Over 65 youth and adult youth leaders came together the weekend of Sept. 23 - 25 for a fall youth retreat in Lake Geneva. The retreat theme was JOY (Jesus, Others, and You) with a focus on joy in fellowship as reflected in scriptures in Philippians 1—2 and Psalm 133. Rev. Josiah Montgomery, Pastor of East Side UMC in Chicago and Asst. Director of Faith and Action at North Central College (Naperville) was the retreat's guest speaker.
Read MoreThe Discipleship Task Force is excited about the Fall 2022 NIC Book Club selection, Soul Reset by the late Junius Dotson. You may read it on your own, gather a small group of your own together, or join one of the opportunities in place.
Read MoreA Normalizing Next™ Cohort is a six-month group of clergy meeting together once each month in person or virtually to focus on subjects from the cohort curriculum: Normalizing Next™: A Post-COVID-19 Resource for Church Leaders.
Read MoreMore than 750 asylum seekers have arrived on buses sent from Texas since Aug. 31 and more are expected. In collaboration with local, state, federal, and community agencies, the city of Chicago is taking action to ensure they have access to shelter, food, and other resources.
Read MoreThe Council of Bishops expresses gratitude for the Judicial Council’s ruling that clarified that Paragraph 2548.2 of The Book of Discipline is not a process of church disaffiliation from The United Methodist Church but is rather a supplementary procedure for the purpose of deeding church property as permitted by other paragraphs of the Discipline in limited situations.
Read MoreYou are phenomenal! This year we challenged all church leaders to ramp up their Safe Sanctuaries training and increase the number of volunteers who have gone through this valuable course. We started the year with a report of 1,362 trained volunteers, and as I write this article, eight months into the year, we have gained 800 more trained volunteers raising the number to 2,162 leaders working with children, youth and vulnerable adults.
Read More