PARKER UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

NEWSLETTER

Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors; The People of the United Methodist Church

ISSUE 28                                                                                                                      January MMVII

UNITED METHODIST YOUTH FELLOWSHIP

    Happy 2007 everyone! In December we had our first annual Rent-A-Teen Auction which raised $270.00 for the youth activity fund. Profiles were made of each teen and the congregation had the chance to bid for our services for five hours of work which we re-paid on the 9^th of December. On the 16^th we were privileged to entertain the residents of Open Arms Rest Home in Raeford. We made little gift baskets to hand out and then performed our Christmas Cantata, “Not A Silent Night”. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and we enjoyed being there.

     We repeated the cantata on the evening of the 17^th for the congregation joined by the younger children who performed The Friendly Beasts, in costume as the animals in the Nativity  Manger.

     The youth led service on December 31^st followed the theme “A Light in the Darkness” as we led the congregation in the songs; Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet, Go Light Your World, and Shine, Jesus, Shine. We also performed a short skit to This Little Light of Mine to communicate the strength of faith in Jesus and gave a dramatic reading about Pentecost, The Spirit That Brings the Fire.

    In January we will host the Fayetteville District Youth Leadership Committee meeting on the 7^th and in February we will have a Sweetheart Dinner Fundraiser to raise the funds needed to attend the Youth 2007 event in Greensboro in July. Some of the teens in our group are planning on attending the Lay Speaker Training in Raleigh on the 24^th.

Once again, we want to say thank you very much to all of those who support our fundraising and other UMY events and enabled us to achieve our goal for the playground. We will continue to glorify God in all that we do.

-Shannon Strub

UMYF President

UMYF SPOTLIGHT

            This month the spotlight is on Reverend Jackson who was interviewed by Kalen.

            Reverend Jackson describes the church as a friendly church. It has friendly members and Jesus is the Lord. He came to the church on October 15, 2005. He says that it is not harder to live the faith now than in the past. He deals with temptations by praying for strength from God. His favorite passage is Psalms 23 and his favorite hymn is “My Hope is Built”. His favorite hobbies are wood-working and studying the Scriptures.          Kalen Benbow

UNITED METHODIST WOMEN

   We did not meet this month due to the holidays but we are still recycling bulletins as packing material, so don’t forget that when the service is over on Sundays, to bring your bulletin out of the Sanctuary and put in the recycling box. This will also help keep our Sanctuary looking clean and beautiful. The shredded material is perfect to pack Christmas ornaments so grab a bag and take it home with you. Thank you for your support.

Sheri Runfola

Interim President, Parker UMW   

UNITED METHODIST MEN

“Men are called to model the servant leadership of Jesus Christ”

   Mike Tredway and Monte have the plans for the structures for the new playground the UMYF has been raising money for. Monte will begin breaking ground for it since the Trustees have voted to approve the placement of it. The UMM will join the teens in building the wooden structures and assembling the equipment so we will need your help. All men are welcome to join us when we meet on the first Sunday of every month at 8:00 AM.

    We ask your help in keeping up to date on events in the church and community. Submissions can be photos, poems, or articles of interest.  To add items to the newsletter or website, E-mail UMMoffice@parkerunited.org  or give your contribution to any of the UMM. Please submit items before the 20^th of each month.

    We are also asking for photos of service members in uniform. Any current or former church member who served our country should be recognized for their service. The UMM are going to work on a proper tribute and need your pictures. If you have them in digital format e-mail them to the address above.

James Garner

President UMM

From the United Methodist Archives

This is the 6^th  of an 11 Part series about the history of the United Methodist Church

World War and More Change, 1914–1939

In the years immediately prior to World War I, there was much sympathy in the churches for negotiation and arbitration as visible alternatives to international armed conflict. Many church members and clergy openly professed pacifism. However, when the United States officially entered the war in 1917, pacifism faded. The antecedent churches of United Methodism were not unlike other American denominations in expressing their national loyalties.

When the war ended, the churches were again free to expend their energies in other directions. One of their perennial concerns was temperance, and they were quick to recognize it among their highest priorities. They published and distributed large amounts of temperance literature. Members were asked to pledge that they would abstain from alcoholic beverages. The United Methodist Church still encourages such abstinence.

There was significant theological ferment during this period. Liberal Protestant theology, an important school of thought in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, was questioned.

It was attacked by a militant fundamentalism and later by neo-orthodoxy, which accused it of undermining the very essence of the Christian message. Since all three of these theological parties—liberal, fundamentalist, and neo-orthodox—were well represented in the forerunners of United Methodism, it is not surprising that heated doctrinal disputes were present in these churches.

Despite the internal theological differences that the churches experienced, they continued to cooperate with other denominations and acted to heal schisms that had taken place earlier in their own histories. For example, a division that had occurred in The Evangelical Association in 1894 was repaired in 1922, when two factions united as The Evangelical Church . A more important union, at least by statistical measurement, took place among three Methodist bodies—The Methodist Episcopal Church, The Methodist Protestant Church, and The Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Representatives of these churches began meeting in 1916 to forge a plan of union. By the 1930s their proposal included partitioning the united church into six administrative units called jurisdictions. Five of these were geographical; the sixth, the Central Jurisdiction, was racial. It included African American churches and annual conferences wherever they were geographically located in the United States . African American Methodists and some others were troubled by this prospect and opposed the plan of a racially segregated jurisdiction.

The majority of Methodist Protestants favored the union, although it meant accepting episcopal government, which they had not had since their church was organized in 1830. Following overwhelming approvals at the General Conferences and annual conferences of the three churches, they were united in April 1939, into The Methodist Church . At the time of its formation the new church included 7.7 million members.

© Methodist Church Archives http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=346

Birthdays

 For December

10-Helga      17-Amanda

19-Randy H.   20-Patti 

21-Gavin      26-Christopher

26-Shannon    30-Tyrel

For January

4-Melissa     1-John

12-Jason      18-Gloria

29-Heather

For February

6-Eric B.      2-Branda Nicole

7-James G.

EVENTS

January

7-UMM Meeting & Breakfast 8AM

 -District UMYF meeting 2:30  

13-Cumberland/Hoke sub-district meeting of the UMW will meet at Campground UMC.

21-Lay Leadership training at Hay Street UMC from 2-4 PM for all new church officers.

 22-Finance chair & treasurer workshops. Locations to be determined.

29- Bishop Gwinn will be at Haymount UMC on Ft Bragg road to meet with clergy at 1:30 and Laity at 7PM the topic is: Building Healthy Congregations. Lay Leaders, PPRC Chairpersons and anyone else interested are invited and encouraged to come.

February

4-UMM meeting & breakfast

18-UMW meeting

  18- Laity workshop

 24-Youth Lay Speaker Training at the Methodist Building in Raleigh .

April

22-Conference Youth Rally at Wesleyan College . The theme is “Get a life, follow Jesus”.

May

United Methodist Days at King’s Dominion.

July

11-15 Youth 2007 S.P.L.A.T. in Greensboro

November

9-11 2007 Youth Pilgrimage the theme is “If we are the body”. Rev. Andy Lambert is the featured speaker.