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Social Media Workshop for Church Professionals
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Register for the Creating and Maintaining a Social Media Presence Workshop offered by PAUMCS on August 24 from 10am - 2pm at Williamson's Chapel UMC in Mooresville!
Read the letter below from Bishop Carter encouraging you to register and take advantage of this helpful course.
READ THE LETTER FROM BISHOP CARTER
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Church Reno or Remodel? Sold your Parsonage? Let us know!
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The Conference Office is collecting information for the 2023 Journal, and we want to hear from you! As in years past, we're requesting churches report renovations, remodeling, new buildings, dedications, etc. that took place over the past conference year. You can view the 2022 journal online for examples, and if in doubt about whether to include something, please do! Pastors, church admins, or trustees are invited to share about through an online survey.
LEARN MORE & SUBMIT
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United Methodist Night at the Hickory Crawdads Game
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Mark your calendar for Friday, August 25th because it's United Methodist Night at the Hickory Crawdads Baseball Game! Get discounted tickets, free giveaways, fireworks, a UM choir singing the National Anthem, Bishop Carter throwing the first pitch, and more!
WATCH PROMO VIDEO
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Good News, Nomination Team Members! Nomination season is almost here for UMC congregations in the Western North Carolina Conference, and we are gearing up to offer you guidance and support as you invite leaders into the ministry of your local congregation for 2024!
Mark your calendars (and RSVP, please) for
More than the Methodist Shuffle:
A Guide for Nominating Your Best Local Church Leaders
Sunday, August 27 | 4-5:30pm | Zoom
During this training, we will:
- Offer you a practical process for casting a wide net to assemble the largest possible pool of leaders
- Help you move from doing the Methodist Shuffle* each year, to discerning the healthiest and most effective leaders to nominate
- Create space for you to hear from the experience of others, and to share your questions with a group of other serving in the nominations process
Rev. Dr. Mary John Dye, former District Superintendent and now Retired Elder in the Western North Carolina Conference, will offer words of wisdom as we take on this meaningful challenge together. Please RSVP (the form simply asks for name, email, and if you will attend) to help us prepare.
*A term we affectionately use to describe moving the same people around to different leadership roles from year to year.
RSVP TO RECEIVE ZOOM LINK & PARTICIPANT INFO
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Means Of Grace Podcast: Cultivating Life Together
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In this episode, podcast guest Dr. Luke Bretherton, Robert E. Cushman, Distinguished Professor of Moral and Political Theology at Duke Divinity School, talks with Jesse Enniss and Kim Ingram, imagining how humans and creation journey with God through the seasons of life, the year, and the church. Dr. Bretherton paints a picture of pastoral theology that encourages us to think about the ordinary things of life and how we cultivate forms of life together.
LISTEN TO EPISODE
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An Introduction to Lay Servant Ministry: The Basic Course
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This course is a foundational, prerequisite course for all courses in Lay Servant Ministries. Participants are encouraged to discover and employ personal spiritual gifts as God intended and to consider the importance of exercising servant leadership, developing future leaders, remaining rooted in consistent spiritual practices, and being part of a group that holds members accountable in their discipleship.
Course will be taught over four consecutive Mondays (Sept. 11, Sept. 18, Sept. 25, Oct. 2); students must attend all four sessions to get credit for completing the course.
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, September 6, 2023. Once you register, you will receive a confirmation email with the Zoom meeting information.
LEARN MORE & REGISTER
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Did you miss the last edition of E-News?
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Is The UMC Really...? Series
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With some congregations considering leaving The United Methodist Church or just wondering about its future, Ask The UMC offers a series of questions and answers to help clear up some common misperceptions or misinformation around disaffiliation.
This is part 1: The Disaffiliation Process & Addressing Misinformation & Misperceptions
This is the first in a series of articles to address misperceptions and misinformation about the future of The United Methodist Church and the process of disaffiliating from it.
Questions answered in this article:
Is The UMC Really....?
1. Splitting at this time?
2. Asking traditionalists to leave the denomination?
3. About to alter its doctrine to deny the virgin birth, the divinity of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, or salvation through Christ alone?
4. Intending to change the Bible?
5. Allowing congregations that exit the denomination to continue to offer the same pension and health benefits programs to their clergy and staff?
PART 1
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We want WNCC clergy and ministry leaders to flourish in ministry! Sometimes that requires taking a step back to consider what has effective leadership looked like in the past and how can you look forward to the next 8 years for what flourishing ministry can be.
The next cohort starts September 5. The experience encourages time away from your ministry context and funds to take renewal and/or to discover what "next" looks like.
Click on the link below to learn more, hear a testimony from a recent participant, and register. Cohort is limited to 25 participants.
LEARN MORE & REGISTER
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Pre-Retirement In-Person Webinar: Retiring Well
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For Clergy 3-5+ years from retirement. October 16-17, 2023 at the Conference Office in Huntersville.
Hear engaging presentations with representatives from Wespath and Treasury Services. Register before September 26th and a personalized, confidential Benefit Projection will be mailed to you. PLUS sign up for a 20-minute individual consultation with a member of the Wespath team during our time together. Spouses are welcomed to join the event and consultation!
LEARN MORE
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Sharing Hope through Ministry in Rural Communities
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"In May 2023, Trustees of The Duke Endowment approved a $10.5 million grant to be distributed between the two conferences of the United Methodist Church to strengthen existing congregations and support the creation of new United Methodist faith communities within the conferences. This funding is intended to allow churches to really dig in and explore new and creative ways of doing ministry. Some of those approaches will be successful and we’ll want to replicate them, and some won’t be as successful and that’s fine. We’ll learn from them and apply our learnings...
...So, what we hope this grant says to existing members of the United Methodist Church is we see you, we’re proud of you and the ministry you’ve done and continue to do. We want to honor that and acknowledge that and encourage you to keep going in the ministries you’re engaged in as you simultaneously think about new ones. And in that creative process, we believe you’ll open the door to new members wanting to come in to be part of the energy, to be part of the excitement, to be part of what’s going on in these places and contribute to that sense of renewal that is at the heart of United Methodism. This grant is intended to provide inspiration and bring hope."
READ FULL BLOG POST FROM THE DUKE ENDOWMENT
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The Intersection of Faith and Advocacy
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This study is intended to serve as a guide for people of faith looking to integrate their prayer with their public witness. During this inaugural season, we will discuss the current maternal mortality crisis and how the faith community can advocate for passage of the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act. Among industrialized nations, the United States has the highest rate of maternal mortality in the world. Within this is the sobering reality that Black women are three to four times more likely to die in childbirth than white women, oftentimes of deaths that could have been prevented.
Letters To My Daughters will explore the spiritual, theological, and social components of what it means for people of faith to pursue gender justice. My prayer is that communities might learn to create an integrated approach to advocate for equitable conditions that promote maternal health.
This study is open to everyone! You may participate individually or as a group. The deadline to register is August 4, 2023.
LEARN MORE & REGISTER
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Big Band Music Under the Stars
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Hear Great Music Under the Stars at Lake Junaluska!
The Blue Ridge Big Band will perform a free concert at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 4, under the Lakeside White Tent between Stuart Auditorium and Harrell Center at Lake Junaluska.
Bring lawn chairs, picnic blankets and the whole family to enjoy some great live music.
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E-News is an email newsletter sent out by the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. It contains important news, stories, and events from around our conference.
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Copyright © 2022 Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, All rights reserved.
Where to find us:
Western North Carolina Conference
13924 Professional Center Dr, Ste 200
Huntersville, NC 28078
Mailing Address:
PO Box 2757
Huntersville, NC 28070
Phone: 704.535.2260
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