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From United Methodist News Service:
Unsnarling US and Church Racial History
WASHINGTON (UM News) — Historians and other church leaders joined a livestreamed town hall to explore Methodism's complicated and sometimes suppressed record on race. They hoped to help United Methodists turn away from past sins and dismantle racism. Heather Hahn reports.
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From United Methodist Communications:
Books about race: a place to start
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — As United Methodists are being urged to take action against the sin of racism, one place to begin is by reading books from a variety of perspectives. No shortage of such books exists, but the United Methodist Publishing House and Commission on Religion and Race have some recommendations for beginning the journey. Crystal Caviness reports.
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Thursday Centering &
Reflection Time |
All NYAC clergy and laity are encouraged to join us for centering, prayer and reflection each Thursday at 12:30 pm to center, pray and prepare ourselves for the ministry work ahead.
This is a recurring meeting. To join each week, please log-on at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88634586680?pwd=S1FtQk5rejY5TXB5ekRJemhieklOdz09
Password: 348086
If you prefer to join by telephone, please dial: 1 646-558-8656 and enter
Webinar ID: 886 3458 6680; Password: 348086
In the next several issues of this E-Newsletter, we will be highlighting some new ministries that will be "hatched" in our Conference during the coming 12-18 months, under the guidance of Ministry Incubators.
"Ministry Incubators is an incubator program and consulting group for early-stage impact entrepreneurs. We invest our time and experience in individuals, organizations, and faith communities who want to turn hare-brained ministry ideas into sustainable impact enterprises with a theological mission."
We ask you to pray for these NYAC ministry initiatives and the teams who will be turning them into reality.
Centerport UMC - Gina Grubbs & Ted Braummel, Team Leaders
The leadership team envisions three possibilities for their youth:
Involving youth in developing the Personal Products Pantry (PPP) ministry, both in terms of collecting and distributing “stuff” and in terms of building relationships with those who give and receive it; creating one-off days of service (“Done-in-a-Day'' projects), missional activities that make it easy to join, can be regularly expected, and allow teenagers to engage and disengage as needed; monthly UM-ARMY-inspired events focusing on food and mission, such as a dinner church experience.
New Rochelle UMC - Angela Redman & Marcia White-Smith, Team Leaders:
The leadership team imagines a trauma-informed program for justice-involved young people, especially youth without resources, that has three prongs: mentoring young people after disposition (after their cases have been resolved); addressing the educational needs of justice-involved young people through tutoring; and creating a mediation program to prevent some cases from going to court. |
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Technology Grants are still available, through the end of the calendar year. These grants are to help churches cover the technology costs associated with the pandemic (cameras, speakers, etc.). Your church can submit a proposed budget for the money, or receipts for reimbursement for items purchased since March. There are three categories ($250, $500, or a matching grant of $800) that churches can receive a grant from; please note churches will only receive one grant, not one grant from each category. Click here for more information and to apply.
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Helen de Leon Camarce
Helen Camarce is a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church, currently serving as treasurer of the agency's Cambodia and Southeast Asia Missions. She was supposed to itinerate this year, but could not due the global pandemic. We are pleased to offer a virtual "Meet and Greet" with Helen on Friday, July 24, from 11AM-12PM.
To register and receive your Zoom link for this event, please click here.
To read more about Helen and the work she is doing, please click here.
INVITE A MISSIONARY TO WORSHIP! Would you like to add a new face to your virtual worship time? Would you like to change things up? Do you need to fill a gap between clergy appointments? We can find you a missionary to be a guest speaker/preacher in your church time! Email Becky Parsons, (NEJ Mission Advocate) at rparsons@umcmission.org. for assistance. There are over 400 missionaries in place around the world!
#StillInMission Episode 7 will take place on Thursday, July 9 at 6:00 PM EDT. Learn a little about the missionaries by clicking their names below.
- J. Park is serving as the Country Director of the Southeast Asia Mission Initiative.
- T. Park serves alongside her spouse as the Christian Education Coordinator for the United Methodist Mission in Southeast Asia.
- Joy Prim is an alumna of the Global Mission Fellows Program and is currently serving as the Welfare Case Officer for Migrant Workers at Mission for Migrant Workers at St. John’s Cathedral in Hong Kong, SAR.
- Sung Il Lee is serving as a Lecturer and Academic Advisor in Theology and Ministry at the Methodist Lay Training Center in Fiji.
- Min Kyu Lee is serving as a Professor of Biblical Studies at Wesley Divinity School in the Philippines.
Registration is required for this event, and you can do that by clicking here. As with past meetings, we will break into small groups to hear individual presentations. You can choose the missionary you would like to hear more from in the registration in the question, ‘Whose presentation would you like to hear?’
These new missionaries have answered God’s call to mission during an uncertain time, and your virtual & financial support through these events are critically important.
If you cannot attend, consider showing your support by giving financially to one of the missionaries above. Simply click their hyperlinked name (or search for them on umcmission.org) to be taken to their personal advance pages and scroll to the bottom to give securely.
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Food ministry volunteers needed
Rev Liz Abel of Cornerstone UMC, Norwalk, CT, is looking for volunteers to help unload boxes of food supplies that come from a distribution site in Pennsylvania. This is a “labor-intensive” act of love. Scheduled dates are July 13 and 27. Contact Pastor Abel for information and to assist (pastor@come2cornerstone.org).
Needed: Development/Fundraising/Grant Writing assistance
One of the needs expressed by several of our churches with emergency food, and other community-based programs, is for assistance with development, fundraising, and grant-writing. If you can provide assistance in any of these areas please contact Tom Vencuss at the Missions office (tvencuss@nyac.com).
General Board Grant: the NYAC has received funds in support of two specific COVID-19 related efforts. One is to provide hospitality stations for persons taking part in marches and demonstrations around the death of George Floyd. This would include providing water, snacks, “grab and go” lunches, and first aid supplies. A second is to assist local shop owners to repair businesses which may have been damaged as part of the protests; or, for business owners to purchase materials or supplies to mitigate possible future damage. For more information contact Tom Vencuss at the Missions office (tvencuss@nyac.com).
UMCOR Hygiene Kits
Every year the New York Conference provides more than 4,000 hygiene kits to UMCOR for disaster response efforts. This year, given that the NYAC Annual Conference has been rescheduled as a streamlined event in the fall, we will not be receiving hygiene kits. However, you can still support this important ministry. The parts of an UMCOR Hygiene Kit total about $12. We are asking that churches collect funds which will then be “converted” into the equivalent number of hygiene kits and sent to UMCOR for the purchase of health kits supplies. OR, churches may ship their hygiene kits directly to UMCOR (at a cost greater than the value of the kits). Here is the link for shipping labels and instructions: https://www.umcmission.org/umcor/serve/relief-supply-network/hygiene-kit
Thank you in advance for participating in this vital mission. Our Conference has always had a great response to this request and we would like to keep this support going.
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