What If We Had Church Media Days Like the BIG 10?

The Big 10 football coaches and top players of each team will be participating in the conference annual "Media Days" in Chicago over the next few days. Every college football fan looks forward to hearing from the coaches and players of their favorite team about the upcoming season.

It's not like we don't already know that Ohio State will be the early favorite to win the conference this year or that Purdue will probably not make it to a bowl game this year. The Big 10 College Football Media Days reminds us that Saturday afternoons will soon have something meaningful to offer besides ho-hum baseball games.

Recently, I was part of a pre-fall Sunday School planning meeting at my church. We discussed our strengths, weaknesses, and what we might do differently this year to help our congregation grow deeper in our faith. There was a sense of excitement as we thought about the approaching new season. This has led me to wonder if churches should participate in a conference wide "Media Days" event around this time of year that is similar to the Big Ten gathering that will be meeting in Chicago. 

What would that look like? Maybe something like this...

Pastor Jones: "Our starting nursery helper from last year had to have foot surgery and won't be ready for our September Kick-Off. We're a little thin in this area, but like I always say, our motto around here is, 'Next volunteer up!'"

Pastor Thompson: "We had a really productive VBS this past summer that brought in a lot of kids, so we are entering the new season with some positive momentum. We're expecting a big crowd when we begin the new season in September. Barring any unexpected vacations next month, there's no reason why we shouldn't fill our pews after Labor Day weekend."

Pastor Smith: "There are a lot of strong churches in our town, so we will have our work cut our for us this year. We are going to need some of our younger members to really step it up if we want to have a decent year."

Pastor Hughes: "We are a senior laden team this year. Several of our members have been around here for over 50 years. There's no reason why we can't be one of the better churches in our conference when it's all said and done. I'd be disappointed if we don't see a lot of new families join the church."

Pastor Lowe: "Our focus is on that first Sunday after Labor Day Weekend, but we also want to be ready for Christmas when we will be putting together a big children's musical this year. We need to begin strong and finish strong. I keep preaching to my flock that we need to be patient and focus on one Sunday at a time."

If we had church "Media Days," what would you be able to share about your church for the upcoming Fall season? What signs of optimism is God offering you during this season of "new beginnings?"

"O God, bless each church in our conference as we plan for our fall season of ministry. May this be a year of new opportunities as we seek to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen."

Certified Lay Ministry: Congratulations, Judy Hug!

Congratulations to our own, Judy Hug who completed her 2013-2015 studies as a Certified Lay Minister in the United Methodist Church. She is one of 15 lay persons in our West Ohio Conference who will be recognized at this June's West Ohio Conference gathering at Lakeside, Ohio. Judy has been instrumental in helping us launch our church's new and exciting vision of Love-Grow-Serve.

Our Church Affirms & Blesses Two Persons in Pastoral Ministry

During tonight's Charge Conference meeting at our church, we affirmed the ministry of two people who are at different points in their ministerial journey.

Rev. Ben Foulk (Pastor Cheryl's husband)  is taking time off from active ministry and he needs to be officially affiliated with a United Methodist Church during this time. Ben has chosen to affiliate with our church. Ben will be teaching one of our Love-Grow-Serve core courses in Spring of 2015. Don't miss out on his class. You will learn a lot about your faith from him and he will be a wonderful blessing to our discipleship/teaching team.

Rebecca Hug is in the process of becoming an ordained Deacon in the United Methodist Church. Since we are Rebecca's home church, she needed our official approval to continue in the next phase of her journey toward ordination. She already met with our Staff/Parish Relations Committee and they recommended her to our Charge Conference meeting tonight for approval. Rebecca is currently the Youth Director at Hilliard UMC. After tonight's approval, she will continue in her process toward ordination by meeting with the District and Conference board of ministries. This process also includes supervisory years prior to ordination.

In the United Methodist Church, there are two tracts toward ordination. There is the Deacon track which focuses on service in the community and the Elder track which focuses on overseeing ministry in a congregational setting. Both are vital ways to provide spiritual leadership through the United Methodist Church.

Rebecca and our Youth Director, Joe Palmer were in the same confirmation class. It's great to know that our church is raising up leaders in the church!

[Rev. Mark Chows offers a blessing for Rebecca Hug in our church's chapel. Rev. Ben Foulk is kneeling next to her. Members of our Church Council shared in the laying on of hands.]

Following our meeting tonight, Rev. Mark Chow, the Assistant to the District Superintendent who presided at the meeting led us in a time of laying hands and offering prayer for Ben and Rebecca. There were approximately thirty of us and we gathered in the chapel and laid hands on each of them and offered prayers. It was a powerful and holy moment to know that our church has served and continues to serve as a home base for these two persons who have been called into ministry.

A Message to Lancaster First UMC from Bishop Gregory Palmer

Dear  Rev. Robert McDowell,

In January of this year, I began a breakthrough prayer journey.  Part of that journey is a pledge to pray daily for a few of our West Ohio churches so that by the end of the year, I will have prayed specifically for each and every one of our churches. In addition my weekly prayers will include our extension ministers, retired clergy, clergy spouses and the conference as a whole.

 

Today I will be in prayer specifically for your church, your congregation and leaders, your ministries.  Please know that you are all in my thoughts as well as in my prayers today. I invite you to join me in daily prayer and celebration of all that God has provided us.  I am so thankful for your ministry.

I hope that this day finds you well and encouraged by the excitement of our shared ministry of making disciples for Jesus Christ.

Yours in ministry,

Gregory V. Palmer, Bishop

West Ohio UMC Conference Missions Giving Saving Lives!

What is better than singing and worshipping in the same auditorium during the week of June 9 at Lakeside, Ohio with 3,000 United Methodists representing the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church? While that ranks pretty high on the list, here are some other possible answers to this question.

Answer #1: Hearing the good news that our West Ohio Conference which includes Lancaster First UMC gave over 2.5 million dollars in 2012 to mission work throughout the world!

Answer #2: Hearing the good news that our West Ohio Conference recently received a one day offering of over $110,00 to be used for the Imagine No Malaria Campaign.

Answer #3: Hearing the good news that thanks in part to the United Methodist Church, Malaria deaths have been significantly reduced from 1 million in 2007 to 655,000 in 2011.

Answer #3: Hearing the good news that our West Ohio Conference has set a goal of raising 3.5 million to the Imagine No Malaria Campaign.

As United Methodists, we believe that personal holiness and social holiness go hand in hand and both are vitally important if we are to be fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. May God bless the churches of the West Ohio Conference that we continue to practice extravagant missions giving for the transformation of our world.

Bishop Gregory Palmer - Thoughts on the Connecticut Elementary School Shootings

Dear friends in Jesus Christ:

Together we are watching with a continuing sense of horror about the devastation unleashed in Newtown, Connecticut. Murder and suicide were visited in multiple locations in this self-described idyllic community. I need not rehearse for you here the details which we have and will continue to hear and consume from multiple sources. With thanks in advance for you taking time to read this short piece, I want to quickly invite you to tend to a few things with full confidence that some of these are already underway.

1. Pray. Please spend some concerted and focused time in prayer personally. Use your many worship services this weekend as an important venue for prayer for all of the victims, their families and the community of Newtown.

1. Talk. Talk in your small groups, Sunday School classes etc. about gun violence and the role that Christians and the church should play in helping all persons be shaped from the inside out by the Prince of Peace and the way of life he commends to us.

1. Engage. Connect with schools and other institutions in your community to assist in healing the traumatized that are in all of our communities but especially the victims of violence. All persons who live in real fear of violence (whether from mass shootings, war, domestic abuse etc.) can benefit from the ministry of healthy churches and healthy Christians. Indeed the tragedy of Newtown is an example of both domestic violence and mass public violence.

1. Make the Connections. This is an awesome opportunity for extraordinary preaching and excellent theology. Even a cursory reading of the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke remind us that the birth of our savior came against the backdrop of oppression, threat and violence. Matthew especially reminds us that the baby Jesus lived under the threat of death from his earliest days. Luke is careful to remind us through Mary’s song and Zechariah’s prophecy that though the world is out of sorts with all manner of injustice and violence God in Christ is acting to put things right. And on that dear ones we have staked our hope of salvation and our future now and when time is no more. We have responded to a gospel that speaks and gives life in the face of death. May it be so in these Advent days.

Yours in Christ,

+Gregory Vaughn Palmer, Resident Bishop
Ohio West Episcopal Area - The United Methodist Church

"Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness and pride of power and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear rather than too much. Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Bishop Palmer's Initial Thoughts of the West Ohio Conference

 

November 27, 2012

Dear Friends in Jesus Christ:

Today marks my 88^th day among you. On yesterday I completed the last of my first visits to the eight districts of our conference. In every case you have welcomed Cynthia and me with open arms and lavished us with hospitality. We couldn’t be more grateful and appreciative. Thank you.

I have spent these first several months listening and learning from you and about you. Travelling the conference via the districts has been an important lens through which to see who we are. Other indispensible means of learning for me early on have been the cabinet and staff of the conference, lay and clergy leaders who serve through the structures of the conference, visits to local congregations, cluster leaders, staff and boards of United Methodist institutions. I have also met dozens of people one on one and in small groups in my office who have helped me deepen my learning. While the proverbial First 100 Days will soon be over I do not expect to stop learning and growing in this new relationship.

I want to share with you a few early learnings and observations from where I sit:

• We are a leader-full Annual Conference. At every turn there are skilled, passionate, faith filled servant leaders lay and clergy, compensated and volunteer;
• There is a growing sense of alignment between the mission of the church, making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, the structures and initiatives of this conference and the core ministry of local congregations;
• I see signs everywhere of United Methodist Christians and congregations that are faced out to their neighbors, communities and the world. What you are doing to engage in mutual ministry with the poor and vulnerable is inspiring;
• The aspiration to create a culture of call and generosity is becoming a reality;
• Our commitment to be true partners in mission and in the mission globally is giving life and bearing fruit.

It is a privilege to partner with you in God’s mission which is nothing less than new creation. As we move forward together please know that I will be guided and driven by at least two unwavering convictions:

1. We already have everything we need to take the next faithful step in ministry;
2. “It does not yet appear what we shall be.” (1 John 3:2).

Be encouraged in Christ Jesus,

Gregory V. Palmer

Meet Our New West Ohio Bishop, Gregory Palmer - Saturday, Oct. 13

 

On Saturday, October 13, at 10:00 am, clergy and laity are invited to gather at the Grove City UMC, 2650 Columbus St, Grove City for a worship service led by the GCUMC Praise Band. Bishop Palmer will preach. Following worship there will be a Q & A time with the bishop.

At the close of the morning activities, a lunch will be served (financial donations will be received for the lunch). All laity and clergy in the district are invited to participate in the lunch. Reservations are due by October 5. Click here to make reservations for the lunch or call the district office at 614-222-0600.

 

NOTE: Our church is honored that Bishop Palmer has accepted our invitation to preach at our October 21 Bicentennial Homecoming Sunday worship services.  Our Capitol Area South District Superintendent, Rev. Barb Sholis will also be participating.

Live Stream of Bishop Palmer's Installation Service - Sunday, September 16, 4 P.M.

Click on this link to watch the live streaming of the installation service for our new Bishop of the West Ohio Conference, Gregory Palmer today (Sunday) at 4 P.M. at Church of the Messiah in Westerville. The service is open to the public to attend as well.

Video Greeting to West Ohio Churches from Bishop Gregory V. Palmer

Bishop Palmer began his episcopal duties on September 1st in our West Ohio Conference.

Meet the New West Ohio Area Bishop Gregory Palmer

Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer was assigned as Episcopal Leader of the Illinois Area of The United Methodist Church Sept. 1, 2008.  He will become the Episcopal Leader of the West Ohio Area on September 1, 2012.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pa., Bishop Palmer is a “child of the church,” the son of the Rev. and Mrs. Herbert E. and Charlotte Sue Hewitt Palmer. Bishop Palmer’s father is a retired United Methodist pastor; his mother (now deceased) was a school teacher in the Philadelphia Public School system. Rev. Herbert Palmer and his wife Peggy reside in Philadelphia.

Bishop Palmer received his undergraduate degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and the Master’s of Divinity degree from Duke University Divinity School, Durham, N.C. Baldwin-Wallace College, Iowa Wesleyan College and Simpson College have all awarded him honorary degrees.

Ordained a deacon and probationary member in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference in 1977, Palmer was ordained an elder in full connection in the East Ohio Conference in 1981.His pastoral career includes pastorates at Granville-Vance UMC’s and Durham Asbury Temple UMC in North Carolina; East Glennville UMC and Werner UMC in Cleveland, Ohio; James S. Thomas UMC in Canton, Ohio and the United Methodist Church of Berea, Berea, Ohio. Palmer also served as district superintendent of the Youngstown District of the East Ohio Conference.

In 2000, Palmer was elected to the episcopacy by the North Central Jurisdictional Conference. He was assigned to the Iowa Area where he served until assuming responsibilities in the Illinois Area. Bishop Palmer served as president of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry from 2004 to 2008 and president of the Council of Bishops from April 2008 to May 2010.

Bishop Palmer and his wife of 34 years, Cynthia, are the parents of two grown children – Monica, a middle school Special education teacher in Charlotte, N.C. and Aaron, who is employed at a financial planning software company in Charlotte, N.C.

Mrs. Palmer is an honors graduate in religion of Duke University. She is a Senior Sales Director with Mary Kay Cosmetics. She has served as a Director of Christian Education, as staff of several Community Action Agencies focused on Welfare to Work projects. She is an outstanding student and teacher of the scriptures and has a strong interest in women’s leadership development.

Bishop Ough's 2012 Easter Greeting

Bishop Bruce Ough of our West Ohio Conference offering Easter greetings...

New Year's Greetings from Bishop Ough of West Ohio Conference UMC

I greet you on the eve of a New Year with the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ whose coming among us we have just celebrated.


Culturally, the New Year is a time of resolutions. This is the season when many quickly resolve to make themselves over. Occasionally, our resolutions are for 'extreme makeovers' or extraordinary transformations. This is the moment we seize to begin anew, to do over, to redefine ourselves.

But, for disciples of Jesus, the New Year is a time to renew our covenant with God. It is a season to recall that we do not make ourselves over, but we are made over through Christ alive in us. It is a time to acknowledge that God is our covenant Friend:

• the One who gives us life and hope,
• the One who fills our hearts with hunger for truth and righteousness,
• the One who is our light in darkness,
• the One who remembers us when we forget God.

For followers of Jesus, this is a season of renewal, not resolutions.

As a local church pastor, I would invite my congregation to participate in our United Methodist Covenant Renewal Service every New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. John Wesley, primary author of our "methodist" revival movement, developed and published several versions of a Covenant Service. The very first real celebration of the Covenant Service in the Methodist movement was held on Monday, August 11, 1755. Around England, the Covenant Service was conducted whenever John Wesley visited the Methodist Societies. In short order, covenant renewal services were being held on New Year's Day in the class meetings and societies of the Methodist movement.

Many United Methodists can recite all or portions of Wesley's invitation to his Covenant Service as deftly as they can recite the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed or Psalm 23. The words are powerful and provocative. They invite a measure of humility, denial and surrender that is often discomforting. They clearly remind us that we belong to Christ, and that to give up ourselves to Christ in all things is the only "resolution" we need to make.

So as you prepare for the New Year and all the blessings it will hold for you, I invite you to renew your covenant with God and to join with me and Methodist people throughout the ages as we pray:

Lord, make me what you will. I put myself fully into your hands; put me to doing, put me to suffering, let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you, let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and with willing heart give it all to your pleasure and disposal. Amen. .

Christmas Greetings from Bishop Ough

This Christmas Eve, as you gather in your churches and homes to again read, hear and, perhaps, even enact the nativity account from Luke's Gospel, I invite you to pay particular attention to the manger. Like the shepherds we are called to the manger to witness and experience the "good news of great joy for all the people."

The manger is one of the most important elements in Luke's Christmas story. Three times the narrative in Luke chapter 2 tells us that after his birth Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger:

[Mary] gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped him snugly, and laid him in a manger,
because there was no place for them in the guestroom. (verse 7)

This is a sign for you: you will find a newborn baby wrapped snugly and lying in a manger.
(verse 12)

[The shepherds] went quickly and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger.
(verse 16)

We generally associate the manger with a lowly, impoverished birth. It is true, God chose to become flesh and make His home among us in the most uncommonly common way. A manger is a trough for farm animals -- a place to feed them hay and grain. But, in scripture, it is more. In Isaiah 1:3, the manger -- the crib -- of the ox and donkey is the place where creatures know their benefactor. The manger is a place of sustenance, solace and security. A farm animal, let out in the morning to freely roam, will always return by day's end to the manger.

Isaiah laments that God's people no longer know their benefactor. They have forgotten and no longer understand what God has done for them. They wander afield and do not return to their manger.

In the Christmas story, the manger is the symbol of God's compassion, nurture, salvation. It is in the Bethlehem manger that God's incarnation is cradled. It is to the Bethlehem manger that the shepherds -- the nobodies, ruffians and marginalized -- are called to witness and acknowledge their Lord. It is from the Bethlehem manger that the message of God's redemptive presence in the world goes forth to all people in all generations. It is Emmanuel -- God with us -- that fills the Bethlehem manger with love, forgiveness, joy.

This Christmas, each of us is being called by the angel of the Lord to come to the manger. We are being called to return to the source of our salvation and shalom. Like the shepherds, we are being called to the manger where the unlimited love of God enfolds and nurtures us. And, like the shepherds, we will receive our mission at the manger: to go and tell everyone what we know about the child of Christmas -- God with us!

Let us dance with delight in the Lord

and let our hearts be filled with rejoicing

for eternal salvation has appeared on the earth --

in a manger!

I pray that each of you and each of our congregations will return to the manger this Christmas to remember, once again, what God is doing in our lives and in all of creation. May it be so!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Bishop Bruce R. Ough
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