Newsletter

HOME

GASTONIA DISTRICT LAITY RALLY

Thursday, September 18, 2008
Weathers Arena, Cleveland County Fairgrounds
Shelby NC
(East Gate, across from new construction)
Speaker : Mike Minter, Former Carolina Panther All-Pro

Adults $10.00 Children $8.00 (ages 6 -12) Free (Children under age 6)
Meal served between 4:45 pm and 6:45 pm
Program begins at 7:00 pm

Bishop Larry Goodpaster will be traveling throughout the annual conference in an attempt to begin to get to know the annual conference. Services of Welcome for Bishop Goodpaster and his wife, Deborah are scheduled across the conference. Everyone is invited.

Additionally, the Bishop will be spending time in each of the 15 district. He will be here in the Gastonia District on Monday September 22. He will meet with the superintended from 3-5:30 pm and then have dinner with some of the district leadership. Following that he will speak to the laity from across the district. You should have received a letter for your lay leader. I hope you will encourage your Lay Leader, Council Chairperson and all delegates to the 2008 annual conference to attend. That would include your local church lay delegate and all district and conference at-large delegates that may be in your church. That meeting will be at 7:00 p.m. at First Methodist in Gastonia.

Then on Tuesday September 23, Bishop Goodpaster will meet with the clergy of the Gastonia District at Myers Memorial UMC in Gastonia. We will begin at 9:30 am with refreshments. Then at 10 am the Bishop will speak to the clergy followed by a time of questions and answers. I hope you will all be present.

Those whom are recovering from an illness, a hospital stay and/or surgery:

The family of Harold Benfield, father of Ed Benfield (Incapacity Leave).
The family of Barbara Ratcliffe, mother of Wayne Ratcliffe (Crowell Memorial-Palm Tree)

C2SX - CHOOSE2SHARE CHRIST
November 14 - 16, 2008 at Lake Junaluska
Sponsored by the Western North Carolina Conference United Methodist Church

This faith sharing event for committed Christian leaders celebrates the amazing opportunity we have to share God's love and grace with others. Choose2Share Christ is a must for anyone seeking to learn how to share Jesus Christ, be renewed and increase Christian leadership skills! High School Youth in grades 9 - 12, Young Adults/College Students and Adults/Youth workers are all welcome to attend.
Link for complete details: www.wnccumc.org/yth/c2sx.hlm
or contact Caroline Woods at 1-800-562-7929 x-117

QUARTER            A YOUNG ADULT
LIFE                 MINISTRY INITIATIVE
Will be held at: Boone UMC
471 New Market Blvd., Boone, NC 28607
Sponsored by the Western North Carolina Conference United Methodist Church
Saturday, October 11th, 9:30am - 4:00pm
$10 per person

Quarterlife is a conference designed to equip you and your church's new or existing young adult ministry. Chris Hughes, the Minister to Pfeiffer University, will be speaking at the main session in the morning; a panel of young adults will help us explore cultural and ministry implications for the local church; and workshops will be taught in the afternoon by your local leaders. All of this is designed to help you launch or continue to grow a young adult ministry in your church.
Registration information will be available by contacting WNCC Ministries with Young People at:
YouthMinistries@wnccumc.org

If you have any questions feel free to call me.

Blessings,
Molly Pekarek - District/Conference Adult Representative with Young People
704-747-4539

The focus of our time together will be spiritual disciplines. Through worship, conversation and several brief presentations, we will explore how spiritual disciplines strengthen us personally and professionally helping us be faithful and effective women in ministry.

How do your spiritual disciplines change throughout the liturgical and calendar year?

We would like to compile a list of practices, rituals and resources that enrich your spiritual life during Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter.

Wear something that reflects your present inner spirit, where you are in your spiritual journey. Wear your brightest, boldest, most colorful outfit, T-shirt or blouse. Or, wear earth tones and muted colors or wear an outfit that reminds you of a significant event or person in your spiritual journey.

From I-40 take exit 150 and travel north on Hwy. 115 for 2 miles. The church is on the right.

In Morganton, we are busy getting ready for the Harvest of Blessings – WEST, hands-on mission experience and hope you are as well! We are calling all knitters, crafters, artisans, whittlers and bakers to get involved by crafting or making items to be sold or auctioned that day; all the proceeds going to the Missions of our conference.

We are also issuing a special challenge to ALL the districts in the Western North Carolina Conference! The conference will have available the supplies to make 8000 meal packets at the cost of .25 cents each (25 cents buys the food safe plastic bag and the dried food). When reconstituted with boiling water, this packet of dried food makes a 6 cup meal! The challenge is to package a goal of 28,000 packets of food on that day! That is 20,000 more food packets over the 8,000 the conference will have on site! At ..25 cents each, how many packets can your church pledge? The amount is up to all of us! One quarter could feed an entire hungry family for a day.

Let us know one week prior (by September 27^th) to the Harvest of Blessings Celebration, how much money your church has raised to make more food packets and to reach the goal of 28,000 in order for the food and the packets to be on site and ready for filling and blessing! Contact FUMC, Morganton at (828) 437-0921 or by email hollyfumc@bellsouth.net. Thank you for your prayers and support for this missions celebration, we look forward to seeing you on Saturday, October 4^th in Morganton!

There will be a training for all interested clergy and laity wanting to lead DISCIPLE Bible Study. All levels of DISCIPLE will be covered (DISCIPLE I-IV) and information on new youth curriculum, RINGS OF FELLOWSHIP. The cost is $5 for lunch. This is being made possible because of Duke Endowment and support of DISCIPLE Bible Outreach Ministry. Plan now to attend or send your leaders.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GRUSS GOTT

In parts of Austria, and a few other nearby places, it is common for people to greet one another by saying, Gruss Gott. The literal German is great God, but the actual understanding is more along the lines of may Gods greatness in you be realized. This is not a quaint greeting restricted to a subculture but is widespread, something hard to imagine in the USA. Of course, with so much of Europebeing much more secular than the US, such language would seem to be an anomaly there as well. One explanation is that the language is traditional and has lost its religious meaning when used. It is clear, however, that in some places the language reflects its true meaning.

On a recent, typical Sunday morning in the small villageof Hopfgarten, Austria, the church bells starting ringing early, announcing the 10 amservice. This village is high in the Defereggen valley, in the East Tyrolregion. It has a population of 361 people and like similar villages up the length of the valley, has its own church. The village church is Roman Catholic. Protestant churches are rare in villages there. The church has no parking lot and many of the homes in the area are perched way up high on steep valley walls. There is nothing modern or compelling about the church. It is well maintained and has about enough seating for close to half the village. This is good because close to half the village comes to each of the two services. Yes, nearly everyone in the village attends worship. It is a stunning sight to see the people pouring in from all around the village and adjoining valley walls. Many of the youth hang out just outside the church but come in en mass as the final bells ring.

The worship service lasts nearly two hours and has Latin mixed in with the German. Special music is infrequent. An organ serves as accompaniment. There is no screen for projected words or images. The people are so familiar with the order of service that they do not use the aids in the pews. Furthermore, it is evident that a significant portion of those present are not just punching the clock. They are involved in sincerely worshiping God. It is truly an amazing experience to partake of, especially for an American congregational developer. There are simply no modern approaches for making the service or the building attractive, and yet the people pour in.

In much of Europe, only about two percent of the population attends church. The United Stateshas a much higher figure which varies from roughly 20% to 40%, depending on which part of the country is being considered. For most UMC pastors in America, even if they have the only church in town or in a village, the near 100% attendance of all those in the ministry area is hard to comprehend. Of course there are historical, sociological, and cultural reasons for the Tyrollean church participation that cannot be replicated in other places. Nevertheless, there may be something to be gleaned from that phenomenon for the rest of us.

The church participation is not the only startling aspect of community life in this Alpine village. Community there takes on depths unfamiliar to most Americans. Most families have had a presence in the community for centuries. In fact, one cannot buy property unless one can demonstrate the family connections to those who have been there for ages. The result is that everyone in the village really knows everyone else and a unique sense of community follows. The village government and land usage reflects the common suggested in community. Most of the land is under community management with the residents using it for their agriculture. Even cutting down trees must be approved by the appropriate local authority. The common sense of purpose and good makes this workable. Sheep and goats are turned loose high above timberline, to be brought into barns before winter snows. In the meantime they roam freely, grazing in the high country.

The sense of community is very strong on the informal, neighborly level as well. Bartering of goods and services happens frequently. One neighbor may have fresh farm eggs while another may have some garden produce. Some may help cut hay so that their sheep can stay in the neighbors barn for the winter. Milk straight from the cow is shared with those without cattle. Even the little village still supports a general store, allowing the elderly access to shopping needs without their driving to the city.

The idyllic Alpine village, along with her stellar church participation, is not presented here as a model for the USchurch. However, we can be inspired by some aspects of this situation. For one thing, the high percentage of church participation can remind us that greater measure than we experience in most of our communities can be a driving vision. St John UMC in St John, Washington, is located in a small village surrounded by miles and miles of wheat fields. The population for the entire zip code is 600, with several other churches in town. St John UMC has seen an attendance increase from the fifties to sixties and is determined to reach 100, or nearly 20% of the population. That’s vision.

Urban and suburban churches have a more difficult time defining their communities, but all can do better at reaching those where they serve. Of course in more urban settings in the USA, unlike Austrian villages, immigration and changing community demographics is the norm. The surrounding sense of long term stable community simply will never be. Nevertheless, a vision for those there is still tantamount. Doing so requires learning who is there and connecting to them, even if they are rapidly morphing. Demographics are useful, of course, but finding ways to relate to the people is essential. For example, Kevin Kloster, a new church start pastor in Maricopa, AZ, is in his second month in this rapidly growing suburb of Phoenix and has made a real point of connecting. He has become a Cub Scout chaplain and police chaplain already.

The church body itself can become real community. In fast paced American living, folks often do well to pass each other on Sunday morning and then not cross paths again until the next Sunday. This is not community. Really getting to know others and sharing time, fellowship, burdens, and material needs is basic Christian living that many churches need to grow into. The more the church lives out community, grounded in faith, the more likely the surrounding community will start to taste it as well. After all we are to make disciples for the transformation of the world.

(TOP)

GASTONIA DISTRICT " Follow Jesus, Make Disciples, Transform the World "

GASTONIA DISTRICT

" Follow Jesus, Make Disciples, Transform the World "