of Frederick Douglass on February 14, both of which dates black communi&es had celebrated together since the late 19th century. From the event's ini&al phase, primary emphasis was placed on encouraging the coordinated teaching of the history of American Blacks in the na&on's public schools. The first Negro History Week was met with a lukewarm response, gaining the coopera&on of the Departments of Educa&on of the states of North Carolina, Delaware, and West Virginia as well as the city school administra&ons of Bal&- more and Washington, D.C. Despite this far from universal acceptance, the event was regarded by Woodson as "one of the most fortunate steps ever taken by the Associa&on", and plans for a repeat of the event on an annual basis con&nued apace. At the &me of Negro History Week's launch, Woodson contended that the teaching of Black history was essen&al to ensure the physical and intellectual survival of the race within broader society. He wrote, If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradion, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated. The American Indian le no connuous record. He did not appreciate the value of tradion; and where is he today? The Hebrew keenly appreciated the value of tradion, as is a%ested by the Bible itself. In spite of worldwide persecuon, therefore, he is a great factor in our civilizaon. Of course, even today, the fight goes on to include the contribu&ons and history of Black African Americans in the classroom texts of America s schools. In its a.empt to permanently enslave us and deny us the full rights of American ci&zenship, Africans were deprived of our children, our cultural prac&ces, our families, our languages, our names, our religions, and any informa&on that might strengthen rather than weaken our ontological bonds with other human beings. The Ideology of White Supremacy is s&ll a strong factor in American life and manifests, among other ways, in systemic racism. White Supremacy cripples everyone concerning the knowledge of my own ancestors, inven&ons, contribu&ons and history one of a people that arrived on these shores before the Mayflower. Likewise, we are blessed to gather and worship as a congrega&on represen&ng the world s diversity. We have members from South India who represent the oldest organized Chris&an tradi&on in the world, the Syrian (An&och) Orthodox Church. We have Americans in our church who represent the heritage of China, Western and Eastern Europe, the ancient Indus Valley, the Japanese Islands, the Korean Peninsula, The Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Spain, Scandinavia, Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom and the Pacific Islands, and others. While we celebrate our diversity throughout the year, we are nevertheless mindful of the need to celebrate and thereby embrace each other s uniqueness and par&cular journeys as the collec&ve people of God. So in February, we not only celebrate Black History Month, but we celebrate Mul&cultural Month. It is a sad truth that most Americans know so li.le about people who do not represent our culture of origin. It is also true that we, increasingly, are learning to appreciate the reality that we now live in a global village. Pastor Guest

3 January/February 2019 Page 3 Les Cline Finance Commi ee Report Les Cline, Finance Chairperson January 10, 2019 I m pleased to report that 2018 was a good year, many thanks to everybody for your very generous financial support. The 2018 books have not yet been closed, but the 2018 Final numbers should end up fairly close to these preliminary numbers: Total Income was $292,775 and Total Expenses were $290,100. For reference, in 2017, Total Income was $384,784 and Total Expenses were $368,622, and in 2016, Total Income was $364,698 and Total Expenses were $367,080. (I m hoping you ve no&ced that these 2018 numbers are much lower than in 2017 and This is because, star&ng with 2018, we ve aligned our church s defini&on of income with the Conference Tithe defini&on of income. Consequently, in 2018, our church received about $64k in pass-thru expense offsets that are equivalent to pass-thru money that was handled as income in previous years. So, for comparison with previous years, total money received in 2018 was about $357k.) These Income and Expense numbers add up to a $2,675 surplus. The 2018 Budget had forecast a $1,425 deficit, but our 2018 was an outstanding year, many thanks to everybody for your support. Total Income was 292,775 and Total Expenses were $290,100 church s finances were tracking to a much larger deficit un&l December, when congrega&onal contribu&ons were more than twice the budgeted number. In addi&on to this Income, our church received a number of Designated Dona&ons that went directly to Dedicated Accounts. The majority of this was $20,737 collected by the Organ Replacement fundraiser; when this joined the $26,629 that was already in the Organ Fund, it easily covered the full cost of our beau&ful new Johannus Ecclesia T-370 church organ. Unfortunately, the 2019 Budget numbers do not look good: In the 2019 Budget, total Es&mated Income is $280,110 and total Es&mated Expenses are $311,574. On the Income side, the biggest changes from the 2018 Budget are reduc&ons of $16k in Non-Pledge Income (to align the Budget to actual 2018 contribu&ons) and $5k in Rent (because the Peninsulaires choral group is no longer mee&ng at our church). On the Expenses side, the biggest adder from 2018 is $10k for staff salaries. This adds up to a deficit of $31,464. Also, this budget includes $165k in Pledge Income; however, to date our church has only received commitments for $140k, so any Pledge Income shorpall will add to the budget s projected deficit. While this sounds very bad, we did have a similar situa&on a few years ago: the 2016 Budget included a $19,032 deficit, but God saved our church s 2016 finances (and 2017 and 2018 finances) by sending the Good Samaritan Korean Methodist Church to us. For this year, the Finance Commi.ee has chosen to not panic and slash expenses; instead, we are trus&ng that God will provide for our church s 2019 finances, one way or another. As we ve discussed for the past few years, our church needs major upgrades that have been deferred for years due to lack of funding. The Finance Commi.ee had been hoping to include some of the Trustee s projects in the 2019 Budget, but the projected huge deficit prohibited us from doing so. Consequently, as in previous years, any major Trustee s projects for 2019 will require targeted fundraising. Pastor Guest s Bible Study on Recovering the Sacred Center, Church Renewal from the Inside Out meets on Wednesdays at noon in the Pastor s office. An evening Bible study takes place in Newark on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Please contact the church office for details.

4 Page 4 Dear members and cons&tuents, Rod Oravetz God has placed before FUMC Sunnyvale an opportunity to grow our ministries in ways that we ve yet to fully grasp, in the form of an eventual merger with Trinity UMC Sunnyvale. Trinity UMC has, due to circumstances beyond their control, lost use of half of their church plant and have decided that they can no longer effec- &vely con&nue their ministries with that loss. Given this situa&on, our District Superintendent has specifically asked that FUMC Sunnyvale and Trinity UMC eventually merge to form a new church. As directed by our District Superintendent, both our churches leadership teams are in the planning stages of having Trinity UMC move onto the FUMC Sunnyvale campus some&me this year. The actual move date has yet to be determined, but it will probably occur this coming fall. Trinity UMC will share our plant, exis&ng on our campus as Trinity UMC un&l the formal merger takes place, which will most likely happen in about two years from now. Along with the move, another step our two churches will be taking towards a merger is to enter into a Coopera&ve Parish covenant with each other, as defined in paragraph 206 of the Book of Discipline. It is the union of two church bodies working coopera&vely for common/joint ministerial goals. The Coopera&ve Parish covenant centers on the crea&on of a Coopera&ve Parish Agreement. This is not the merger agreement, but it points in that direc&on. It is a document, on which both churches must agree, that explicitly states the ministries both churches will pursue as a united en&ty. This agreement will be used to formalize our two churches ini&al step towards merging. Each church will hold separate Charge Conferences to formally enter into the Coopera&ve Parish covenant, via acceptance of the Coopera&ve Parish Agreement. Once the agreement is accepted by both churches Charge Conferences, the Coopera&ve Parish covenant rela&onship begins. The formal merger will not occur for at least a year or more aqer entering the Coopera&ve Parish covenant. During that period, though Trinity UMC will s&ll exist on our campus as a separate parish, both churches work to grow together, in the ministerial rela&onship they established by their Coopera&ve Parish covenant, in a manner such that the formal merger, which results in the forma&on of a new church, will be a natural and obvious result of our spiritual growth together. Our District Superintendent has directed that our two churches follow the Vital Merger process, from the book Vital Merger by Dirk Elliot, to provide guidance on our merger. Vital Merger gives specific guidance on the church merger process, from the very beginning to its conclusion, and is based on actual merger experiences. Though we are using Vital Merger as our guide, aspects of its process will be tailored to suit our churches situa&on. As FUMC Sunnyvale s Leadership Council Chair, I ve been tasked to form a Vision Team to explore our current ministerial areas, and to bring forth other areas of ministry which we could pursue as a unified church body. Trinity UMC s leadership has been tasked to do the same, and both churches groups will be working together, as a single group, with their inventories of current and united ministerial areas, to create our Coopera&ve Parish Agreement. Our team s ini&al goal will be have this agreement ready for our 2019 Charge Conference, or possibly sooner. The process of crea&ng this agreement will be completely transparent and accessible to all members and cons&tuents. As our team s progress matures towards comple&ng the agreement, others will be asked to join in the effort. Here are our current Vision Team members: FUMC Sunnyvale - Margaret Mason, Sarah Jeyapalan, Linda Morse, Darryl Alford, and myself Trinity UMC Sunnyvale - Lloyd McBeth, Dean Conte, Lyn Irvine, Lois Chestnu., and Bob McGowan (Administra&ve Council Chair)

5 January/February 2019 Page 5 Though listed above as two groups, all par&cipants work together as a single unified body. Once the Vision Team has a working draq version of the Coopera&ve Parish agreement in hand, our two churches Trustees and Finance commi.ees will begin working together on plans for the move-in and eventual merger. Guidance for these trustee and finance ac&vi&es are also included in the Vital Merger process. The Vision Team s first working mee&ng has yet to occur; it will be this coming January 15. An important part of our merger process is to have it immersed in prayer. Please pray for our efforts. Pray that we (including you) are open and mindful to God s purpose in bringing our two churches together, and that new possibili&es arise which will grow our ministry, grow our impact on our community, and grow God s kingdom here on earth. Please feel free to contact me or Pastor Guest with any ques&ons you may have. Your feedback on ideas for ministry are also welcomed. And do pray for us! May God bless us on our efforts. Rod Oravetz, FUMC Sunnyvale Leadership Council Chair (408) Our Church was blessed by the Grace of God in many ways in The Church took in 6 new members: Suzanne Dougan, The Poulivaa& family and Koban Havelka. Our church family grew with 3 births: Myrah Mishra, Jonathan Augustine and Stephanie Reginold. We lost beloved members: Bob Mason and Margaret Pool. We had 4 college graduates: Faith Ibok, Scott Herring, Lillie Oravetz and Tanay Nathan. Tonya Oravetz, our choir director retired after 19+ years of dedicated service. We added a new staff member-jennifer Barnett as our new Choir Director. We are in talks with Trinity United Methodist Church for a possible merger of their church with Sunnyvale First. The church purchased a new Johannus Ecclesia T-370 organ. Attendees to the 9a.m and 10:30 a.m service are increasing as we have seen a lot of new faces in our congregation worshipping with us every Sunday. We hope to take them in as members this year. We have started an evening Bible Study in the East Bay for anyone unable to attend the Wednesday afternoon Bible Study. We are still supporting our missionary Katherine Parker who is continuing her mission work in Nepal. Our ethnic and international diversity was apparent in the multicultural month in February where we had our altar displaying beautiful artifacts from different parts of the world. We held the Vacation Bible School in June which was very well attended. Our annual church picnic was well attended. We held the event in Nick s Hall. The UMW donated 30 quilts. Our financial situation is stable, and we are happy with the support from our congregation. The UMW held their 50th Holiday Faire where they raised over $7000 to be used in mission projects. Our annual Thanksgiving lunch was a big success due to the organizing skills of Darryl Alford. The Korean church also joined us for this fellowship. Our Christmas Eve services was attended by close to 150 people. Mrs Kaewon Kim, an accomplished organist, played the Christmas music for us on the new organ.

6 Page 6 Tonya Oravetz rered as our Choir Director on December 30, a;er 19+ years of service. Thank you Tonya for your dedicated service to the church. The Sunday School Kids enacted their annual Navity play on December 9. Many thanks to Sarah Jeyapalan who organized the whole show and corralled the kids ranging from 2-11 years to a beauful performance. January 6 was a special day as we celebrated 2 births. The bapsm of Jonathan Zane into Chrisan life and the 70th birthday of Pastor Guest.

7 January/February 2019 Page 7 Famed 19th-century author and orator Frederick Douglass ( )was an eminent human rights leader in the an&-slavery movement and the first African- American ci&zen to hold a high U.S. government rank. Aboli&onist leader Frederick Douglass became one of the most famous intellectuals of his &me, advising presidents and lecturing to thousands on a range of causes, including women s rights and Irish home rule. Among Douglass wri&ngs are several autobiographies eloquently describing his experiences in slavery and his life aqer the Civil War, including the well-known work, Narrave of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. In New Bedford, Massachuse.s, Frederick Douglass joined a black church and regularly a.ended aboli&onist mee&ngs. He also subscribed to William Lloyd Garrison's weekly journal, The Liberator. At the urging of Garrison, Douglass wrote and published his first autobiography, Narra&ve of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, in Defying a ban on teaching slaves to read and write, Bal&more slaveholder Hugh Auld s wife Sophia taught Frederick Douglass the alphabet when he was around 12. When Auld forbade his wife to offer more lessons, Douglass con&nued to learn from white children and others in the neighborhood. It was through reading that Douglass ideological opposi&on to slavery began to take shape. He read newspapers avidly and sought out poli&cal wri&ng and literature as much as possible. Frederick and Anna Douglass had five children together: Rose.a, Lewis Henry, Frederick Jr., Charles Redmond and Annie, who died at the age of 10. Charles and Rose.a assisted their father in the produc&on of his newspaper, The North Star. Anna remained a loyal supporter of Frederick's public work, despite marital strife caused by his rela- &onships with several other women. Ballard George On the 15th of January, Rev. Mar&n Luther King Jr. was born. We celebrate his life each January as a federal holiday. This recogni&on was the result of a long campaign to get the 50 states of the union to ra&fy the legisla&on. It was finally signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in The holiday is similar to holidays set forth under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act and is observed on the Monday following his birthday. (January 21, 2019) Dr. King was assassinated on the 4th of April, 1968, in Memphis, TN. He was preparing to lead the Poor Peoples Campaign for Jobs and Jus&ce. That campaign has been revived in the 21st century under the leadership of Rev. William J. Barber II. Dr. King s goals for the Poor Peoples Campaign were to create economic jus&ce for all in America. This includes: A guaranteed na&onal income for all American ci&zens. Massive federal and corporate investments in poor, urban and rural communi&es. Rebuilding of America s infrastructure facilita&ng the full employment of the indigent. Tax credits, license and fee waivers for first &me business ventures of minority contractors and merchants. Free educa&on from headstart through graduate training. Alterna&ve technological training for those choosing a less academic route. The birthday luncheon for Dr. Marn Luther King Jr. will be held at the Holiday Inn, San Jose, from 12 to 2 p.m on Monday, January 21.

8 First United Methodist Church 535 Old San Francisco Rd. Sunnyvale, CA We re on the Web! Next article due date is February 19 5 Pastor Guest 6 Christa Morse 6 Faith Ibok 13 Margaret Willoughby 16 Flo Lord 17 Ronald Nathan 18 Tom Tennyson 20 Wembi Dimandja 23 Rijula Edwin 31 Pam Hardin 2 Donald & Mary Jo Morin 27 Ronald & Ruhi Nathan 17 Chris Perianayagam & Reginold Bobin 3 Sarah Jeyapalan 5 Rebecca CliQon 12 Elangovan Punniakot 17 Ivy Cheung 24 Chris Perianayagam 28 John Tubbs The Men's Club meets Monday evening, January 21, at 6:30p.m for dinner. The speaker will be Pastor Jay Parr, Pastor at Trinity UMC. All men are invited.