Taco Sunday SUNDAY JULY 22, 2018 IN SHERRILL HALL

Concord United Methodist Church 1645 West Street, Concord, California, 94521 Phone: (925) 685-5260, E-mail: concordumc@sbcglobal.net, Web-site: www.concordumc.org July, 2018 The Concord Connection Seeking God, Serving the Community, Supporting Each Other Sunday Worship Schedule 8:00 a.m. Worship in the Sanctuary 10:15 11:45 a.m. Nursery Care Available 9:00 a.m. Adult Bible Study 9:00a.m. New Life Celebration Oglesby-Close Hall 10:30 a.m. Children and Youth Sunday Schools 10:30 a.m. Worship in the Sanctuary 11:30 a.m. Fellowship & refreshments in Oglesby-Close Hall Wednesday Hour of Prayer 6:30-8 p.m. Chapel Newsletter Deadline The deadline for articles is on the 1 ST TUESDAY, 10 AM of each month. No exceptions. Please email articles when possible. Thank you, Taco Sunday SUNDAY JULY 22, 2018 IN SHERRILL HALL FOLLOWING 10:30 SERVICE PRESENTED BY OUR MISSIONS COMMITTEE This year a medical team was not able to make the trip but the people of Guatemala are not forgotten. In place of the missionaries, the Guatemala Mission team is raising funds for water filters. Clean water is a basic and essential part of health that is often overlooked. Clean water prevents many diseases from being transmitted and/or contracted. Your support in this worthy cause is asked. For a $5.00 donation you will receive: 2 Tacos, Chips and Salsa along with a Beverage Additional Tacos will be $1.00 each All donations will be gratefully accepted Marilyn Robrecht Editor

2 Open Letter to the Pastors and Churches of the California-Nevada Conference of The United Methodist Church Concerning Glide Memorial United Methodist Church The California-Nevada Conference of The United Methodist Church has a long-standing commitment of support for Glide Memorial United Methodist Church s work with the poor and vulnerable of the Tenderloin District and the greater San Francisco community. The Conference s commitment of support for this work stands today. The concerns that I and the leadership of the California-Nevada Conference have are related to the church life of this congregation. While there is a remnant of those who claim to be United Methodist and thus Christian, the great majority of the participants at Glide s Sunday Celebrations claim other faiths such as Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim and Wiccan. Atheists and Agnostics, comprise another segment of the Glide community. Leaders from these constituencies are quick to publicly state that they do not want the Celebrations, or the church, to be United Methodist or Christian in any form. Sunday Celebrations are uplifting concerts, but lack the fundamentals of Christian worship. Baptisms are conducted periodically but in the name of the people rather than from a Christian understanding of Baptism. Holy Communion was done away with some time ago and only introduced back into the life of the congregation this past Spring, but outside of the Celebration gatherings and with much resistance. We seek to be in good and loving relationship with persons of other faiths and beliefs, and those who claim no faith. However, this should never cause us to lose our own faith. There are also serious concerns about the governance and financial administration of the church. The church has no organizational structure to fulfill its responsibilities as per The Book of Discipline, and has not had a United Methodist organizational structure for decades. The only body that functions in any leadership capacity is a group of congregational leaders hand-picked by Cecil Williams who have never been elected or recognized by the congregation. The district superintendent and I have worked with this congregational leaders group and have found them on the whole to be thoughtful and helpful, but without authority to act on behalf of the church. The secular Glide Foundation Board makes all decisions related to the work of the Foundation and the church, and now seeks to determine who Glide s pastor(s) will be. There has not been a church conference at Glide on record for many years. Cecil Williams retired in 2000 yet continues to act as the senior pastor. Since Williams retirement, the following have been appointed as senior pastors of Glide: Doug Fitch, Don Guest, Karen Oliveto, and Jay Williams. In addition, Theon Johnson III and Deacon Angela Brown have served in associate positions. When Karen Oliveto was elected to the episcopacy in 2016, Bishop Warner H. Brown Jr. served as the interim senior pastor through June 30, 2017. No pastor has been allowed to exercise their rightful authority or responsibilities while serving at Glide. To this day, Cecil Williams and his wife, Janice Mirikitani, make all decisions in the background at Glide. Continued on page 3

The Glide Foundation runs the business of the Foundation under the church s 501.(c)(3), yet renders no financial reports through United Methodist disciplinary processes. Appointed pastors are left to alone protect the resources of the church yet have no access to the full financial records of the church, nor do they have any say over the use of the church property. 3 Over the last 9 months the district superintendent and I have worked diligently to build a relationship with the Glide Foundation Board to determine a way forward that would both support the humanitarian work of the Glide Foundation and allow for the reestablishment of a healthy United Methodist Church. The effort has been complex and difficult. What is clear is that the Glide Foundation Board under the guidance of Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani, have no interest in allowing Glide to have any United Methodist identity nor to be accountable to The United Methodist Church On June 22, 2018, I received a letter from Kaye Foster, Glide Foundation Board Chair, challenging my work in relationship to the Glide Church. It included a number of misinterpreted paragraphs from our Book of Discipline. What was most significant, however, was that lawyers Stephanie Petit and Daniel P. Dalton were copied. Daniel P. Dalton is from Dalton and Tomich, a law firm that has been representing conservative United Methodist churches seeking to break away from the denomination because they oppose the full inclusion of LGBTQ persons. According to their own website, they have done similar work with Episcopal and Presbyterian USA churches and now make themselves available to work with United Methodist churches. My Cabinet and I with the counsel of our Conference Chancellor have decided to conduct an assessment of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church under disciplinary paragraph 213. We ask for your prayers for this process and invite you to fast with us, as you are able, on Sunday mornings till noon during the summer months. May God give us wisdom and love in all things. Sincerely, Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño Does our church building belong to our church? Pastor Lee YES. Some people have a misunderstanding that our church buildings belong to the conference. No! We own our church building and we maintain it. That is why we have the Trustee Committee who takes care of our buildings and grounds. The Book of Discipline (we can call it the Constitution of the UMC) section 2501 article 3 says, Local churches and other United Methodist agencies and institutions may acquire, hold, maintain, improve, and sell property for purposes consistent with the mission of the Church, unless restricted or prevented by the Discipline. (Emphasis added by pastor Lee) So, our church may acquire, hold, maintain, improve, and sell our church buildings and land as we see fit as long as we do church mission. Therefore, the only three questions that we need to ask are these: What is our church mission? Are we doing our church mission? What happens if we stop doing our church mission? I will answer these three one by one. (Continued on page 4)

First, what is our church mission? Our church mission is to make disciples of Jesus for the transformation of the world. Who is a disciple of Jesus? Here is the Bible: 4 Simon Peter answered, You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:16-18) Disciples are the ones who confess that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Churches are built on this faith confession. We want to make people to confess this faith. Those who believe in Jesus will be justified and sanctified to transform the world. Our starting point is the confession of faith in Jesus as the Savior and Lord, a human one and God, Messiah and the Son of God. Secondly, are we doing our church mission? Yes, we are. We have new members classes and baptism. When we baptize people, we ask people whether they believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Baptism is the public confirmation of their faith! Then we have Holy Communion. It is the sharing of our faith in Jesus, who shares his body and blood in this mysterious way. We also have worship services where the Gospel is preached and sacraments are served. Through the Gospel, we confirm that God loves and saves us, sinners, through the grace of Jesus! Holy Spirit teaches us and helps us to confess our faith. We express our faith in giving treasures, praising God, and serving communities using our time and talents. So, I can clearly say that we are doing our church mission. Thirdly, what happens if we stop doing our church mission? In other words, if we stop confessing that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, if we stop doing baptism and Holy Communion, and if we stop serving God and people in the name of Jesus, then we are not a church any more. In this case, the article 1 of the section 2501 of the Book of Discipline kicks in. It says, All properties of United Methodist local churches and other United Methodist agencies and institutions are held, in trust, for the benefit of the entire denomination, and ownership and usage of church property is subject to the Discipline. This trust requirement is an essential element of the historic polity of The United Methodist Church or its predecessor denominations or communions and has been a part of the Discipline since 1797. It reflects the connectional structure of the Church by ensuring that the property will be used solely for purposes consonant with the mission of the entire denomination as set forth in the Discipline. The trust requirement is thus a fundamental expression of United Methodism whereby local churches and other agencies and institutions within the denomination are both held accountable to and benefit from their connection with the entire worldwide Church. (Emphasis added by Pastor Lee) In a nutshell, if we stop believing in Jesus, stop baptizing people in Jesus name, stop having Holy Communion as followers of Jesus, and stop preaching the Good News of Jesus, then we cannot keep our property as our own and should return the building and ground to the denomination who can do the mission continuously. This is happening at the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church right now. We love what the Glide Foundation is doing as a non-profit organization. However, it is not doing church mission, confessing Jesus as the Lord and Savior. That is why we want to restore the church to our whole body. If they want, they will become a part of our connectional body and keep the church building and property. If they want otherwise, they will return their property to the whole body and move on as a Foundation, a wonderful agency that would continue its works as a non-profit organization. The decision is totally up to the Glide Foundation and Glide Memorial UMC. Nobody makes decisions for them. We just pray for them and mind our own business. In other words, we will keep doing our mission and ministry as a church. And we will acquire, hold, maintain, improve, and sell property for purposes consistent with the mission of the Church! (I pray that you should increase your giving with the understanding that we need money to maintain our church building and to keep our church mission. I am not starting pledge campaign now, but just saying! ^.^)

5 Church Bell Bazaar 2018-News! Back pack Project Starts Early this Year Contra Cost Interfaith Housing has already begun its drive to provide school supplies to formerly homeless and low income children and CUMC will once again be helping. Suggested items include: Backpacks, 2 pack pink erasers, pencil boxes, #2 pencils, college ruled composition books, folders with fasteners and pockets, 3 pack glue sticks, 3x5 index cards, college ruled and wide ruled notebooks, I inch 3 ring binders, wide ruled and college ruled notebook paper, 24 pack crayons, various colored highlighters, pencil sharpeners that catch shavings, kid scissors, washable colored markers, 12 or 24 count colored pencils, post it notes, AAA batteries, 4 GB or higher USB Flash drives, Target gift cards. Containers for your donations will be in the church narthex and Oglesby-Close Hall beginning July 8. Monetary donations should be marked CUMC--- Backpack project and placed in the offering plate. We will be happy to shop for you. The last day to bring your gifts to church is Sunday, July 22 as CCIF needs our contributions by July 30. Thanks for Caring and Sharing After talking to the bazaar committee, we ve decided to cancel the UMW Church Bell Bazaar this year. Few crafts have been completed because of lack of participation, or involvement. The kitchen in Oglesby-Close Hall, which we are working with the city to bring up to code, has not been evaluated yet. Until the kitchen is up to code we cannot sell food to the public. Therefore, there can be no lunch or bake sale as in previous years. We can serve food to our congregation, so to help make up from the loss of the bazaar, UMW will be holding quarterly meals of soups and lunches. Details will be coming soon. Sincerely, Linda Jinks President, CUMW Thank You! I want to thank everyone for all the love, prayers and cards sent to me. I m doing great! I m lucky to belong to such a caring church. God Bless everyone at our church. Helen Johnson In Our Prayers Continued Prayers: Pat Brumley, Eldonna Dayton, Helen Johnson, Mary Ginochio, Don Johnson, Marge Boyer, Sud & Midge Sundsten, John & Connie La Coste, Bill Shannon, Doug McLeod, Diane Rogers, Carole Engler, Chris Gregory, Lee Woods.

6 Summarized Statement of Activities 6/30/2018 YTD Actual YTD Budget Variance INCOME 178,261 167,055 11,206 EXPENSE 170,828 164,888 (5,940) SURPLUS 7,433 2,167 5,266 The surplus was a result of actual revenues coming in higher than budgeted amounts in the areas of Use of Facilities, Interest Income, and Fund Raisers Programs totaling to approximately $11K. This was offset by the excess of actual expenses against budget in the approximate amount of $5K. Report on Gift Cards June 2018 Month YTD SALES 5,205 39,585 INCOME ON DISCOUNTS 192 1,251 Just a few of the gift cards we have on hand!!! Gift cards available to purchase from our inventory of over 30 vendors that we keep on hand. Visit the Prosperity Table in Oglesby-Close Hall after the 9 and 10:30 services Gift cards available to purchase from our inventory or to order from over 500 participating vendors!

7 Food Pantry Needs Summer Bible Challenge for All Ages Do you want to read the Bible during summer? You can even hear audio Bible at your vacation site! Join this Bible Challenge at Concord UMC! We will give you a certificate on Home Coming Sunday. There are 4 levels of challenge: 1. Bible Reader: Read the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) and Gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). 2. Bible Learner: Bible Reader + History Books (Joshua, Judge, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther) and Acts 3. Bible Lover: Bible Learner + Prophetic books (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentation, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi), and Revelation. 4. Bible Master: Bible Lover + Wisdom Literature (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon)+ Letters (Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, Judas, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2, and 3 John, Jude) Ways to prove that you read the Bible: 1. Write one paragraph summary of your learning from reading everyday 2. Share it with others at your level through email or in person. Pastor Lee will assign you in a group based on the sign ups. SHARE food pantry is a non-profit organization manned entirely by volunteers from the local community and funded entirely by various types of donations. SHARE's mission is simple: We are committed to help feed the hungry in central Contra Costa County without prejudice and with dignity. All nourishing food donations are appreciated, but the list below shows important items that frequently run out. No glass, please. Food contributions should be placed in the basket in the Narthex. They will be taken to SHARE by Ken Carpoff. July Macaroni & Cheese, Rice, Tuna, Spaghetti August Peanut Butter, Jelly, Crackers (Saltines, Graham), Tuna, Spaghetti Cans with pop top are especially appreciated for the homeless. Fresh fruits and/or vegetables are also welcome. TAKING A BREAK GOOD TIMERS SCHEDULE Good Timers are not meeting in August. The next meeting is Tuesday September 11 at 12 noon in Sherrill Hall. MOVING FORWARD SMALL GROUPwill return in September. MID-WEEK CHILDREN S PROGRAMwill return in September. WEDNESDAY NIGHT BIBLE STUDY is taking a break until September.

8 Learn Chi Gung/Tai Chi Fridays at 9am Sherrill Hall Tai Chi exercises our brain and body. The gentle exercises helps with your balance to prevent falls. The emphasis is on breathing, and getting oxygen flowing throughout the body. Helps one keep calm and lowers the blood pressure. The key is to keep the body moving. Although we gear this towards the senior citizens anyone may attend. If you can t stand you may sit. Classes led by Irving Lee as a Community Service. There is no charge. Irving Lee (925) 708 9252 Quiet Time of Prayer Wednesdays 6:30 to 8 p.m. The Chapel will be open for a weekly time of prayer. We invite all who want to pray and are feeling a little depressed because of all the tragedies in the past few months. We feel that a quiet time of prayer will help those who are feeling down and don t know how to get feeling better. Prayer is a very powerful way to get us through times that are difficult, so please come and join us. You need not be a member of our church community, just someone who needs a little extra prayer. God Bless The Concord Connection Concord United Methodist Church 1645 West Street Concord, CA 94521 925/685-5260 Return Service Requested NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 76 CONCORD, CA 94521 D.W.C.N.W. Diagnosed with Cancer, Now What? A small group for cancer patients. Meets the Second and Third Thursdays of the Month, 6pm -7pm in Susannah Wesley Room Led by Steve Pierce, 925-518-4447 Concord United Methodist Concord United Methodist Church And Alzheimer s Services of the East Bay Invite Individuals living with memory loss and their caregivers to a specially designed worship service. Sing, worship and fellowship with families that are coping with Alzheimer s and other forms of memory loss. Every 4 th Saturday from 2pm 2:30pm, In the Chapel