#BeUMC

“I really appreciate the opportunity that The United Methodist Church offers to all, that anyone and everyone has the freedom to answer their calling and to live out their calling in this denomination. I certainly appreciate the Christ-centered community and the value it has added to my life,” said Tim Beck, co-director of Young People’s Ministries in the Connectional Ministries office.

He is one of many people across East Ohio who have shared how The UMC has transformed their lives.

To schedule a time to record a one- to two-minute video telling your #BeUMC story, e-mail Brett Hetherington in the Communications office.

View #BeUMC stories & the EOC #BeUMC website.

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

Episode 49 is titled “Influence, Connection & Impact: Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-By World”. The episode features a conversation with EOC clergy and laity about how the Bridges Out of Poverty model is transforming the lives of people in their congregations and communities impacted by poverty. The Bridges Out of Poverty model discusses the need for individual, communal, and societal investigation to discover changes that need to be made to overcome poverty.

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

East and West Ohio Conferences to Commemorate MLK Day Together
The East and West Ohio Conferences of The United Methodist Church are coming together to honor the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a joint worship service on Sunday, January 19, 2025, at Garfield Memorial United Methodist Church in Pepper Pike. Themed “Living the Dream: Bold Faith, Hopeful Future,” the event hosted by Bishop Hee-Soo Jung will focus on building Dr. King’s vision of a beloved community rooted in justice, love, and hope.

The service, scheduled from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., will open with gathering music at 3:45 p.m. and feature retired Bishop Julius C. Trimble, general secretary of the General Board of Church & Society of The United Methodist Church as the keynote speaker. Known for his commitment to justice and reconciliation, Bishop Trimble will offer a message of inspiration and challenge.

Music will be provided by Garfield Memorial UMC’s praise band, setting the tone for a meaningful and uplifting gathering. The service will be live-streamed, allowing broader access for those unable to attend in-person. Following the service, an informal reception will take place, offering light refreshments and opportunities for fellowship and conversation.

This event, which is free and open to the public, aims to inspire participants to carry forward Dr. King’s God-given vision of unity and hope. “Our hope is that people will leave this worship experience inspired to build on Dr. King’s vision of beloved community,” organizers said.

Join us as we celebrate the legacy of Dr. King and seek to embody his dream for a bold faith and hopeful future.

Read Bishop Jung’s Soul Food Messages on the EOC Website
Soul Food is a column that Bishop Hee-Soo Jung has been publishing for years to share important messages with laity and clergy of the Church. The Communications team has added on the homepage of the Conference website a quick link to access bishop’s Soul Food columns.

In his latest column “Ohio is the Center of the Missional Movement in the World” published December 5, Bishop Jung states, “I am the fruit of Ohio mission. I never thought of my own faith journey being related to Ohio. I grew up a Korean Methodist. When I was 16 years old, I first met Jesus through Rev. Sung Chan Kim, a local preacher who was building a church next to my family’s home. He changed my heart in a strange and warm way and my course has been set since then. I had to take a strong stand as an early Christian to challenge my family’s long, long Buddhist-Confucian tradition. But Methodism was strong in me and that Methodism came to Korea from Ohio.”

He explains that “Mary Scranton and her son William Scranton arrived in Korea from Ohio in 1885 with the gospel of Jesus Christ. They were the first missionaries to the country, which was a poor and darkened place under Japanese colonial power.”

The mother and son, supported by Euclid Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church in Cleveland, started a school for women, opened hospitals for the poor and abandoned, and planted several churches.

Bishop Jung shared, “I have been nourished by what Mary and William Scranton began. From 1979-1982, right before coming to the United States, I was the associate pastor of Eastgate Church, which is Scranton-planted. What a wonderful gift to now serve as bishop of the Ohio Episcopal Area of The United Methodist Church.

Read “Ohio is the Center of the Missional Movement in the World” in its entirety.

Financial & Administrative Services

2024 Apportionments Must Be Received by January 6, 2025
If you plan to send your church apportionment payment through the U.S. Postal Service, you will want to get it in the mail ASAP. It always takes longer for mail to arrive during the Christmas season and that delay in delivery could impact your apportionment payment counting for 2024.

For shared ministry apportionment payments to be applied for 2024, our outside audit firm requires that checks be in our lockbox on or before Monday, January 6, 2025. The lockbox address is P.O. Box 76019, Cleveland, OH  44101-4755). 

Please note:

• the postmark on a mailed payment is not a factor in determining timeliness; only whether it arrived in the lockbox on or before January 6.
• if you use a credit card in the VANCO system – or if you use the Ministry Financials system – for a year-end shared ministry payment before the last business day of 2024, the transaction will be counted as a 2024 receipt.
• if you use a credit card and make the transaction in 2025, it will be counted as a 2025 item. Please be aware of these distinctions.

We appreciate all you do! We also must abide by the rules of the audit firm that conducts our annual GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) audit.

For questions about Financial & Administrative Services ministries and opportunities, please e-mail Vera Milanovic, executive director of Financial & Administrative Services, or visit the Financial & Administrative Services pages of the Conference website.

Connectional Ministries

Conference Leadership Interest Survey
If you or someone you know is interested in serving on a Conference board or committee, please complete the leadership interest survey. The Leadership Committee which recruits to fill vacancies on East Ohio Conferences committees, boards, councils, and commissions is just beginning its work. Its members will review completed leadership interest surveys when it meets in January. Completing the survey will make your interest known but does not guarantee that you or the person you suggest will be placed in a leadership position, as some groups may not have vacancies at this time. If you have questions about the leadership survey, please e-mail Melanie Thomas, administrative assistant in the Connectional Ministries office.

Complete the leadership interest survey

For questions about ministries of the Connectional Ministries office, please e-mail the Rev. Ed Fashbaugh, executive director of Connectional Ministries, or visit the Connectional Ministries pages of the Conference website.

Disaster Response

Chardon UMC Disaster Response Team Helps Save the Day
Last month the disaster response team from Chardon UMC (Northern Waters District) was contacted by the director of the Geauga County Emergency Management Agency and by the regional disaster response coordinator for the America Red Cross asking for assistance. The team was informed that because of a water main break 80 residents of Murray Manor had no water to drink, no water for flushing toilets, no water to operate the boiler heat, and no water to operate the fire sprinklers. The church was asked to seek housing for those residents for potentially two nights.

“With the help of Lynn and Vern Kempf, we began putting people on notice of the potential need, while I worked with Chardon Fire Chief Justin Geiss and Roger Peterson from the Geauga EMA to start scoping out the situation and potential need,” said Mike Williams. “Upon investigating the situation and working together with Dawn Farrell, Geauga EMA executive director, we centered how we could either get some sort of temporary water supply via a fire hose to the facility, or even better yet, have the emergency repairs completed that day. This facility has 75 one-bedroom units with at least 40% of the population developmentally disabled, not counting those in wheelchairs. To open and house them in an emergency shelter would have been very difficult, as well as getting everything set up and them all moved. With the collective influence of the city and the county, they were able to push their contractor to complete the repairs that afternoon and early evening, not having them wait two days as originally promised. They had their water back on by 9:30 p.m. that evening!”

Williams shared that while the water line was being repaired members of the Chardon UMC disaster response team went to the Murray Manor facility to help provide snacks and water and to serve food that had been delivered by the Red Cross.  

“Our team definitely impressed the Red Cross!” Williams said, and it received a nice thank-you note from the residents of Murray Manor.

“It’s such a blessing to know there are so many people willing to help,” Farrell said. “It was so nice to see the tenants chatting with your volunteers, and how kind and thoughtful everyone was meant a great deal.”

Missions & Community Engagement

Resourcing and Equipping Churches and Non-Profits Workshop – February 13
You are invited to discover best practices to resource and equip non-profits and the local church for thriving. Make plans to be part of conversations and workshops that will build up your local church or non-profit that works to strengthen our communities. Our time together on Thursday, February 13 at The UMC of Macedonia will help create stronger boards, work towards sustainable funding, build courage for asking for funding and support, discover creative solutions to God-size dreams, and expand your capacity for grant searches and writing. The keynote speaker will be Felecia King, director of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in the office of the Ohio Governor. All non-profits and churches are invited, this is not just for UMC churches! The cost is $10 for lunch and the last day to register is February 7. If you have questions about this workshop, please e-mail Rev. Kathy Dickriede, Missions & Community Engagement director.

Learn more and register on the Events Registration page of the EOC website.
Download the workshop flyer.

EOC Mission Partners Christmas Wish Lists
We asked East Ohio Conference Advance Special ministry partners to provide a list of needs the people they serve have this Christmas season. Might you and your church family be able to help fulfill some of these Christmas wishes? Doing so will be life-changing for you and for those whom you support with your generosity. There are a wide range of items on the Christmas wish lists from soap, pillows, onesies, paper towels, and toiletries to soccer balls, gift cards, educational opportunities, and summer camp tuition.

Please keep in your prayers this Christmas season, each of these organizations, their volunteers, and the people they serve. All Advances can also receive monetary donations through their respective Conference funds.

View the mission partners’ Christmas wish lists.
Learn about and support EOC Advance Specials.

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.

Young People’s Ministries

Youth Leaders Retreat – January 17-18
Join us for the annual Young People’s Ministries Youth Leaders Retreat January 17-18 at the Embassy Suites, Akron Canton Airport (7883 Freedom Ave NW, North Canton, OH). This retreat is for youth workers, pastors, volunteers, and teams who work with youth and young adults. Our theme this year is “Better Together” (Hebrews 10:24-25).

This will be a great opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals who have a passion for student ministry where you can build relationships, share ideas, and grow together. Come and enjoy fellowship and support with intentional time set aside to be renewed and refreshed. Cost for the retreat is $40 for commuters, $80/person in double-occupancy rooms, and $160/person in single-occupancy rooms.

Learn more and register on the Events Registration page of the EOC website.

For questions about Young People’s Ministries opportunities, please e-mail Pastor Christy Suffecool or e-mail Tim Beck, Connectional Ministries office Young People’s Ministries co-directors, or visit the Young People’s Ministries pages of the Conference website.

Camps & Retreat Ministries

Rev. Kelly Brown: Summer Camp Makes an Impact for Life
Kelly has always been on the move, quite literally to the point that he has run 10 marathons. He always enjoyed what he filled his days with whether it was spending weeks at summer camp or traveling across the country or just working at his jobs, even if it did leave him with little down time.

Shortly after Kelly graduated from college with a degree in education, he became a teacher at a school in Kentucky. While he enjoyed his time there, he struggled with being eight hours from his family and started to feel like something was missing. He continued to keep himself busy in the school’s activities, but he still felt lost in life as he began to question if education was right for him.

The summer after Kelly’s first year of teaching, he worked on Camp Wanake’s summer staff just as he had done since he started college. When he got to camp, he experienced the same feeling of peace that he always appreciated earlier in his life. This moment of peace helped Kelly to hear God’s voice and experience his grace. “Camp helped me to understand that I was created for a purpose,” he shared, “I gained confidence to serve people in new ways, and it was then, my last year on staff, that I experienced the moment of a call to ministry.”

His camp career climaxed at that moment. “I began to see and treat people differently,” Kelly said, “I had a renewed confidence in my faith to serve.” Now, he has followed his calling as an ordained Elder in the East Ohio Conference and currently serves as the superintendent of the South Forest District. He still looks back to his camp memories, visits Wanake, and keeps in touch with camp friends to preserve his faith and remember his purpose. “Even if it’s for a short time, you feel like you can escape the worries and the stress of what’s going on in your life at camp,” Kelly explained. “That’s something everyone needs, from summer camper age to beyond.”

Learn more about East Ohio Camps & Retreat Ministries.

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.

Events: November 9 – January 5

Click to view East Ohio Conference Calendar.

• Friday, December 13
  Life Size Candyland Game
• Saturday, December 14
  Wiggly Christmas Service
• Sunday, December 15
  The Light Within Us
• Sunday, December 15
  Blue Christmas Service
• Tuesday, December 17
  Free Community Meal

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.)

Celebrations of Life

Please pray for the families of:

• Neal Malicky, retired Elder, died November 22.
• Richard W. Smith, Sr., retired Elder, died November 21.

View obituaries.

To submit the obituary of an EOC clergy, clergy spouse, or surviving spouse, family should contact Melissa McGee, executive secretary to the Bishop, by phone at (330) 499-3972 ext. 112 or via e-mail.

Classifieds

Details of listings may be found here.

Positions Available

• Director of Modern Worship – Mentor UMC
• Youth Education Coordinator – Bay UMC in Bay Village
• Pianist – Peninsula UMC

Items Available/Wanted

• 2-3 octave set of handbells – Ontario UMC
• A loom for weaving mats for the unhoused – Peninsula UMC

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

To Subscribe

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Thursday, January 2, 2025 is the submission deadline for the next E-News. Send articles to eoccommunications@eocumc.com.