Around the District:
Let's Get Growing:
Let's Get Growing: This Four Seasons Ministry workshop offered last year
is being repeated. Designed for laity and clergy who have a passion and
responsibility for evangelism, it will examine biblical mandates and motivation
for reaching out to potential new members. A portion of the workshop will
address our conference's current emphasis on reaching youth and young adults.
Resources, including Igniting Ministry media, will be shared. Resource
Leaders: Franklin Gillis, Glen Langston, and Mike Shirley.
The workshop will be offered Saturday, August 2, Front Royal UMC, 1 W.
Main St., Front Royal and repeated Tuesday, August 5,Centenary UMC, 3312
Cedar Lane, Portsmouth. The cost of the retreat is $49. Registration
deadline is July 18. Registration fee includes lunch, agenda/worksheets and
resources. ½ CEU is available. Group rates available for 3 or more from same
church and partial scholarships available based on need. Email
_fgillis@fourseason sministry. org_ (mailto:fgillis@fourseasons ministry. org) or call Franklin
Gillis, director, for information. (804-272-3313)
Electronic registration available on Web site: _www.fourseasonsmin istry.org_
(http://www.fourseas onsministry. org/) .
Small Group Ministry Training:
Advance notification of upcoming training offering...
Sabbath Calls: A Meditative Prayer Day Retreat:
September 27, 9:30 am to 3:30 pm
This day apart will be held at the beautiful quiet setting of the Bishop Claggett Center in Adamstown, MD. Just a short 50 miles north east of Winchester and 20 miles north of Leesburg, near Fredrick, MD.
Come and enjoy the hospitality of God.
Rev.Cynthia Zirlott, PhD
czirlott@yahoo.com
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Around the Virginia Conference
The Southeastern Jurisdiction Association of Older Adults will be hosting the Wisdom and Grace Conference at Lake Junaluska, NC, on August 11-14, 2008. The theme for this year’s event is Sing Unto the Lord a New Song: Crafting a Legacy for the Next Generations. Dr. Mickey Efird of Duke Divinity School will be the Bible Study Leader. Paul Saik, world renowned Christian soloist and pianist, will be in concert on Wednesday. The Junaluska Singers will also perform. The Professional Tract will be facilitated by Beth Crissman of the Western North Carolina Conference and focus on navigating the transitions of life. To view the schedule and register for the event, you can visit the SEJ website at http://www.lakejunaluska.com/olderadult.aspx?linkidentifier=id&itemid=7356
The Conference Older Adult Ministry Council has limited scholarship funds available to assist with the cost of the event. Those interested in applying for the scholarship assistance should contact my office to request a copy of the scholarship application.
The Virginia Conference 2008 School of Christian Mission - "Living the Sacred"
July 25-27 (weekend) and July 28-31 (week), Blackstone, VA. Mission studies are Israel/Palestine; I Believe in Jesus; Giving Our Hearts Away: Native American Survival. Our platform speaker will be the Rev. Larry Jent.
Registration forms are available from the Conference Mission Office, your District United Methodist Women, District Office, District MIT Secretary, the UMW website or the conference Web site at
http://www.vaumc. org/repository/ Events/SCM2008. pdf
Blessings
Pat Owens
Business Manager
2008 SOCM
Communicating the Gospel to Digital Culture.
Seminar leaders Len Wilson and Jason Moore are pioneers in communicating the Gospel to digital culture. Before forming their own consulting firm, Midnight Oil, they were part of the worship team that worked with the Rev. Michael Slaughter at Ginghamsburg UMC in Tipp City, Ohio, to triple worship attendance to over 3000. They are authors of Design Matters: Creating Powerful Imagery for Worship (Abandon Press, 2006), Digital Storytellers: The Art of Communicating the Gospel in Worship (Abandon, 2002) and The Wired Church: Making Media Ministry (Abandon, 1999). See flyer…
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On-Line Offerings
From The United Methodism Communications
Online Introduction to the United Methodist Church
 This basic course is an online class designed for new United Methodists and anyone wanting to know more about the denomination, as well as long-time United Methodists who would like to check their basic knowledge of the Church. This highly interactive course (with video, audio, online quizzes, discussion boards, links and online written content) not only provides a basic overview and understanding of United Methodism but will also inspire students to seek additional study.
The cost of this course is $12.00. When enrollment time is open, you will enroll online from the link below and can pay the $12.00 via the Internet. For more information please go to http://www.umcom.org/pages/news.asp?class=6&Type=2&ID=932&product_id=0
urrently there are no scheduled events |
Suggested Readings
Suggested books from Discipleship Resources:
Deepening Your Effectiveness: Restructuring the Local Church for Life Transformation by Dan Glover and Claudia Lavy
How Great a Flame! Contemporary Lessons from the Wesleyan Revival by James C. Logan
John Wesley for the 21st Century by John O. Gooch
Conflict and Communion: Reconciliation and Restorative Justice at Christ's Table Thomas Porter, general editor
Transforming Evangelism: The Wesleyan Way of Sharing Faith by Hal Knight and Doug Powe
Always in Rehearsal: The Practice of Worship and the Presence of Children by James H. Ritchie
By Water and the Spirit: Making Connections for Identity and Ministry Gayle C. Felton’s
Suggested books for Understanding God's Grace:
What's So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey
Just Like Jesus by Max Lucado
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Friends with God by Catherine Marshall
Companions in Christ: The Wayof GraceTo Love as God Loves and To Pray and To Love, both by Roberta Bondi
The New Creation: John Wesley's Theology Today by Theodore Runyon
Perfect Love: Understanding John Wesley's A Plain Account of Christian Perfection by Steven w. Manskar
Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith Kathleen Norris
In The Grip of His Grace Max Lucado
This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion- click here for (.pdf)
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Traveling Mercies
Some Thoughts on Faith
Anne Lamott
Anne Lamott claims the two best prayers she knows are: "Help me, help me, help me" and "Thank you, thank you, thank you." She has a friend whose morning prayer each day is "Whatever," and whose evening prayer is "Oh, well." Anne thinks of Jesus as "Casper the friendly savior" and describes God as "one crafty mother."
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| Lamott's faith isn't about easy answers, which is part of what endears her to believers as well as nonbelievers. Against all odds, she came to believe in God and then, even more miraculously, in herself. As she puts it, "My coming to faith did not start with a leap but rather a series of staggers." At once tough, personal, affectionate, wise, and very funny, Traveling Mercies tells in exuberant detail how Anne Lamott learned to shine the light of faith on the darkest part of ordinary life, exposing surprising pockets of meaning and hope.
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Blue Like Jazz
Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
Donald Miller
Can you love a God who doesn't make sense? Like Anne Lamott's Traveling Mercies, Miller's memoir-like collection of essays wrestles with the paradoxes of the Christian faith, describing his journey back to a culturally relevant, infinitely gracious Savior. |
Written as a series of short essays on vaguely theological topics (faith, grace, belief, confession, church), and disguised theological topics (magic, romance, shifts, money), it is at times a little too simplistic (how to go to church and not get angry? "pray... and go to the church God shows you”) but more often Miller is enjoyably clever, and his story is telling and beautiful, even poignant. (The story of the reverse confession booth is worth the price of the book.) The title is meant to be evocative, and the subtitle-"Non-Religious" thoughts about "Christian Spirituality"-indicates Miller's distrust of the institutional church and his desire to appeal to those experimenting with other flavors of spirituality.
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The Irresistible Revolution
Living as an Ordinary Radical
Shane Claiborne
From dressing the wounds of lepers in Calcutta to living among the homeless in Philadelphia to visiting families in Iraq, social activist Claiborne strives to live an authentic Christian life. In his view, he is a radical in the truest sense of the word, returning to the roots of Christianity by living as Jesus did and doing |
| "small things with great love." A partner-founder of the Philadelphia-based faith community Simple Way, he presents an evangelical Christianity gentler and more inclusive than is usually seen, especially in the mass media. He describes Simple Way as a new culture that relies on radical interdependence and consists of grassroots organizations, intentional communities, and hospitality houses. Although the book isn't an autobiography, in it Claiborne reports much about his life: growing up in the Bible Belt, becoming a Jesus freak, moving to Philadelphia despite his family's misgivings, and helping the homeless there. |
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Restoring Methodism: Ten Decisions for UM Churches in America.
The book is simply a call to renewal through some of our former values – less clergy structure and more lay involvement – that has the potential to revitalize the church. The authors inquire about the class meetings, the office of ‘local elder’, clergy-dominated polity, holiness as lifestyle and teaching, the centrality of sanctification as a major doctrine of our church, and other essential issues. I write this to encourage the reading of ‘Restoring Methodism’ and to make sure you know that the authors will be here in Virginia very soon:
Wednesday, Feb. 20: at Pender UMC – Fairfax, Clergy session, 9:30-4:00. Laity session 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Sponsored by the Arlington District Phone: 703-820-7200, District office. Or call 703-820-7200 for Pender UMC.
Sunday – Monday, Feb. 24 – 25 at Discovery UMC – Richmond. Sunday, 7:30 – 9pm and Monday, 8:30 – 4:30 p.m. Call 804-360-4442. (1 CEU available). Cost $45.00. www.DiscoveryMethodist.org
The book: Restoring Methodism: Ten Decisions for UM Churches in America. Provident Publishers. Available at Cokesbury, ISBN 978-097786730-1 Reviewed and recommended by: Bishop Whitaker, Adam Hamilton, Lovett Weems, Bishop Wills, William J. Abraham and many others. |
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