Due to the massive power outage and the declared state of emergency in Moore County, North Carolina, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) is allowing early prescription refills to ensure that customers have access to the prescription drugs they need. This applies to Moore County. The early refill request must be made between December 4 through December 9, 2022 (the duration of the declared state of emergency). Members should call the number on their ID card if they have a problem trying to get an early refill. The early refill policy does not apply to controlled substances.
Announcements
Prayers for the People in Moore County
We are deeply saddened and horrified that a reportedly intentional act of vandalism on Saturday, Dec. 2, has cut electric power to approximately 45,000 households in Moore County within the Fairway District of the North Carolina Conference. This is an especially heinous act, leaving people without heat amid low to freezing December temperatures.
Our hearts and prayers are with all affected, especially those for whom this is a life-threatening crisis. We hope and pray that Duke Energy will be able to repair the equipment quickly and restore power as soon as possible.
Conference Disaster Ministries is working with churches in the area and delivered generators and solar power disaster response trailers to Vass United Methodist Church and Southern Pines United Methodist Church on Monday. The team is delivering a shower trailer to the Pinebluff Fire Department and a laundry trailer to Vass United Methodist Church today.
Pastors in the area are encouraged to contact the Disaster Ministries Call Center at 888-440-9167 or disaster@nccumc.org with any questions or needs.
To contribute financially, you can give to the NC Storm Response Fund to support local churches and community needs in the Moore County area.
Please continue praying for those without power and everyone working to bring the grid back online.
We will continue to share more information on our Moore County Updates page.
MERCI Work Days to Pack Christmas Boxes
Join us Tuesday, December 6, Saturday, December 10, and/or Tuesday, December 13, to help pack Project Agape Christmas boxes. Work days are from 9 am to 1 pm.
MERCI is located at 676 Community Dr, Goldsboro, NC 27530
Any and all help is appreciated both here and in Armenia! For more information contact Rev. Bill Haddock revbillh@nccumc.org
Temporary Pause of Disaffiliation Activities
Dear Friends:
We are ending a season where a great deal of energy, passion, and attention has been given to topics related to our connectional life in The United Methodist Church, as well as questions regarding disaffiliation. During this time, we have worked hard to ensure that we’ve kept Jesus at the center of our activities. This is especially important now as we enter the seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, where our attention should be on the Savior of the world.
While I understand that a few meetings are already scheduled, I am asking that we pause all new disaffiliation work, including church conferences and town halls, through January 6. This will allow churches to engage fully in Christ-centered welcoming mission and ministry during this season. It will also give our eight District Superintendents, four Administrative Assistants to the District Superintendents, and conference staff, who have worked tirelessly during the past few months, some well-deserved time to spend with their families and on physical, mental, and spiritual renewal.
Work on existing church disaffiliations, effective 12/31/22, will continue.
May the Light of the World guide us all to honor Him by the ways we worship, witness, and serve as His Church.
Grace and peace,
Announcement from UMVIM
Dear Friends in Christ:
Grace and peace to you this Advent season as we await once again the coming of Jesus, the
Christ, our Saviour.
During the last few months, the Jurisdictional Office of UMVIM has received a number of
correspondences regarding the disunity and fragmentation within The United Methodist Church.
Team leaders, team members, donors, and other supporters have seemingly dismissed our work
of showing “Christian love in action” simply on the basis of remaining in The United Methodist
Church.
The lies, untruths, hurtful dis-information, and unchristian rhetoric truly have an extremely
negative impact on our ministry to serve the least, the last, and the lost across God’s world.
While NCC UMVIM remains committed to making missional opportunities a place where all
Christians can come together despite our theological differences, serving as ambassadors for
Christ to be witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth, there
are a few things which need to be made clear:
North Carolina Conference United Methodist Volunteers in Mission has, is, and will continue to
be unapologetically United Methodist. Our connextional structure connects individuals with
mission both in their own community and across the globe, relating closely with annual
conferences, UMVIM committees, and the General Board of Global Ministries to put the best of
our collective resources to good use. Through the Global Ministries’ Mission Volunteer Office,
UMVIM is connected to a network of organizations and programs such as Mission Volunteers,
NOMADS, Global Mission Fellows, and a cadre of career missionaries.
In our commitment to continually being a missional, connected, and world-changing people of
God, the NCC UMVIM office remains ready to help you plan and engage the world through
Christian love in action. Our office offers many resources to help you and your missional
exchange teams engage in ministry to all God’s people. One of these resources are Missional
Exchange Grants, given to local churches and related ministries to aid in your service to those on
the margins of society. Given our unapologetic stance to #BeUMC, such Missional Exchange
Grants will only be awarded to churches and related ministries who remain United Methodist in
the North Carolina Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.
For those of you who have discerned it is time for you to move on from our ministry, I thank you
deeply for your years of service, your ministry, and your care for the most marginalized in
society. It is our hope you may find another organization in which you may continue showing
God’s love in the world.
For those of you who wish to continue your ministries with us in service to the least, the last, and the lost, we welcome you. My office and team remain committed to showing Christian love in action through the beautiful connextionalism of the United Methodist Church. We are here to help you in this endeavor as we train, equip, and commission you for short-term ministry both in your local communities and across the globe. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
Christ, Light of the Nations,
Miles Baker Hunt
NCC UMVIM Coordinator & Chairperson
Certified Candidate for Ordained Ministry as an Elder
Resources for the Generous People of God #BeUMC
The #BeUMC campaign reminds us of who we are at our best — the spirit-filled, resilient, connected, missional, faithful, diverse, deeply rooted, committed, disciple-making, Jesus-seeking, generous, justice-seeking, world-changing people of God called The United Methodist Church.
We offer our gifts and resources to serve those in need, both near and far. United Methodists cultivate a generosity of spirit, time, and resources. During Advent, we respond to God’s most generous gift of all, Jesus.
The NC Conference Media Center offers resources on generosity for small groups, church leaders, and children – for the Advent season and throughout the year.
Generosity for Small Groups
Saving Grace: A Guide to Financial Well-Being (DVD Study) from Abingdon Press. This six-part study provides the text and tools you need to address the topics of saving, earning, giving, spending, and debt, along with helpful strategies for achieving a sustainable financial life.
Earn. Save. Give. Wesley’s Simple Rules for Money (DVD Study) by James A. Harnish. To John Wesley, the task was simple: earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can. In this study, pastor and author James A. Harnish presents Wesley’s concepts and beliefs in plain, useful language suitable for groups to discuss and act upon.
The Generosity Challenge: 28 Days of Gratitude, Prayer, and Faith (DVD Study) by Scott McKenzie and Kristine Miller. After 28 days, members of this group study are encouraged to embrace a life-giving journey toward generosity and provided a road map on how to get there.
Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity (DVD Study) by Adam Hamilton. Enough is an invitation to rediscover the Bible’s wisdom on prudent financial practices. Find the keys to experiencing contentment, overcoming fear, and discovering joy through simplicity and generosity.
Defying Gravity: Break Free from the Culture of More (DVD Study) by Tom Berlin. In this 4-week small group study, pastor and author Tom Berlin explores what is required to sustain a vibrant life, what we need versus what we want, and what we can do to avoid being pulled into the orbit of materialism.
FastPrayGive Small Group Study: Ending Hunger By The Means of Grace by Andy Morris. The World Methodist Council passed a resolution in 2011 calling the people known as Methodist to Fast one meal per week, Pray during that time for world hunger, and Give to those in need. This became a global initiative of the World Fellowship of Methodist and Uniting Church Men and as a result, launched FastPrayGive.org. This small group study is a resource to aid you in joining this grassroots discipleship movement.
Generosity for Church Leaders
Generosity, Stewardship, and Abundance: A Transformational Guide to Church Finance by Lovett H. Weems Jr. and Ann A. Michel. This book provides practical advice to pastors and church leaders tasked with funding ministry and inspiring others toward responsible stewardship and greater generosity.
Growing Generous Souls: Becoming Grace-Filled Stewards by Betsy Schwarzentraub. This book offers reflection questions and resources to help communities move toward becoming more fully grace-filled stewards of all that God has provided.
Generosity Rising: Lead a Stewardship Revolution in Your Church by Scott McKenzie. In this book, you’ll get practical guidelines for training a dedicated team of “generosity revolutionaries” who embrace, live, and lead others on a journey of gratitude, prayer, and faith.
The Gratitude Path: Leading Your Church to Generosity by Kent Millard. This biblically based, no-nonsense resource will enable you to help people count their blessings and give to God out of gratitude.
Disciples Living Generously by Junius B. Dotson. This booklet aims to give leaders a foundation to see the task of growing generosity as a critical ingredient in our mission of making faithful disciples that will transform the world.
Extravagant Generosity: The Heart of Giving (Kit) by Michael Reeves & Jennifer Tyler. Many programs talk about the role of giving in the spiritual life, but they fail to involve church members thinking and praying about their financial discipleship on a day-to-day basis.
Generosity in Advent
A Different Kind of Christmas: Living and Giving Like Jesus (DVD Study) by Mike Slaughter. This five-week study helps participants see the traps and discontentment of consumerism and the call of God to live generously to fulfill God’s mission in the world.
All I Want for Christmas: Opening the Gifts of God’s Grace by (DVD Study) James W. Moore. This five-week Advent study helps us think about what we really want for Christmas by reminding us of the amazing, life-changing gifts Christmas has in store for us.
Triptych 2022: Daily Advent Scripture, Reflection, and Prayer (including Christmas and Epiphany) by Steve Hickle and Andy Morris. Together, we are called to deepen our discipleship, profoundly involving God in our inner and outer lives, what John Wesley called “piety” and “mercy.” We invite you to connect with our core ministry, FastPrayGive.org, where you may become part of a year-round weekly discipline and join a growing movement to end hunger by grace.
7 Days of Christmas: A Season of Generosity by Jen Hatmaker. Best-selling author Jen Hatmaker shows how you can turn seven key areas of consumption—food, clothes, spending, media, possessions, waste, and stress—into thoughtful and practical generosity that captures the true spirit of Christmas.
Imagining a New World: An Advent Devotional by Terri Hord Owens. The author delves into Advent lectionary texts to reflect on God’s vision for the world and how we might find the courage to imagine, the permission to change, and the freedom to fear no more.
Saint Nicholas: How the Christian Saint Became Santa Claus by Steve Skelton. In five short chapters, Stephen Skelton tells the story of the real Saint Nicholas, who inspired the character of Santa Claus, and how he lived his life as a true servant of Christ.
Generosity for All Ages
What About Our Money? A Faith Response by Susan K. Taylor. This study explores our own relationship with money, the money choices available to us, and how we individually and collectively respond to economic inequalities in light of our faith. The companion studies listed below make this curriculum available for all ages.
Is It Just Money? Our Dollars, God’s Economy: A Youth Study by Anna Burkett and Tom Burkett. This study is designed to engage youth in an exploration of money as it relates to faith and justice. Help youth deepen their understanding of the complex questions that surround making, having, giving, and using money.
Money Matters: A Study for Children by Denise Snyder. This study endeavors to teach children about the concept of money, the importance of generosity, and how God intends for us to use money as an expression of love for others.
Generosity for Children
Let the Children Give: Time, Talents, Love and Money by Delia Halverson. This book is designed to be used to supplement an ongoing ministry with children. It will help to teach them how to use their gifts, talents, and the earth’s resources in a way to show their love for God.
Elizabeth & Stella Meet ZOE by Melissa Harrell. Elizabeth and Stella are introduced to a special ministry called ZOE. Each girl, in her own way, is impacted by this empowerment movement that helps orphans learn how to take care of themselves. This inspiring story will introduce readers to generosity in a way they can understand and champion them to take action in their own world.
The Suitcase: A Story About Giving by Jane G. Meyer. This book celebrates a young child’s enthusiasm to put into practice the words of Christ: to feed and clothe the poor; help the needy; and love one’s neighbor.