Greetings, Lakeview UMC!

Greetings, saints and sinners!

I have three important things I want to share with you today, so let’s get right to it:

ON UMCOR AND APPORTIONMENTS

Even before Hurricane Ida made landfall at the end of August, United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) was getting ready to help people whose lives would be turned upside-down by the storm. UMCOR uses donations of dollars as well as warehouses of relief supplies (cleaning kits and hygiene kits), and 100% of the monies contributed go directly towards the designated relief effort.

Q: How can UMCOR do that without siphoning any donations off for administration?

A: Our apportionments. Some of the dollars we pay to the annual conference every month ensure that UMCOR – as well as many other global ministries – is fully funded.

Our apportionments are not an “extra” or an “add-on” to our budget, they are essential, and they not only connect us to the greater United Methodist Church, they fund its mission and ministries.

Thanks to the faithfulness and generosity of folks at Lakeview, we are on track to meet 100% of our apportionment “fair share” for yet another year.

ON THE CHARGE CONFERENCE

You may know that the General Conference is the only body that can officially speak for The United Methodist Church. Similarly, the Charge Conference is the body that officially speaks for our congregation, which Pastor Kerry serves alongside Humphreys.

The General Conference is chaired or led by the bishops, and the Charge Conference is chaired or led by the District Superintendent.

The Charge Conference is the official voting and administering body of our congregation, and it meets at least once a year to affirm and make official things like our budget and our committee memberships.

The way our church structure works, the Administrative Board is the “working body” of the Charge Conference. Ad Board meets pretty much monthly throughout the year for presentation of where we’ve been in mission and ministry as well as where we are going in the same.

By the time a Charge Conference rolls around – ours is rather late this year, Dec 6 – the work of the Ad Board is already done, and “simply” needs to be officially affirmed. And the Charge Conference also gives the District Superintendent the opportunity to share in one-on-one time with the congregation, often including time of worship. Any church member is invited to attend the Charge Conference, and committee leaders are expected to attend.

Our Charge Conference takes place Monday Dec 6 at 6:00pm at Lakeview, as both congregations present and affirm plans for 2022.

ON BIBLE STUDY

John Wesley believed that Methodist Christians were “people of the book,” and there are four books that (theoretically) connect all United Methodists: The Bible, The Hymnal, The Sermons of John Wesley, and The Book of Discipline. As we enter the fall of 2021, Pastor Kerry will offer an evening study of two of these books. On First and Third Mondays (Sept 6 and 20, for example) we’ll have Bible study at Lakeview, and on Second and Fourth Mondays (Sept 13 and 27) at Humphreys we’ll look into some of the founding statements of The United Methodist Church, as contained in our Book of Discipline (BOD). Hear me out: I understand that might sound as exciting as reading the manual for your car or watching paint dry, but did you know that our BOD contains statements about what it is we believe? About God, salvation, the Bible, living in society… so let’s get together and look at some of our roots!

You are invited to attend any or all of the Monday evening studies. Come and see!

And remember: I love you and there is nothing you can do about it! – Pastor Kerry