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CONNECTICUT DISTRICT NEWS December 2016
The Connecticut District Office of the United Methodist Church
20 Broadfield Road, Hamden, CT06517
Resident Bishop: Thomas J. Bickerton Editor: Dorothy Chamberlain
Superintendent: Reverend Kenneth Kieffer Volume 32, Issue 12
E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.ctdistrictumc.org 203-288-0286
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“SILENT NIGHT?”
Ken Kieffer
One of my favorite things about this time of year is the stories I hear and tell. One of my favorite stories this time of year is this: Once upon a time, a child was born. The very first night home from the hospital, the newborn baby would not stop crying. Not no way, not no how. The child was downright inconsolable.
While the brand new father tried to comfort the brand new baby, the brand new mother was frantically flipping through the brand new edition of some child-rearing book. But since the baby book was a rather long one, the baby’s crying spell was a rather long one.
The newborn’s maternal grandmother was also in the house that night, but since she hadn’t read any of the expert’s book on child-rearing, she was not consulted. And so the baby continued to cry. And cry. And then cry some more.
Finally, the older woman couldn’t take it anymore. “Put down the book”, she demanded of her distraught daughter, “and pick up the child!”
Pardon the pun, but that was sound advice, don’t you think?
Put down the book, or the computer game, or the Hatchimals, or whatever it is that the marketing moguls on Madison Avenue have decided that you should absolutely pick up this Christmas – and pick up your child!
In a survey of 15,000 school children, the question was asked – “What do you think makes a happy family?” When the kids gave their answers, they didn’t list cool clothes, or a Netflix subscription, or the latest sneakers as the source of their happiness. The response most frequently given by the youngsters was (insert Little Drummer Boy roll here) “doing things together”.
My guess is that if we asked the same question of our spouses, siblings, parents or other significant others, the answer would likely be the same. Doing things together is at the top of most people’s Christmas lists.
Why not, then, pick up the spirit of the Christ Child and have a very Merry Christmas spending time with, and not money on, those you love?
BISHOP’S CONVOCATION 2017: A TIME OF SPIRITUAL RENEWAL FOR CLERGY AND SPOUSES
COMING TOGETHER AROUND WHAT MATTERS MOST
WHEN
January 10 - 12, 2017
WHERE
Villa Roma, Callicoon, NY https://villaroma.com
Register at: NYAC.COM
Register by January 6th and Save on Registration Fees
Childcare Free
FEATURING • •
What Are We Fighting For? By Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton The book is included in the registration Fee
Fees: Double Registration $605
Single Registration $385
Children 4-10 $130 Children 11-17 $180
Children under 3 must be registered but are Free
Save the Dates
Connecticut District Resource Days Sunday, January 29, 2017 from 2:00 – 4:45 p.m.
at Prospect United Methodist Church
99 Summer Street, Bristol, CT
and
Saturday, February 4, 2017 from 9:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
at Golden Hill United Methodist Church
210 Elm Street, Bridgeport, CT
Our District Resource Days will feature a wide selection of
workshops with a sampling of topics including church finance,
prayer, small group leadership, conversations with our Muslim
neighbors, SPR 101, mass incarceration, and much more. Watch for
a full list of workshop topics and descriptions, along with information
on how to pre-register. We will offer information, inspiration, and
opportunities to interact with United Methodists from around our
District. Please plan to attend.
Questions? Contact Maggie Carr, Chair, District Council on
Ministries at [email protected]; phone: 203-284-8278
JAY AND GRACE CHOI, OUR MISSIONARIES AT WORK IN THE
PHILLIPPINES
Grace Choi is a talented soprano. She teaches music and has developed an elite choir of young women at Harris Memorial College - a college that educates future leaders for Christ like service. Grace is also a nurse with cardiovascular skills. She is also a Pastor. She is also our Missionary! She is currently serving at Harris Memorial College, in Rizal, Philippines. She and her husband Rev. Jay Choi have heard God’s call and are both our missionaries. Churches from three of our districts have had a relationship with them since 2005! They recently served as hosts to the New York Annual Conference Council on Missions team that visited them in October.
After the visit, after spending time and after relating on a personal level with the Choi’s in the Philippines, it became glaringly obvious, how much a connection with local congregations means to them. Having a relationship with a missionary supports them and gives you the ability to know them and their work! Missionaries usually itinerate once every three years. That means they visit our conference which could include you, at your church - in person - when they are stateside. Your investment in the relationship will give you and your children and your congregation a window to know where and how our church is currently at work around the world. Did you know, our NYAC currently has a relationship with 14 missionaries? Would you like to relate, get to know, support and connect with someone like Grace and or Jay Choi or one of our other missionaries? It is actually easy to do. Jill Wilson, a lay member of our conference, has had communication with all of our missionaries over the last couple of years. Through email, Skype, newsletters, and itineration, we have kept up with each of them. Jill can assist any congregation in getting started with the process. She can help you select a missionary, complete one
simple form, and quickly get the connection going! Email her at [email protected] or phone her at 860-690-1853 with questions and ideas!
A Connecticut District Mission Project
Days for Girls International is a grassroots non-profit creating a more dignified, humane and sustainable world for girls through advocacy, reproductive health awareness, education and sustainable feminine hygiene, because no girl should go without. The poverty cycle can be broken when girls stay in school, which is a huge challenge in some countries. Not having sanitary supplies means Days without school and isolation. Days for Girls gives Days back to girls, Days that can change their lives. The CT district is joining the New York Annual Conference this year to support the Days for Girls program. For $20, one Kit will provide sustainable feminine hygiene for one girl for 3 years! Please give as you are able! Please make checks payable to the CT District and mail to: CT District Office, Attention: Dorothy, 20 Broadfield Road, Hamden, CT 06517 Please note on lower left corner of the check: Days for Girls
RAISE THE ROOF
A Connecticut District Mission Project
In Partnership
The South Congo Conference Send donations to: The CT District Office Attention: Dorothy 20 Broadfield Road Hamden, CT 06517 Make checks payable to: CT District Please note on lower left corner of the check: Raise the Roof
Project Goal: $20,000 The newly proposed and designed orphanage for
80 children will consist of 5 buildings: 4
dormitories (a dorm for young boys, a dorm
for young girls, a dorm for older boys and one for
older girls) and a large central building for
babies, staff and administration. The roofing
for these dorms will be tin. Each building will
need 80 sheets of tin: cost to install each sheet of
tin (including purchasing of the tin, nails and
labor) will be approximately $50.
• Each contribution of $50 will entitle the
giver to a CT District foam brick.
• Each contribution of $50 will move us
closer to housing 80 orphans.
• Each contribution of $50 will help us
build God’s Kingdom.
Orphanage Request 30 separate times the Bible tells us to care for orphans, including
this well known passage: “Religion that is pure and undefiled
before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in
their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”
John Wesley, in a letter to George Whitefield, said that caring for orphans is
the highest form of charity on earth (1770).
Caring for orphans and vulnerable children is in our DNA as disciples of
Jesus Christ and members of the Methodist Movement. Bishop Kainda Katembo has reached out to the Rev. Wayne Lavender,
pastor of Faith UMC in North Haven and director of the Foundation 4
Orphans, requesting the construction of a new orphanage for 80 children in the
city of Lubumbashi, DRC. The new orphanage will be constructed on a piece of
land owned by the UMC and less than 200 yards from the UMC supported
schools, local church and health care facilities. The South Congo Conference of
the UMC will cover operational costs for the new orphanage. The project will
be overseen by the Rev. Kanyimb Mbaz, an ordained member of the South
Congo Conference appointed to this UMC compound as chaplain to the school
and church. Total cost of the orphanage will be
$200,000.
7
ATTENTION ALL CLERGY:
You are cordially invited to participate in a health clinic at New York Methodist
Hospital. Each year United Methodist ministers and/or their spouses come from
the New York Conference to enjoy this experience with us.
In the four days you are here you will receive a thorough physical examination and
any follow-up tests that may be indicated. There will also be time to tour the hospital
and participate in seminars on recent developments in health care. You will get a
penetrating view of your mission hospital at work. In addition, you will be performing a
unique function for us, for your presence here will remind the entire hospital family of
our ties to the “People called Methodist,” which go back over 130 years.
Overnight accommodations and virtually all expenses beyond a $50 registration fee
are covered by the hospital. Active pastors and/or their spouses from the New York
Conference are eligible to participate, together or singly (once every five years).
The dates for 2017 are:
February 6-10 (Registration deadline is Dec. 20th for this one)
April 24-28
October 23-27
For more information and the registration form, please contact Rev. Elizabeth Braddon at 203-481-2789, 631-487-2292 (cell) or [email protected].
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REMINDER: Forms Due NOW
Compensation Form
Documents 1 and 2
If you have not already sent these forms to the District Office, please do so now. Remember on the compensation form it needs to be signed. If the salary hasn’t been approved at Charge Conference yet, just write “Proposed” next to it. Send the approved and signed one in after Charge Conference. Please remember to send to the District Office all other forms after your Charge Conference. Especially, don’t forget to send a printed copy of the Leadership Report which is done on line. All forms are available at www.nyac.com Click on Conference Forms and download what you need.
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All retirees are invited to meet on December 15 for breakfast at Denny's, 631 Queen St. (Route 10) in Southington, just off I-84, exit 32. We meet on the third Thursday of each month. Next breakfast is scheduled for ? It helps to know about how many to expect. Kindly contact Ralph Roy at [email protected] or call 860-620-1711. Call too, if the weather is questionable in case it is cancelled. Please come prepared to share information on any illness, bereavement or other circumstances that should engage the group’s attention.
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BISHOP’S CONVOCATION
JANUARY 10-12, 2017
DISTRICT RESOURCING DAYS
SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2017
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2017
CONNECTICUT DISTRICT IS ON FACEBOOK!
CHECK US OUT AT: nyacconnecticut district
DEADLINE FOR THE JANUARY 2017 DISTRICT NEWS IS
DECEMBER 20, 2016
