Current enrollees and those considering enrollment in the conference insurance plans in 2024 can start making their Insurance Plan Enrollment choices on November 1. Visit Know Your Insurance Plans for directions. The Annual Enrollment Period ends November 16th. No changes to benefit elections can occur after the Annual Election period.
Announcements
New Faith Communities Common Learning Day
On Tuesday, October 24th and Wednesday, October 25th, 2023, members of the New Room Society gathered for a New Faith Communities’ Common Learning Days Event. Church planters, innovators, pastors, laity, district superintendents, and those discerning a call to plant gathered for two days at the Southeast Raleigh Table (SERT), a United Methodist church plant, where they had the opportunity to learn first hand from the incredible team of pastors, staff, and lay leaders there.
The SERT team shared about the journey to becoming the fruitful and thriving church they are now, with a particular focus on liturgical worship. Over the course of these two days, the gathered community of planters, innovators, and leaders heard about the origins of SERT, past and current iterations of worship, the vision, mission, and values of SERT, and many of the practical details that make up day-to-day ministry at SERT.
Common Learning Days culminated in a beautiful service of worship led by an incredible team of worship leaders and pastors from SERT. All those gathered were sent out with a renewed passion for creative liturgical worship, a powerful witness of the work of church planting, and a deeper connection with one another and with the God who calls us constantly to co-create new things.
“We don’t ship air!” Blankets needed!
This is what Rev. Bill Haddock shared with the attendees of the Project AGAPE 30 year ministry celebration. Nara Melkonyan, missionary and Project AGAPE Country Director has requested funding to buy bedding for the over 100,000 people who fled the Artsakh Region as Azerbaijan bombed them out of their homes and businesses. Her goal is to purchase items in Armenia to support the local economy.
At the same time, we are preparing to ship Christmas boxes to Armenia, and we want to stuff all the gaps between the boxes in the shipping container with warm comforters, blankets, twin size bed sheets, and new pillows.
New, or gently used, well made blankets are welcome. Think about what will keep someone warm in a snowy, cold area where they may not have heat. New or gently used twin size sheets are also needed and only NEW pillows.
Please collect these items and drop them off at the MERCI Center 676 Community Dr, Goldsboro, NC 27530, on November 20, 2023 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Contact Rev. Bill Haddock for more information: revbillh@nccumc.org
If a large collection of items needs to be picked up, please call Al Miller (910) 527-1805
WE DON’T SHIP AIR! Help us stuff the container!
NFC October Newsletter
Co-Creation: In the Beginning, God Began to Create
In many translations of Genesis 1:1, the text reads something like, “In the beginning, when God created[a] the heavens and the earth.” However, the first verse of the English Bible also gives us our first footnote. The word “created” is likely more accurately translated as “began to create.” English majors and Hebrew scholars can let us know the verb tenses which lead to that foot-noted translation. However, the implication for changing the verb tense is that we are reminded that God’s creative engagement with the heavens and the earth is not simply a past event. God is an active creator who began to create in the beginning AND continues to engage in acts of creativity in the heavens and on the earth today. The good news is that God also invites God’s people to participate alongside God in these ongoing acts of creation. On our team, we name creatively participating alongside God as, “co-creation.”
Many of our congregations, including our new faith communities, are actively engaged in acts of co-creation. At our best, we are able to see the world as it is, long for a world which more fully reflects God’s kingdom, and then we creatively generate solutions which might help to close the gap between these two realities (“on earth, as it is in heaven”).
One way this is happening is through investment in creative communities and leaders who are striving to co-create new places for new people to gather in communion with Jesus Christ. Sometimes this happens with the co-creation of a brand new church. Other times this happens when existing churches extend their ministries to open new doors and new access points for people to gather to experience the love of God and the love of God’s people.
In this newsletter, we will be sharing two stories of passionate leaders who saw a need in their community, prayerfully sought God’s wisdom and vision, and who are now experimenting with new ways to co-create new places for new people to gather in communion with Jesus Christ.
Thank you for your ongoing support and the ways your prayers, financial gifts, and other support make these new kinds of creative new faith communities possible.
New Books from NC United Methodists
Four new books were authored by United Methodist clergy located in North Carolina. These books speak to United Methodism and Christian theology.
Being United Methodist Christians: Living a Life of Grace and Hope
By Andy Langford, Ann Langford Duncan, Sally Langford
Published September 2023
Learn what it means to be a United Methodist Christian.
Who wrote this book? Andy and Sally Langford are retired pastors in the Western North Carolina Conference. Their daughter, Ann Langford Duncan, has previously served as a United Methodist pastor in North Carolina and now pastors a church in California. Retired Bishop Will Willimon wrote the preface.
What is this book about? The Langfords are authors of a well-loved book, Living as United Methodist Christians: Our Story, Our Beliefs, Our Lives. This new book is an updated version designed specifically for what is currently happening in The United Methodist Church. The authors lead readers through what it means to be a United Methodist, what makes United Methodism distinct from other denominations, and how these characteristics apply to our daily lives.
Who is this book for? This book is an excellent resource for new member classes, but it also helps longtime United Methodists learn how to speak confidently and passionately about why they have claimed this faith and continue to do so. If your church has had a vote or conversation about disaffiliation, or if your church is taking in new members from churches who have disaffiliated, the authors wrote this book with you in mind. A Sermon, Worship, and Study Series Download is available to purchase from Cokesbury, and video introductions for each chapter are available on Amplify.
More Info! The authors recorded a webinar about the book with Amplify Media that you can watch for free.
Incompatible: How the Church Cast Out LGBTQ Christians & Where We Go Next
By Charlie Baber
Published June 2023
Embark on a journey through the history of Christian belief and practices around human sexuality.
Who wrote this book? Charlie Baber is a Deacon in The United Methodist Church and Pastor of Youth Ministry at University United Methodist Church in Chapel Hill, NC.
What is this book about? Charlie Baber is the creator of Wesley Bros, an online comic featuring John and Charles Wesley. He previously authored a graphic novel about the history of United Methodism titled Submitting to Be More Vile: The Illustrated Adventures of John & Charles Wesley. This new book is a graphic novel that centers around the events leading to the current split within the United Methodist denomination while exploring how the full inclusion of LGBTQ Christians is a faithful witness to the work of the Holy Spirit.
Who is this book for? If you want to understand the history behind the “incompatibility clause” in the Book of Discipline, this book lays out significant facts and events in a format that is fun and easy to read. The book also gives language for a theological argument for the full inclusion of LGBTQ Christians in the life of the church, which would be helpful to those looking to understand that belief. The comic-book-style images make the book appealing both to youth and adults. Discussion questions are included for small groups.
More info! Check out the promo video and read reviews of the book. Read an interview with the author conducted by NC Conference Pastor Cameron Merrill about the web series that became the book.
God is Not a United Methodist: The Mid-Life Disaffiliations of a Middle of the Road Methodist
By Richard Bryant
Published May 2023
Reflections on pastoring a United Methodist church through the disaffiliation process.
Who wrote this book? Richard Bryant is a pastor in the North Carolina Conference. He currently pastors New Sharon UMC in Hillsborough, NC.
What is the book about? Richard Bryant frequently writes articles for the United Methodist Insight online publication. This collection of his sermons and essays documents his journey leading local congregations through disaffiliation while he remains a United Methodist pastor. Witnessing the polarization in society make its way into his churches, Bryant attempts to analyze what’s happening to his church and the world around him.
Who is this book for? This book is for anyone in The United Methodist Church that is concerned about the disaffiliation of local churches from the UMC and its impact on clergy, churches, and communities. United Methodist clergy who have led churches through the disaffiliation process will find much to relate to here.
Trinitarian Responses to Worldliness: Towards a Trinitarian Theology of Inculturation
By Heejun Yang
Published July 2022
Connecting cutting-edge post-Barthian trinitarian theological movements all around the world.
Who wrote this book? Heejun Yang is a pastor in the North Carolina Conference and an adjunct professor at High Point University. He currently pastors Star UMC in Star, NC.
What is this book about? Heejun Yang received his BTh from Methodist Theological University in Seoul, Korea, and holds an MDiv and a ThM from Duke University. He studied under Ingolf Dalferth as his last doctoral student at Claremont Graduate University and the University of Münster, where he earned his PhD from the Faculty of Protestant Theology. From these experiences and his personal identity as a Korean theologian, he connects these global theological movements: postliberal theology (Yale school) in the US, radical orthodoxy (Cambridge school) in the UK, German radical hermeneutic theology (Zurich school in the German-speaking world), and the theology of inculturation (Korean Methodist school) in Asia. The author argues for the necessity of a God-focused theology to embrace different human understandings in a world where Christianity is not dominant.
Who is this book for? This book is an academic treatment of trinitarian theology written for teachers and students of Christian theology. However, Will Willimon writes, “[Yang’s] expansive mind, his dynamic Trinitarian faith, is just what we need to help us think about the role of the church and the Christian faith as we come up against the challenges of contemporary secular culture. Theologians, pastors, and thoughtful Christians will be challenged and invigorated by this wonderful book.”
Travel Caution
Friends,
Please note the most recent Travel Caution issued by the US Department of State regarding all international travel. As you travel for short-term mission and ministry, please exercise an increased caution and situational awareness.
“Due to increased tensions in various locations around the world, the potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations or violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests, the Department of State advises U.S. citizens overseas to exercise increased caution.”
During these challenging times in our world, let us pray for peace among the nations:
Almighty God,
from whom all thoughts of truth and peace proceed:
kindle, we pray, in the hearts of all, the true love of peace
and guide with your pure and peaceable wisdom
those who take counsel for the nations of the earth
that in tranquility your kingdom may go forward,
till the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.