Sharing the Call to Love and Joy in Christ Thoughts from the District Superintendent

Transcription

1 The Cascadia Connection The newsletter of the Cascadia District Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference, The United Methodist Church January - February 2014, Vol 3, issue 1 Presiding Bishop Grant Hagiya Rev. Peg Lofsvold, District Superintendent 680 State St., Suite 200, Salem, OR Lisa Radford, District Lay Leader Voice: (503) Fax: (503) Linda Grund-Clampit, Administrative Assistant Office Cascadia@umoi.org Office Hours: 8:30 a.m. 4 p.m., Monday Thursday Contents: Connections 2 Counting on the Holy Spirit 3 Prayer Calendar Mission 8 Creation Vacation 8 VIM Trip to Honduras Events & Trainings 4 Shebang! 4 Imagine No Malaria Youth Event 5 Collins Lecture: Karen Armstrong 5 NLI 2014: Restart the Church 6 SAFE Church Trainings 6 Disaster Academy 7 Disciple Formation 7 Colloquy Schedule Changes Resources & Jobs 9 Scholarships Available 9 E-newsletters instruct 9 Free Grand Piano! 10 More Connections Sharing the Call to Love and Joy in Christ Thoughts from the District Superintendent... the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned." From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. Matthew 4: Light, kingdom, water, call, follow--all the themes of Epiphany are held in this story. Great prophetic revelation is made real in the everyday world of fishermen and family and food. Good News walks among us, inviting us to follow, to join in, to be a part of something new. We each have our own story of call, our own invitation to a life of love and joy in Christ. Perhaps your parents or grandparents modeled Jesus for you, and you always knew his love. Maybe you were invited to a youth group or camp. You might have experienced a call to new life in AA or AlAnon. Or, in volunteering at a church s community supper, you met a community where you felt you belonged. The invitation comes in many ways. Around the District, churches are finding new ways to invite new people to build relationships, to experience new life, and to follow Jesus. Clatskanie UMC provides a safe place for family visitation. Dallas UMC partners with Polk County to offer parent enrichment classes. Neighbors are eager to get involved in the garden and food bank at Tigard/Bethlehem House of Bread. Hillsboro UMC hosts many AA groups, and provides loving care for their kids. In a new ministry start, Rev Jorge Rodriguez Vasquez is gathering Spanish-speaking families for worship and study in Washington County. Fossil UMC reaches out to the school children of their little town. Our Suttle Lake and Magruder Camps are often places of transformative experience. Salem, First UMC is launching a new worship service with people from all over the world. These churches and more have heard Jesus call to follow and to proclaim the kingdom. Others, like the Marquam and Carus churches, are engaging in deep study to discern God s call for this new day. In this Epiphany season, we are all called to new life. We are all called to proclaim the Good News. We are all called to pray and discern how we will invite others to join us in the adventure of following Jesus. Blessings of light, lofsvold@mac.com The Cascadia Connection 1 January-February 2014, Vol. 3, No. 1

2 Counting on the Holy Spirit Thoughts from the District Lay Leader As most of you know we are starting something new in We have always requested prayers for each of our churches in the district and now we are asking for specific prayers for each of our churches based on information given by the lay leader. For some of you this is a scary request and for others this is an opportunity. This article is for those of you who, like me, find writing articles scary. I have believed that people, in general, are either good with numbers or good with words. When I was young I received my best grades in math and my lowest in English. I decided that I just wasn t good with words and therefore should stay away from writing. A number of years ago I started administering the Compassionate Care Fund for the Bend church. This is a free will offering collected on each Communion Sunday to be shared with people in our community that need help. When I took over I looked back over previous years and realized that this fund had diminished over the last couple of years; people just weren t giving to it as much as they had before. So I went to Pastor Thom Larson with this insightful information to see what we (actually he) should do about it. I saw myself as the messenger, not the solution of this problem. Pastor Thom immediately suggested that since I was the one listening to peoples stories I should write an article about them to enlighten the congregation about the importance of this ministry. I think my mouth dropped open and I know my eyes showed great fear. I wanted to say No, no, no; I m a number person, not a word person! Trust me you don t want me to write an article! The truth was that I knew in my heart that Pastor Thom was right. I needed to write an article; the problem remained that I didn t feel comfortable writing. So I sat down at the computer and prayed that the Holy Spirit would fill me and my fingers, so that I could actually write an article about the people that the Compassionate Care Fund helped. I was fearful and yet after my prayer I began to feel words come into my head and my fingers began to type! A miracle! People actually told me how much my article enlightened them! That was the first time that I realized the power of the Holy Spirit. There was no way that I suddenly became good with words. I had been called to administer the Compassionate Care Fund and God needed an article to be written and I was the one to write it so the Holy Spirit actually did answer my prayer. I never write an article without first praying to the Holy Spirit. We are asking all the lay leaders to write a short article about their church, and who knows our churches better than us lay leaders? We know the ministries that we have been successful in for years and we know the new ministries that we want to get off the ground and we need to share our ministries with each other so that we can all learn from one another. I know first-hand the fear of being asked to write an article and yet I also know in my heart that we, the lay leaders, need to be the ones to do it. For those of you who are fearful I understand and I say be brave, be bold, be courageous and ask for help from the Holy Spirit. Lisa Radford Cascadia District Lay Leader cityview@bendcable.com Something new for our prayers! Beginning in January, the weekly prayer focus in the Cascadia District will be highlighted by a special which will give the featured congregation an opportunity to share their specific joys and concerns which you can then lift up in prayer. This will give each of us an opportunity to learn more about each other and to prayer more specifically for each other. Watch for it in your inboxes each Thursday, or check out the already published prayer articles at Praying for One Another The Cascadia Connection 2 January-February 2014, Vol. 3, No. 1

3 I give thanks to my God for you because of the grace of God that has been given to you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Prayer Calendar A resource to help us support each other in prayer Please support one another as the family of God through intercessory prayer. A letter or a call can be a part of our prayers! It is also appropriate to lift these folks up during worship. For the week of: Pray for the people of : Pray for the Pastor Pray for the and family: Lay Leader Jan Newberg FUMC Bob Flaherty Marion Muthiah Sandra Flaherty Jan. 26- Feb. 1 Oregon City FUMC Mike Benischek Rynn Mazur Stephanie Benischek Christian (Dec. 2003) Gabriel (May 2006) Samantha (March 2009) Feb. 2 8 Salem: Englewood UMC Jon Langenwalter Sandra Foresee Laurel Langenwalter Feb Salem: First UMC Dan Pitney Bill Sullivan Jennie Pitney Fran Erikson Feb Salem: Jason Lee UMC Jon Langenwalter Shirley Cross Laurel Langenwalter Feb. 23 March 1 Salem: Morningside UMC Wendy Woodworth Kathleen Johnson 1 Corinthians 1: 4-7 (NRSV) Please also keep the following in your prayers: Please pray for the family and friends of Bishop Jack Tuell, who died January 10 at the age of 90. Bishop Tuell served as the presiding bishop for the Portland Episcopal Area (Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference) from You can read more about Bishop Tuell s life and legacy at CONNECTIONS Relationships of support and caring in the district and Annual Conference Also please pray for Rev. Lois Wagner (Wilsonville UMC) in the death of her mother on January 9th. If you are not already but would like to be on the district s prayer chain, please just contact Linda in the district office: or Cascadia@umoi.org. The prayer chain sends out district and conference-wide prayer concerns as they occur. The Cascadia Connection 3 January-February 2014, Vol. 3, No. 1

4 EVENTS & TRAININGS Opportunities to learn new skills or gain new insights for living out our faith SHEBANG! A youth retreat with years of tradition comes to Salem in February SHEBANG! is an awesome retreat for youth grades 6-12, sponsored by the SHEBANG Ministry Team & Oregon-Idaho Camp & Retreat Ministries. It is a fun-filled weekend of skits, learning about God, fun, music, sharing your faith, worshiping God, and more FUN!! This year s theme is Fear Not using Psalm 42: 9-11 as the text. It will be Feb at Salem First UMC. Registration is now open online. See or contact Daniel Bolen at coordinator@dymco.org or for more information. Youth Retreat Focuses on Imagine No Malaria Campaign At Tigard United Methodist Church, March 7-9 Announcing an Imagine No Malaria youth event on Friday, March 7th through Sunday, March 9th at Tigard UMC. Cost is $15.00 per person. We are not asking for groups to bring pledge packets with money to give to the cause but we will be playing games involving nets, learning about malaria and thinking together about how our local churches can play a part in eradicating malaria. We will begin on Friday, March 7th at 8pm and end around 10am on Sunday, March 9th. For more information about malaria and how we as United Methodists are helping to reduce deaths caused by malaria, visit imaginenomalaria.org. For a colorful poster with more information about the retreat, click here. Contact Chris Natland, Youth Director, Tigard UMC, cnatland@tigardumc.com, for registration forms. Register as a group from your church by March 1st! The Cascadia Connection 4 January-February 2014, Vol. 3, No. 1

5 EVENTS & TRAININGS Opportunities to learn new skills or gain new insights for living out our faith Karen Armstrong Will Speak on Compassion 2104 Collins Lecture March 6 at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Portland The 2014 Collins Lecture will be on Thursday, March 6, 2014 with author Karen Armstrong, speaking on "The Transformative Power of Compassion" Karen Armstrong is a British author and commentator known for her books on comparative religion. A former Roman Catholic religious sister, she first rose to prominence in 1993 with her book A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Among her other books is Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life. Armstrong's work focuses on commonalities of the major religions, such as the importance of compassion and the Golden Rule. She received the $100,000 TED Prize in She used that occasion to call for the creation of a " Charter for Compassion." The lecture is 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 6, in the Sanctuary of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, th Ave., Portland. Cost: $40 preferred, $25 general, $15 student. The next day you can continue the conversation by attending Interfaith Perspectives on Compassion and the Common Good from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. At Kempton Hall, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Cost: $10, includes continental breakfast. You can register online at Restart the Church: Revive. Renew. Restart The 2014 Northwest Leadership Institute, March at Boise FUMC will feature: Keynote speakers include Dottie Escobedo-Frank, Rudy Rasmus and Duane Anders. Many workshop options led by ministry leaders including Bishop Grant Hagiya. Northwest Leadership Institute at Boise FUMC, March Come join clergy, staff and lay leaders looking for practical ideas and strategies that work in the West! Dottie Escobedo-Frank is a speaker, writer, community leader and pastor of the restarted Crossroad UMC in Phoenix, AZ. She has served in progressive roles and responsibilities including feeding the homeless, founding a church Farmer s Market, working with immigrant populations, and gathering a community rich in diversity Rudy Rasmus is a pastor, author, and global humanitarian with a passion for outreach to the world s poorest citizens. From his previous life of owning and operating a borderline bordello, today Pastor Rudy co-pastors the St. John s United Methodist Church located in Downtown Houston with his wife Juanita. Learn more at pastorrudy.net Duane Anders is the senior pastor of Cathedral of the Rockies, one of the top 100 United Methodist Churches in the country and one of the largest worshipping congregations in the Western Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church. Duane helped relocate and restart the 100 year old Riverdale UMC as the Stillwater UMC. Stillwater was an early leader in multi-site ministry, restarting a closed UMC and opening a site in a YMCA. General Registration: $79. Register by Jan. 30 for a discounted rate: $65. Team discounts available: $65 each for two or more attending from the same church. Free for anyone under 30! nli@boisefumc.org for more information or online and to register by clicking here The Cascadia Connection 5 January-February 2014, Vol. 3, No. 1

6 EVENTS & TRAININGS Opportunities to learn new skills or gain new insights for living out our faith SAFE Church Trainings Offered by Episcopal Church United Methodists are Welcome! The Episcopal Church offers an excellent series of programs on safety for children and others in ministry which they call SAFE Church. They welcome United Methodists to join in their training. Safeguarding God's Children Saturday, January 18, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. - Resurrection, Eugene Saturday, March 15, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. - Trinity Cathedral, Portland Preventing Sexual Harassment of Church Workers Saturday, March 8, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. - St. John, Milwaukie Saturday, April 12, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. - St. Paul, Salem Saturday, May 31, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. - St. George, Roseburg Preventing Sexual Exploitation in Communities of Faith Saturday, March 8, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. - St. John, Milwaukie Saturday, April 12, 1 a.m. to 5 p.m. - St. Paul, Salem Saturday, May 31, 1 a.m. to 5 p.m. - St. George, Roseburg More information and registration is available online. If you have questions or problems, please contact Barbara Ross, Missioner for Lifelong Christian Formation at or barbarar@diocese-oregon.org. From Despair to Care: Western Jurisdiction Disaster Academy March 3-6, 2014 near Seattle, WA No one is immune from disaster, and yet there is no one size fits all solution, but there are principles that can be adapted to your local community. Like continuity of business planning, we call this continuity of ministry planning. Those who fail to do this only add to the problem when crises arise. Read more here... of Dan Moseler s recent blog. He is the Disaster Preparedness Coordinator for the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference. One resource we have is the Western Jurisdiction Disaster Academy, March 3-6 near Seattle. The Academy is intended for all laity and clergy involved in disaster preparation and response at the Conference, District, and local church and ministry levels. This training is for those currently involved and for those who wish to become involved in disaster preparation and response. The training will be conducted by UMCOR and UMVIM trainers. To learn more about the Academy and/or to register, click here. (scroll down to the story). The Cascadia Connection 6 January-February 2014, Vol. 3, No. 1

7 EVENTS & TRAININGS Opportunities to learn new skills or gain new insights for living out our faith What is a disciple anyway? How do we help form disciples in our churches? Faith Forming Faith: Creating Disciples Crater Lake District Event offered in Eugene February 23rd is open to Cascadia District folks These are important questions because it is the United Methodist Church's mission to "make disciples for the transformation of the world." Also, Jesus said something about making disciples at the end of the Gospel of Matthew. We also know that attending a membership class, joining the church, and sitting in the pews on Sunday morning is not all there is to being a disciple. It is more. The Rev. Paul Hoffman developed a process for deeper faith formation (discipleship) at a church in Seattle that brought that church back to life. It is a process that is communal and lay led. The Crater Lake District Enrichment Event will feature Paul E. Hoffman, author of Faith Forming Faith: Bringing New Christians to Baptism and Beyond. It is a four-hour learning event that will feature this discipleship formation process. Held at Wesley UMC in Eugene on Sunday, February 23rd from 2 to 6 p.m. Persons from Cascadia District are welcome to attend. The cost will be $10 for those who register no later than February 18; $15 for those registering after this date. Click here to see a flyer, for more information or to register. Clergy Colloquy Corner Changes in Schedule for February and March for these clergy conversation gatherings Due to changes in District Superintendent Peg Lofsvold s schedule, the Colloquy groups will also have different schedules in February and March. The High Desert Colloquy which meets at Madras UMC will meet 10 a.m. to noon on Monday, February 10th (a change from Feb. 3rd) and then again on Monday, March 10th (not a change!) The North Valley Colloquy which meets at Newberg FUMC will not meet at all in February. The next meeting will be Tuesday, March 11 from noon to 2 p.m. The Capital Colloquy which meets at Morningside UMC in Salem will meet noon to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, February 12th (a change from Feb. 5) and not meet at all in March. The Coast Colloquy which meets at Nehalem Bay UMC will meet Thursday, February 6th from noon to 2 p.m. as originally scheduled. They will not meet at all in March. Information on the colloquies, including schedule updates, can be found at the Cascadia District webpage, and then select Cascadia District Colloquies in the left-hand column. The Cascadia Connection 7 January-February 2014, Vol. 3, No. 1

8 THE BODY OF CHRIST Our church in mission Creation Vacation: Partnerships that Bless Families Dallas UMC, with support from Dallas Community Foundation, participates in Creation Vacation Creation Vacation is a program of the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference Camps and Retreat Ministry. Creation Vacation is a unique mission program providing a respite experience in a nurturing and stimulating camp environment for extremely lowincome families lacking the financial means for even a modest vacation together. Creation Vacation has been offering families a respite for renewal since Each year as many as 120 parents and 340 children that s 460 in all are served! Each family is supported by a Family Friend that s where local congregations come in. Dallas UMC has become a congregation which supplies Family Friends for Creation Vacation experiences for low-income families in their community. But they needed financial support to help that all happen, which is where the Dallas Community Foundation (DCF) comes in. With a grant from the DCF, the Dallas United Methodist Church offered 13 low-income families from the West Valley Housing Authority s Family Self-Sufficiency Program an opportunity to spend 3 days at Camp Magruder on the Oregon coast. DCF highlighted this experience in their most recent newsletter. You can read more here. You can learn more about Creation Vacation here! Mission Trip Opportunity to Honduras Dallas UMC is leading trip in August 2014 Where: Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Central America When: August 1-10, 2014 Who: Adults 18 years old and older with a heart to serve, an ability to be flexible, and an openness to people of a different culture. What: Assist with the construction of the UMC National Mission Headquarters in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. This is the site of San Jose de la Vega UMC, the sister congregation of Dallas UMC. Team Building: An essential element of this mission experience will be the opportunity to work together with a team. It will be an opportunity to live your faith, and to learn and grow alongside others seeking to live their faith. Team meetings will begin in March The purpose of the team meetings will be to establish a sense of community among the participants, to attend to planning and logistics, to pray together, and to begin learn about Honduras and its people. Cost: Total cost of the trip will be approximately $2,000 per person. This includes airfare, lodging, meals, and transportation in Honduras, and a per person donation to cover the cost of building materials. Commit: Participants need to reserve a spot on the team by February 15, 2014 by filling out an application form and sending a $200 deposit to: Dallas UMC, 565 SE LaCreole Drive, Dallas, Oregon (Please write 2014 UMVIM Trip on the memo line.) More Info: For more information, contact Don Myers ( ) or Jeremy Hajdu-Paulen at Dallas UMC ( ) The Cascadia Connection 8 January-February 2014, Vol. 3, No. 1

9 RESOURCES & JOBS Tools for local churches all for free! And job opportunities Scholarships Available Now is the time to explore for support of education endeavors this Fall Scholarships for higher education -- undergraduate, graduate, and seminary -- are available for members of The United Methodist Church through a variety of channels. There are three general education scholarships available through the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference. Applicants for any of the three scholarships must intend to be a full-time student and must have been a member of a United Methodist church within the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference for at least one year. Applications and all supporting documentation must be received by the Conference Scholarship officer no later than Friday, April 4, 2014 for the academic year More information and the application forms are available on the Conference website: Select Resources along the top menu bar, and then select Scholarships in the left hand column menu. Applicants who have questions can contact Linda Grund-Clampit, Conference Scholarships Officer, at or linda@umoi.org. That same webpage gives information on scholarships and loans offered by national agencies of The UMC for undergraduates and graduates, as well as by the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry for persons attending seminary and the Conference United Methodist Women for women attending seminary or other graduate-level education and planning church-related careers Be sure to also ask if your local church offers scholarships. Check it all out! Help and Advice Can Be as Close as Your Inbox! UMCom offers free e-newsletters United Methodist Communications has several free e-newsletters chock full of information, resources, and best practices advice for your church website, newsletter, communications, giving programs, low-cost access to technology, training opportunities... You should check it out! If you find that a particular newsletter isn t being helpful, it is easy to unsubscribe. Follow this link to see a list of the various offerings, view sample newsletters and subscribe. A Free Grand Piano! Portland Metro area grand piano available Melinda Beyer, Music Director at Tualatin UMC, has a friend of a friend who has a grand piano they want to donate to a church. Interested parties may contact Melinda through at melindabeyers@comcast.net. The Cascadia Connection 9 January-February 2014, Vol. 3, No. 1

10 CONNECTIONS Where to go to find out more Cascadia District website: Office Office phone: Office fax: Cascadia District Church Extension website: Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference website: Office phone: or Oregon-Idaho Camps & Retreats Website: Regional Media Center Office phone: , ext. 313 Cokesbury Website: Community Resource Consultant, Travas Dew and Cinda McCain , ext or ext The United Methodist Church website: UMC Vital Church Project Website: Infoserv (for all questions re: UMC) United Methodist Committee on Relief website: The Cascadia Connection 10 January-February 2014, Vol. 3, No. 1