Don’t miss out! Today is your last day to register to attend Youth Breakaway on June 21-26, 2021. For more information, please visit https://nccumc.org/youth/events/breakaway/
Events
Free Online Movie Screening about UMC Fresco
At the intersection of faith and art, a new documentary called Theirs Is The Kingdom follows the rare creation of a fresco mural painted inside the sanctuary of Haywood Street United Methodist Church in Asheville, NC.
Haywood Street is an economically diverse congregation where the wealthy worship alongside the poor. The fresco is a painting not of the rich and powerful, but of people in this congregation who are battling homelessness, addiction, and mental illness. From first sketch to final unveiling, the viewer witnesses the difficulties of this ancient artistic technique while also meeting an ensemble cast of rich, complex characters.
Watch an exclusive 12-minute “sneak peek” clip here: https://vimeo.com/457320263 (Password: fresco)
Join Us for the Online Screening & Live Q&A
The 60-minute film will be freely available for all NC Conference members from June 21-June 30 as part of a limited-release virtual screening event. Grab your small group, church staff, or congregation to watch the film and use the free discussion guide to reflect on its meaning in your context.
Haywood Street UMC founding pastor Rev. Brian Combs and the film’s director, Chris Zaluski, will also be conducting a virtual Q&A event on Thursday, June 24 from 7-8pm. Some of you may remember Rev. Combs from when he spoke at the NC Preaching Festival.
To register for the free screening and the Q&A, please visit the event screening page. Donations to support the ministries of Haywood Street UMC will be accepted during registration.
Host Your Own Screening
In addition to the NC Conference screening event, the film team is launching a “Host A Screening” campaign to bring the film to communities and congregations around North Carolina. They’ve created a screening kit that includes all the tools necessary to host a successful event, either virtually or in person: discussion guide (created in conjunction with Haywood Street UMC), digital download, license to publicly exhibit the film, and marketing materials to promote the event. Request a screening at your church or in your community by visiting the “Store” on the event screening page or theirsisthekingdomfilm.com/host-screening.
More Information
For more information, to watch a trailer, or to inquire about screening opportunities, visit the film’s website (theirsisthekingdomfilm.com) or reach out to: chris@sharedstorycollective.com.
Saving Grace Introductory Events Coming in July
Wespath wants to empower clergy and local church leaders to teach financial well-being skills to their congregations—and the wider community—so it is offering a pair of informational events about Saving Grace: A Guide to Financial Well-Being. A biblically-based, Wesleyan tool, Saving Grace can help group leaders and participants reach financial well-being goals.
Each event provides an overview of the curriculum and features presentations from the content experts featured in the Saving Grace videos. Clergy who successfully led groups through Saving Grace will also share their insights.
There will be two virtual events. Both events will cover the same material, so pick the date and time that best suits your calendar:
- Tuesday, July 20 from noon to 4:00 p.m., Central time, or
- Monday, July 26 from noon to 4:00 p.m., Central time.
The registration fee is $15 for one person and includes one workbook. If two people register to attend, the cost is $29 and includes two workbooks. Each additional person is $10 more and all registrants will receive a workbook.
Register here for the day that is best for you.
SEJ College of Bishops Calls for Special Session
The College of Bishops of the Southeastern Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church, in accordance with ¶521 of the 2016 Book of Discipline, calls for a special session of the jurisdictional conference on July 21, 2021. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. EST and will be held virtually.
The purpose of the special session is to vote on a proposed resolution to unite the Memphis Annual Conference and the Tennessee Annual Conference into the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference.
Delegates will also receive a report from the Southeastern Jurisdiction on the pandemic response in the jurisdiction, the work of anti-racism across the jurisdiction, and the work of the jurisdiction moving forward into the next 18 months.
The 2020 SEJ Conference, originally scheduled for July 15-17, 2020, at Lake Junaluska, NC, has been postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The College of Bishops encourages all churches of the Southeastern Jurisdiction to be in prayer for the Church and the world during these challenging times.
15 Annual Conferences comprise the Southeastern Jurisdiction: Alabama-West Florida, Florida, Holston, Kentucky, Memphis, Mississippi, North Alabama, North Carolina, North Georgia, Red Bird Missionary, South Carolina, South Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, and Western North Carolina.
The Secretary of the Jurisdiction will provide the necessary information for delegates to participate in the special session. Guests will be able to watch the live stream at www.sejumc.org.
Article written by Kara Witherow from the South Georgia Conference of The United Methodist Church
Kaleidoscope 2021: Staying Safe During a Pandemic
This past weekend, we were able to have our first 2021 in person youth event for our middle schoolers at Camp Don Lee. Please watch the video to see what the Deans of Kaleidoscope and some of the youth attending had to say.
A Webinar with Susan Beaumont
The Center for Leadership Excellence invites you to a free webinar on leading in a liminal season with Susan Beaumont…
How do you lead an organization stuck between an ending and a new beginning—when the old way of doing things no longer works but a way forward is not yet clear? Such in-between times are called liminal seasons—threshold times when the continuity of tradition disintegrates and uncertainty about the future fuels doubt and chaos. Many of the practices associated with “good” leadership don’t work well in a liminal season, and casting a clear vision isn’t advisable when we can’t see the future with reasonable certainty. But leaders can still lead.
How to Lead When You Don’t Know Where You Are Going
Session One: Negotiating a Liminal Season
Presented by the Center for Leadership Excellence
with Susan Beaumont
May 12, 10am-11am EST
About the Free Webinar:
Liminality refers to the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs during transition, when a person or group of people is in between something that has ended and something else that is not yet ready to begin. During this session, we introduce liminality and explore the challenges and opportunities facing organizations in liminal space. We will explore this pandemic season as a liminal season requiring a unique leadership stance and a different body of leadership work.
About the Series:
Following the webinar, the Center for Leadership Excellence will host two further opportunities to learn from and engage with Susan Beaumont. Anyone who registers for one ($20) or both ($35) workshops will automatically receive details to watch the webinar.
- May 19: Session 2, Engaging the Soulfulness of Institution, focuses on the soul as the authentic and truest self of the organization. In liminal seasons, we rely upon the soul of the institution to guide our leadership choices and our learning. This session explores spiritual shifts and practices that will help leaders connect with the soul of the institutions they lead.
- May 26: Session 3, Coaxing Order out of Chaos, focuses on the period after a liminal season, when reorientation occurs. In this session, we will focus on inviting meaning making, finding new purpose, and fostering innovation.
About Susan Beaumont:
Susan Beaumont is a consultant, coach, author, and spiritual director. She has worked with hundreds of congregations and denominational bodies across the United States and in Canada and is known for her ground-breaking work in the leadership dynamics of large congregations. Susan engages the best of business practice, filtered through the lens of careful theological reflection, and moves easily between discernment and decision making, nurturing the soul of the leader along with the soul of the institution.
Susan is an ordained minister within the American Baptist Churches, USA., and she currently teaches at Wesley Theological Seminary. She is the author of How to Lead When You Don’t Know Where You’re Going: Leading in a Liminal Season and Inside the Large Congregation and the co-author of When Moses Meets Aaron: Staffing and Supervision in the Large Congregation.