Tuesday, June 8, 2010

West Ohio Annual Conference Early Highlights (June 6 to 8)


The West Ohio Annual Conference UMC is in typical form with great preaching and inspiring worship here at Lakeside, Ohio. Here are some of my notes from the first two days. We have another worship service in about twenty minutes.

Monday - Preacher, Jorge Acevedo, UM Pastor in Florida
1. Works of piety/mercy together
- They have a 3rd Saturday (like our church's 2nd Saturday ministry outreach.)
Evangelism - Can I pray for you?
Oil changes for single mothers
2. System of interconnected groups
Society, class, bands, penitent
Purpose - Healing & sanctification
Everyone has an "it." Hang-ups
Friday night dinner/small groups/recovery
3. Creating places for people in the margins. Preach the gospel to the poor. Aim at kingdom, you get diversity.
John Wesley's building for ministry: The Foundry - School for children.

Bishop Ough's Address (Monday)
Love in Action
4 Areas of Action
The Final Exam - Matt. 25
Wesley - Correlation between ministry to poor and our spiritual growth.
St. Augustine - "We are bread on the table."
Examples - Vietnam, Church for All People, Grace Children's Hospital
$1,521,000 from West Ohio to Haiti relief (includes health kits)

Rev. Janet Wolf (Tuesday Preacher)
"Thy Kingdom Come!"
How do we let go of our possessions?
We need to remain on journey with Jesus.
Jesus and disciples hang out with the left out.
We don't listen to the radicality of discipleship.

Tuesday Workshop - Building Community within the Church - Circles Initiative

Bridges Out of Poverty Curriculum
Need to sit and eat with people, not just serve them. Poverty is the extent to which an individual is able to use resources.

Math of Poverty
Family of 4 - Less than $40,000

Gap in education. Difficult to function in society.

Bad mistakes lead to endless cycle of poverty. People in poverty don't have a lot of social networking to help them.

Mental Models - We don't realize our assumptions about people in poverty.
1. Relationships - Leading cause of violence is disrespect. The poor invest in TVs since families stay indoors at night because of violent neighborhood. Relationships are transformational!
2. To get out of poverty, you have to temporarily give up some relationships.

For middle class, it's about achievement. We need to ask people what they need rather than assume we know what they need. This is why relationships are important.

We need to be aware of our Middle Class biases. Out biases can lead to judgment.

Driving Forces
1. Poverty - survival, relationships, entertainment
2. Middle Class - Work, achievement
3. Wealth -
Food - It's about quantity. You don't know when you're going to eat again.
Education - Distracted because mind is on hunger issues. Also, don't feel like they have a lot of options.
Destiny - Focus more on fate
Language - Children fall behind other children in language skills.

Tool - If you choose, then you have chosen. We need to help people know they can make choices.
"Human relationship is a sledgehammer that obliterates every societal difference." - Robert Sapolsky

We can end poverty because we were able to end slavery and give women the right to vote. We need to stop the societal and legal barriers.

Circles Campaign -
We need the church to build relationships and provide meaning/reason. We need to build intentional inclusive communities. Started in 2006.

Each circle has a low income family and 2 people of wealth.

Circles increased income, decreased subsidies.

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