August 19, 2024

EOC News

#BeUMC

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“The beauty of The United Methodist is that God takes such a vessel and uses it to transform lives, to change lives, and to grow people like me into faithful followers of Jesus Christ,” said Rev. Bruce Hitchcock, Northern Waters District superintendent. “It’s a beautiful thing to be part of The United Methodist Church.”

He is one of many EOC lay and clergy persons who have shared how their lives have been transformed through The United Methodist Church. to schedule a time to record your story, e-mail Brett Hetherington.

View #BeUMC stories & the EOC #BeUMC website.

Our EOC podcast, Storyboard: Faith Witness Transformation, explores what it means to #BeUMC.

Episode 41 is titled “Influence, Connection & Impact: Fostering Partnerships Beyond Your Church Walls”. This episode features a conversation with Rev. David Hull-Frye of Grandview UMC and Missions & Community Engagement Director Rev. Kathy Dickriede discussing the mutual benefits and blessings of local churches partnering with people and organizations in the communities they serve.

For questions about Communications ministries such as the #BeUMC campaign, live-streaming, licensing, social media and more, please e-mail Rick Wolcott, executive director of Communications, or visit the Communications pages of the Conference website.

Bishop’s Office

2025-2028 Episcopal Assignments Begin September 1
Every four years United Methodist Church bishops serving in the United States are assigned to the episcopal areas they will serve by jurisdictional committees on the episcopacy. Those assignments begin September 1 and are for the four-year quadrennium until the next jurisdictional conference.

At the 2024 North Central Jurisdictional Conference held in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, July 10-13:

  • Bishop Tracy S. Malone was assigned to serve the Indiana Conference.
  • Bishop Hee-Soo Jung was assigned to serve the new Ohio Episcopal Area

The Ohio Episcopal Area was one of two new areas created by action of the special session of the North Central Jurisdictional Conference held in January 2024. Bishop Jung will serve the new Ohio Episcopal Area which will be comprised of both the East Ohio Conference and the West Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church. Each conference will remain its own entity with its own staff, own vision for how to live into the mission of The UMC, and its own mission fields. Bishop Jung will reside in the Columbus area and have an office in the East Ohio Conference Area Center and one in the West Ohio Conference Area Center.

Annual Conference

Annual Conference to Relocate to Wooster
Annual Conference 2025 will meet on the campus of the College of Wooster. The decision was made by the Cabinet following a recommendation from Bishop Tracy S. Malone, who in March formed the Annual Conference Venue task group to explore alternate sites that could host the annual meeting of laity and clergy in 2025. The John S. Knight Center in Akron has hosted the sessions and services of Annual Conference since 2021.

The work of the task group centered on seeking an air-conditioned venue that meets these missional needs: keeping expenses for Annual Conference within budget for the Conference; being good stewards of the financial resources of clergy, laity, and churches; offering more options for over-night accommodations and meals; providing flexible breakout space; and an environment conducive to community building.

The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church states in ¶603.3 that, “should it become necessary for any reason to change the place of (Annual Conference) meeting, a majority of the district superintendents, with the consent of the bishop in charge, may change the place.” Bishop Malone supported the recommendation of the AC Venue task group and presented it to Cabinet for consideration and action. Cabinet unanimously approved the recommendation to relocate next year’s Annual Conference.


“The decision to relocate the East Ohio Annual Conference meeting to the College of Wooster in 2025 provides a cost effective, centralized, and accessible location that will better serve our current needs for meeting spaces and a variety of options for lodging, dining and parking,” said Bishop Tracy S. Malone.

Read the AC to relocate article in its entirety.

Communications

Update Your Church Website for the New Church Year
The website for your church is the most important tool your congregation has for reaching people who have never visited the church. That’s because people will search for your church online before visiting it in person. The following should be displayed prominently at or near the top of the church homepage:

  • the time(s) of the church worship service(s),
  • current pictures of church members engaged in ministry in the community,
  • information about ministry opportunities offered through the church, and
  • the address and phone number of the church.

The church website should also be built using a responsive platform, meaning that content layout adapts when viewed on a smartphone screen, which is the device used by more than half of all internet users worldwide.

Update Your Church Phone Message for the New Church Year
The worship time(s) posted on the church website should also be included on the audio recording that callers to the church office hear. Listed below is an example of a recording that includes information callers want to know.

“Thank you for calling _____ UMC, located at _____. We look forward to worshipping with you at _____ on _____. Please leave a message and a member of our ministry team will return your call promptly.”

The message will need to be kept current, updating it for special Sundays and when service times are different during the year and when church services might be held at a different location.

For questions about Communications ministries such as the #BeUMC campaign, live-streaming, licensing, social media and more, please e-mail Rick Wolcott, executive director of Communications, or visit the Communications pages of the Conference website.

Strategic Ministries

Apply for a Ministry Microgrant
Connectional Ministries office of Strategic Ministries and the Board of Congregational Development are excited to announce the fall cycle of microgrants, which award up to $2,000 designed to help churches launch new ministries in their communities and/or help the church reach new people. Congregational creativity to reach beyond the walls with Fresh Expression-style ministries and other new ministries is one way our churches continue to follow the Gospel, and these grants are designed to help remove the barrier of cost.

If you have questions about microgrants, please e-mail Rev. Beth Ortiz, Strategic Ministries director. Applications will be received through October 4.

Download the microgrant application.
View the scholarships, grants, and financial aid page of the EOC website.

For questions about Strategic Ministries opportunities, please e-mail the Rev. Beth Ortiz, Connectional Ministries office Strategic Ministries director, or visit the Strategic Ministries pages on the Conference website.

Missions & Community Engagement

The Mission Barn Needs UMCOR Cleaning Kits
The Mission Barn (EOC Advance Fund 9918) is requesting that East Ohio Conference churches donate United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) cleaning kits to assist others. The mission outpost needs to restock after recently dispatching more than 800 cleaning kits to the northeast U.S. to be used for storm clean up. Please consider donating completed kits and/or the components that are included in the kits. Please carefully review the list of what goes into kits on the link below. Another way to support Mission Barn is by donating to Fund 9918. Contact Deaconess Katie Peterson of Mission Barn If you have questions about kits or need to arrange pickup or delivery to the Mission Barn in New Castle, PA, please e-mail Deaconess Katie Peterson or call her at (724) 856-8241.

What items go into an UMCOR cleaning kit?
Donate to Mission Barn Fund 9918.

Micah 6:8 Love Your Neighbor Tour to Montgomery, AL – September 24-27
The Micah 6:8 Love Your Neighbor Tour is designed to promote the humanity and embrace the dignity and divinity of all God’s children. We will journey to Montgomery, Alabama, and immerse ourselves in the sights, sounds, and stories of racial injustices at the three sites of the Legacy Museum. The Legacy Museum is a history lesson, from the first European ships that landed on U.S. soil through the Civil Rights Movement and beyond. This tour exposes participants to narratives about race and racial injustices that are often under-represented in our efforts to do justice in the Church. It will expand participants’ limited exposure to anyone who is from a culture that is different from their own – promoting understanding, empathy and humility. The last day to register is Sunday, September 1.

Learn more and register.

For questions about Missions & Community Engagement ministries and opportunities, please e-mail the Rev. Kathy Dickriede, Connectional Ministries office Missions & Community Engagement director, or visit the Missions & Community Engagement pages of the Conference website.

Multicultural Ministries

Cleveland Civil Rights Trail Marker Dedication – September 5
The United Methodist Church is deeply committed to the work of anti-racism and to “re-telling” the stories of our communities to ensure that the voices and struggles of the past are not forgotten. In line with this commitment, we are honored to sponsor a Civil Rights Trail marker in Cleveland’s Hough Neighborhood, commemorating the Hough Uprising of 1966. This marker serves as a significant reminder of the ongoing struggle for justice and the resilience of the Hough community.

This dedication follows a similar marker placement at Cory United Methodist Church, located near the Hough neighborhood. Cory UMC has long been a beacon of hope and resistance, and the marker there honors its role in the civil rights movement.

We invite laity and clergy to join us for the marker dedication ceremony at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 5. This event provides an opportunity not only to remember the past but to recommit ourselves to the work of justice and equality.

Learn more about the Hough Uprising and the Cleveland Civil Rights Trail.

All Conference Book Read: Our Hearts Were Strangely Lukewarm
During Annual Conference in June the East Ohio Conference Anti-Racism Task Force announced an all-conference read of Our Hearts Were Strangely Lukewarm: The American Methodist Church and the Struggle with White Supremacy by John Elford, a United Methodist pastor with a background in history.

“In order for the church to be all God calls us to be, we must reckon with our history of causing harm and suffering, with the full history of our racist past,” Elford writes in his book. “There is freedom and liberation in knowing what really happened in our history.”

The Anti-Racism Task Force presented three pillars to guide the Conference in our work of anti-racism. Retelling, the first pillar, focuses on the storytelling of our history: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Join us in starting this journey into our collective past and into the histories that we each carry. Over the next several months you are invited to read on your own or in community together. The General Commission on Religion and Race has also produced a book study that is available at no cost here.

Discuss Our Hearts Were Strangely Lukewarm with Author John Elford – September 21
Join the East Ohio Conference Anti-Racism Team in welcoming John Elford, the author of Our Hearts Were Strangely Lukewarm: The American Methodist Church and the Struggle with White Supremacy on Saturday, September 21 at First UMC in Ashland. Individuals and churches are encouraged to attend as part of the all-Conference book read.  Participants do not have to have read the book to attend!

Our time together from 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. that day will consist of fellowship, plenary sessions with John Elford, table discussion, and a panel discussion. Lunch and light refreshments throughout the day will be provided. The suggested donation is $10 per person. All funds raised beyond the cost of the event will be used for the third pillar in our anti-racism work strategy: repair and reinvestment.

Register on the Events Registration page of the EOC website.

For questions about Multicultural Ministries opportunities, please e-mail Will Fenton-Jones, Connectional Ministries office Multicultural Ministries director, or visit the Multicultural Ministries pages of the Conference website.

Camps & Retreat Ministries


Thank You, East Ohio!
We know that there are many things pulling kids in lots of different directions. Thanks for offering summer camp to the kids in your church and allowing us to be a partner in their spiritual formation.

For questions about Camps & Retreat Ministries opportunities, please e-mail the Rev. Gary Jones, Connectional Ministries office Camps & Retreat Ministries / Spiritual Formation & Christian Education director, or visit the Camps & Retreat Ministries pages of the Conference website.

Clergy

Clergy Days Apart – September 4 & 24
All East Ohio Conference clergy are invited to attend one – or both – of this fall’s Clergy Days Apart. This is not just a day off, it will be a day of “work-ship” to help you thrive, renew, and enjoy sabbath. The September 4 Clergy Day Apart will take place at Wanake Camp & Retreat Center in Beach City. The September 24 Clergy Day Apart will be at University Circle UMC in Cleveland. The cost is only $15, and participants are asked to register online in advance.

Register on the Events Registration page of the EOC website.

Events: August 19 – September 2

Click to view East Ohio Conference Calendar.

To submit your event to the East Ohio calendar use this form. (The East Ohio Conference only accepts East Ohio United Methodist local church, conference and general UM events for listing on the Conference calendar.)

Classifieds

Details of listings may be found here.

Positions Available

  • Sports Ministry Coordinator – Rocky River UMC
  • Director of Children and Family Ministries – Fields UMC in North Ridgeville
  • Organist or Pianist – Lisbon First UMC
  • Director of Music – Rocky River UMC
  • Choir Director – Ontario UMC
  • Director of Children’s & Family Ministries – Church of the Saviour UMC
  • Secretary – North Industry UMC in Canton

To submit a classified ad please e-mail swilliams@eocumc.com.

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Deadline for submission is Thursday, August 29, 2024. Send articles to eoccommunications@eocumc.com.