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An UMCOR grant will assist doctors from
| the Christian Medical Association of India
provide medical relief in
| areas where the government has not been able
to reach. CMAI is the
| medical branch of the National Council of
Churches of India.
Date posted:Dec 31, 2004
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O God, that Great Tsunami: A Hymn
Free one-time permission is given to
congregations that are using the hymn "O God,
that Great Tsunami" to support ecumenical relief
efforts in response to the earthquake and tsunami
of December 2004 in Asia.
Date posted:Dec 31, 2004
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UMCOR Calls Cash Donations Most Effective Compassion in Wake of Disaster
Should you listen to that strong impulse to send
canned food, clothing, and other material goods
to South Asia? UMCOR agrees with other
humanitarian agencies that cash donations are the
best way to show compassion in the wake of an
international tragedy. Although many people share
the impulse to give "things," giving money is
often the most efficient and expedient means to
help.
Date posted:Dec 31, 2004
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The initial gathering of the Caribbean Methodist
Leadership Forum in 2004 brought together the
Major Antilles Methodist Leaders in Boca Chica,
Dominican Republic, December 14-16.
Participants were the heads of churches of the
Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico
and the Conexional President of the Methodist
Church of the Caribbean and the Americas (MCCA)
based in St. John, Antigua.
Date posted:Dec 31, 2004
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World Council of Churches leaders
issued a pastoral letter Friday noting they were
aware of the
"dire need of immediate humanitarian aid as well
as psychological
and spiritual accompaniment" to more than five
million people
left homeless by an earthquake-triggered tsunami
on 26 December
that wreaked havoc across continents.
Date posted:Dec 31, 2004
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Bishop Martinez expresses his concern for the
victims of the Earthquake and Tidal Wave in
South East Asia.
Date posted:Dec 30, 2004
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Relief efforts intensify as the death toll from
tidal waves in the Indian Ocean region continue
to rise. As of December 30, the number of dead
in 11 nations was placed at 120,000, making the
December 26 tragedy one of the worst natural
disasters in human history.
Date posted:Dec 30, 2004
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The Turmans, United Methodist Missionaries
stationed in Indonesia, safe after the tidal
waves, send a bit of news: We want you to know
that we are safe and that none of the effects of
the devastating earthquake and tidal waves
reached the island of Java and the city of
Jakarta. But, like you, the magnitude of the
destruction and death has left us in a state of
shock and deep sadness....
Date posted:Dec 30, 2004
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Inspired by the Psalms, the General Secretary
reflects on the new year of 2005 in the light of
current events
Date posted:Dec 29, 2004
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In 2005, a Call to Prayer and Self-Denial grants will be
open to all applications from national and international
groups that fit the theme of "Women Seeking Justice in
the Workplace."
Date posted:Dec 29, 2004
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Watching images from the catastrophe in Asia and
Africa might compel some people to travel to the
devastated areas and help out with the recovery.
However, the primary need is for financial
support, the United Methodist Committee on
Relief says.
Date posted:Dec 29, 2004
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The United Methodist Church is appealing for
support - and offering an online site for
donations - in response to the earthquake-
related catastrophe that has struck parts of
Asia and Africa.
Date posted:Dec 28, 2004
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The relief agency of The United Methodist Church
today issued an urgent appeal for donations to
assist thousands of Southeast and Southern
Asians survivors of one of the most devastating
earthquakes and series of tidal waves in
recorded history.
Date posted:Dec 27, 2004
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Muriel and Terry Henderson are United Methodist
missionaries assigned to the Methodist Church of
Mexico, where they have served since 1972. Terry
is the director and Muriel a program
coordinator, fundraiser, and teacher for "Give
Ye Them To Eat,” an Advance Special program of
the United Methodist Church.
Date posted:Dec 25, 2004
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All was quiet in the creative writing group
except for the scratching of pencils on paper.
This was our time of writing together and heads
were bent over the table. I looked anxiously
around the room.
Date posted:Dec 25, 2004
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Volunteers Deliver UMCOR Kits Via the "Hope Highway"
Just nine days before Christmas, United Methodist
volunteers made a ten-hour "Hope Highway" trip
from Sherman, Texas to Baldwin, Louisiana, to
make sure that the hundreds of pounds of health,
hygiene, layette, sewing and flood kits reached
the UMCOR Depot before the New Year. Volunteers
Marvin Smith and Jack Ragsdill from the First
United Methodist Church of Howe, Texas delivered
the UMCOR kits, which had been collected from six
different North Texas Conference churches.
Date posted:Dec 23, 2004
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Iraq: Where Hopes and Fears Meet
At this time of year, children around the world
are making their wish lists for the gifts they
hope to receive. Some hope for toys or a bike or
video games. But for some children in Iraq,
living amid war and violence, their hopes stem
from greater needs and worries about their future.
Date posted:Dec 22, 2004
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The Christian community in Bethlehem is
celebrating the birth of Christ this year with a
determined sense of hope and enthusiasm. The
streets around the Church of the Nativity that
witnessed great damage and pain in the last few
years are repaired, renovated and decorated with
ornaments shining against the darkness of the
harsh political realities.
Date posted:Dec 21, 2004
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The General Board of Global Ministries is
recruiting young adults for the Mission Intern
and US 2 Programs in 2005. US 2 missionaries
actively live out their faith while engaged in
ministries that focus on social justice and work
with people in communities pushed to the
margins. Issues they address include with the
homeless, children at risk, illiteracy,
substance abuse, racism, domestic violence,
poverty, and hunger. US-2s make a two year
commitment
Date posted:Dec 21, 2004
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”What child is this…?”
The question is the most important one for
Christians in the twelfth month.
Christmas is totally, and solely, about the
birth of a child,
a real flesh and blood baby,
nestled and nursed by a mother.
Date posted:Dec 21, 2004
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UMCOR Hotline, December 21, 2004
A new bulletin insert describes UMCOR's plans for
expanding its work in Sudan. With UMCOR's help,
he Methodist Church in Uruguay is sending teams
of volunteer doctors and technicians to Artigas.
Several thousand school kits are on their way to
children in Grenada thanks to generous volunteers
who help to assemble these supplies. One Great
Hour of Sharing resources are available.
Date posted:Dec 21, 2004
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Church Bulletin Insert: Sudan: Enormous Suffering
This bulletin insert, "Sudan: Enormous
Suffering," describes UMCOR's new humanitarian
initiative with displaced people in southern
Darfur. This document has one 8 1/2" x
11" "landscape style" page designed to be cut in
half and printed back-to-back.
Date posted:Dec 21, 2004
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A veteran pastor of the Virginia Annual
Conference is the new coordinator of the Russia
Initiative of The United Methodist Church.
Dr. W. James Athearn is semi-retired after
spending 45 years in the pastorate. He has been
involved in the Russia Initiative since 1997 and
conference coordinator of the Initiative since
1998. Dr. Athearn has considerable mission and
international church experience.
Date posted:Dec 20, 2004
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The United States has more nuclear weapons than any
other country on the planet. More and more countries
possess nuclear weapons or have acquired the
technology to make them. The tremendous resources
that nations invest in nuclear arms development could
be spent on education, health care, and anti-poverty
programs.
Date posted:Dec 20, 2004
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The Russia Initiative, a 12-year old United
Methodist mission effort that has established
100 congregations, needs $240,000 above
anticipated 2005 income to assure that pastors
are paid next year.
Date posted:Dec 18, 2004
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The Rev. R. Randy Day, chief mission executive
of The United Methodist Church, has added his
voice to an ecumenical call that December 22 be
observed as a “day of fasting and prayer for
peace and reconciliation in the Holy Land.”
Date posted:Dec 18, 2004
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The Rev. Dwala J. Ferrell is a church and
community worker of the General Board of Global
Ministries of the United Methodist Church
assigned to Petersburg, VA. A clergy member of
the Virginia Annual Conference, Dwala serves as
executive director of Petersburg Urban
Ministries, a program that provides a variety of
needs for very low-income residents in the area.
Date posted:Dec 16, 2004
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The Rev. A. Mutombu Kayij and his wife, Kona
Kuleya Kayij, are missionaries of the General
Board of Global Ministries of the United
Methodist Church assigned to Tunis, Tunisia, on
the northern coast of Africa. They have been
serving there since 1995.
Date posted:Dec 16, 2004
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A campus ministry is inspiring college students
in Arkansas to build a Wesley Foundation in the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
"This seemed like almost an impossible dream; I
didn't think we could raise even $3,000, but to
have raised $15,000, it is so obvious to me that
it is God's will," says Taylor Duncan, a junior
at Arkansas (Russellville) Tech University.
Date posted:Dec 16, 2004
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The Rev. Jon Mac Taylor is a man of two worlds -
a United Methodist pastor in Arkansas, he also
serves as president of a university in the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
"I am the bridge between churches in the United
States and the Congo," says Taylor, president of
the University of North Katanga in Kamina.
Date posted:Dec 16, 2004
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The first copies of the English-language United
Methodist 2004 Book of Discipline and the 2004
Book of Resolutions are on bookshelves in
Cokesbury stores now - just in time for
Christmas giving.
Date posted:Dec 16, 2004
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Applications are now being sought for a Public
Education Summit, to be held July 29 -31, 2005
at Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville,
Tennessee. This
unique event is being planned as part of the
Women's
Division's ongoing Campaign for Children, Phase
III,
which is focused on advocacy in Public School
Education.
Date posted:Dec 15, 2004
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United Methodists are invited to join with
Christians around the world in a week of prayer
for peace.
The United Methodist Church's top ecumenical
officials are encouraging congregations to set
aside Jan. 18-25 to participate in the annual
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Date posted:Dec 14, 2004
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Each year, United Methodist Bishop Woodie W.
White writes a "birthday" letter to his late
colleague, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.,
about the progress of racial equality in the
United States. Now retired and serving as bishop-
in-residence at United Methodist-related Candler
School of Theology in Atlanta, White was the
first top staff executive of the denomination's
racial equality monitoring agency, the
Commission on Religion and Race. Americans honor
King's memory on the third Monday of January.
Date posted:Dec 14, 2004
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Stories, stories, stories; people seem to love
stories. Children love to have them read to
them. Older people love to share them. Yet
others like to write them. Some people always
seem to have a story. Sometimes they are
interesting and sometimes…well the
reader/listener has to decide.
Date posted:Dec 13, 2004
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As we prepare for this Advent time to receive
anew god’s gift through the birth of Jesus the
Christ, we want to share with you a
manifestation of the gift of love being received
and shared through the church in Bolivia.
Date posted:Dec 13, 2004
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The Rev. Michael Rivas has both observed and
helped to bring about major changes in the
mission work of The United Methodist Church
during 22 years at the General Board of Global
Ministries.
Date posted:Dec 13, 2004
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Churches Respond as Typhoons, Floods Pound Philippines
Churches and relief organizations are responding
as typhoons, floods and landslides have resulted
in death and destruction in the Philippines. The
United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR),
sent grants to two of the denomination's
episcopal areas in the Philippines in response to
recovery efforts from typhoons earlier this
season.
Date posted:Dec 10, 2004
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In a city filled with Christians, Fred and Stacy
Vanderwerf still find themselves answering some
probing questions about what their United
Methodist campus ministry is doing in Lviv,
Ukraine.
While the questions may be tough, their answers
are simple and forthright: They are helping
students grow in faith and develop a deeper
relationship with Christ.
Date posted:Dec 10, 2004
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Miracle on 86th Street at Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew
Members of the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew
call the alterations to their landmark
building "the cellar renovation." But the
enterprise really ought to be called "miracle on
86th Street"--a miracle of connection among
neighbors, church members, and folks of other
faiths in this West Side New York neighborhood.
Date posted:Dec 09, 2004
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Fred and Stacy Vanderwerf, UM missionaries
assigned to Ukraine share information in their
latest newsletter.
Date posted:Dec 08, 2004
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The “Here I Am, Lord” video is a celebration of
the individuals and families who answer God’s
call to “Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations,…” It is also a campaign to increase
the number of congregations that covenant with
them and support them.
Date posted:Dec 08, 2004
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UMCOR Hotline, December 7, 2004
In the northern Philippines multiple typhoons
lashed homes, fields, and fisheries last week,
leaving some 1,350 people dead or missing. United
Methodists in the Democratic Republic of Congo
believe food security is a key to the peace
agreement that Bishop Ntambo Nkulu helped to
broker this September. A $1 million fund
established by the General Board of Global
Ministries, combined with generous United
Methodist donations to the UMCOR's landmine
removal project, has helped to make at least one
country, Mozambique, a safer place to live, work,
and go to school.
Date posted:Dec 07, 2004
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California-Nevada Conference UMVIM Team in the Kingdom of Tonga
"Malo e lelei..." The UMVIM team to the South
Pacific island of Tongatapu from July 6-22, 2004,
experienced wonderful hope in serving with the
people of the Kingdom of Tonga "where time
begins." We are grateful to the staff and the
students at Tupou High School, Vaololoa campus,
who helped us accomplish twin goals of friendship
building and repair of a classroom there.
Date posted:Dec 07, 2004
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We watch with great anticipation for signs of
the approaching Advent season. The litter,
tinsel, and lights all aglow. As the excitement
builds, we turn our attention to making merry
and speaking good cheer.
Date posted:Dec 06, 2004
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Hispanic ministries in the Baltimore-Washington
Conference are growing, but they could grow even
more. That was part of the message given during
a daylong training event for non-Hispanic
churches looking for ways to reach out to their
Hispanic and Latino neighbors.
Date posted:Dec 06, 2004
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We write to you from the Missionaries in
Residence office, 475 Riverside Drive, New York.
We have recently returned from 11 years in
Central Asia and, hoping for a year or two of
study and “home”, we have been graciously
appointed to this position
Date posted:Dec 06, 2004
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The reason for perusing the book of Ezra is that
Afghanistan has some points in common with life
at that time. This is a time of rebuilding after
25 years of war and traumatic, violent upheaval
and people are returning from all over the
developed world and in their thousands, through
forced repatriation, from Pakistan and Iran.
Date posted:Dec 06, 2004
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Diplomats, government officials and local church
leaders joined students and staff for the
dedication of Africa University's new Faculty of
Health Sciences building Dec. 1.
Date posted:Dec 06, 2004
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United Methodists in the Philippines, meeting in
late November, reelected their three episcopal
leaders and moved closer to setting up an
autonomous Methodist Church in the island nation.
Date posted:Dec 06, 2004
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"Thank You, Methodists": A Bishop Solidifies the Peace
United Methodists in the Democratic Republic of
Congo believe food security is a key to peace. In
the weeks since one of their bishops, the
charismatic Ntambo Nkulu, moderated a September
2004 peace accord in Katanga, they are
emphasizing an agriculture ministry in the
southeastern part of their nation, with the
bishop in the lead.
Date posted:Dec 05, 2004
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The new customer service number to order the
Response and New World Outlook Magazines.
Date posted:Dec 03, 2004
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Olya Tishkovets traveled more than 300 miles
from home and endured
bitter temperatures to stand outside on Kiev's
Independence Square,
joining the mass protests against Ukraine's
recent presidential
election.
Date posted:Dec 03, 2004
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United Methodists in the Philippines have
reelected and reassigned their three episcopal
leaders to new four-year terms in their current
areas of service.
Date posted:Dec 02, 2004
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Remain steady in your prayers for this nation of
Ukraine. We are seeing things begin to change quickly
toward the side of truth! But, still, there will undoubtedly
be a long road before this conflict is finally resolved.
Date posted:Dec 02, 2004
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The prevention of HIV infection and the care and
treatment of AIDS patients is a major medical
mission priority of The United Methodist Church.
The General Conference, the legislative branch
of our Church, has recognized the importance of,
and encouraged congregations to engage in,
HIV/AIDS-related ministries. The General
Conference encourages United Methodist
participation in World AIDS Day through
education, special offerings, and direct
services.
Date posted:Dec 01, 2004
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