July 18, 2003

Edition

Equipped to Serve is a one-day workshop designed to provide quality training at a low cost near participants’ homes. It will be held in four locations on two days.

The Rev. Carol Sue Hutchinson, director of the Conference Council on Ministries’ (CCOM) Discipleship and Church and Society ministries, said the event is something old and something new.

“It has evolved from Sunday School Weekend, begun some 20 years ago, to Discipleship Weekend to this day event called, this year, ‘Equipped To Serve,’ ” Hutchinson said. “We believe that it will be the same quality event that it has always been. The difference is that it is being brought closer to the local congregations and at a lower cost. It is a quality training event where everyone in ministry in the local congregation can come and find practical information and training to help them be equipped to serve.”

Some of the workshops offered are “Leading with a Servant’s Heart,” “Ways to Build Community in Your Church Groups,” “How to Deal with Changing Cultures, Changing Times” and other topics.

The first day is Sept. 20, and the workshops will be held at First United Methodist Church in Pompano Beach, First United Methodist Church in Stuart, Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa and Southside United Methodist Church in Jacksonville.

The second day is Oct. 4 at First United Methodist Church in Fort Myers, First United Methodist Church in Orlando, Kendall United Methodist Church in Miami and Wesley Memorial in Lake City.

Some classes will be offered in Creole and Spanish.

The cost is $40 per person, scholarships are available, and child care is available for $5 per child. It is sponsored by the CCOM’s Discipleship, Youth and Mission ministries.

For more information contact Birk Mullinax at 800-282-8011, extension 178, or bmullinax@flumc.org. 

The deadline to apply as a 2004 General Conference volunteer is approaching.

At least 160 volunteers will be needed to help delegates, church officials and visitors at the denomination’s top legislative assembly April 27-May 7 in Pittsburgh, P.A. More than 5,000 participants are expected.

Volunteers distribute materials, assist disabled visitors and perform a variety of other tasks. They travel and serve at their own expense.

Applications are due Aug. 31, and applicants will be notified of their status by Oct. 31. Forms are available on the General Conference Web site at http://www.umc.org/gc2004/  or from Mark Wharff by mail at 2064 Sheldon Drive, Modesto, CA 95350-0389, or e-mail at MRWharff@cs.com. 

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and other organizations are providing assistance to people experiencing the trauma and difficulties caused by conflict.

LIBERIA—A brief cease-fire in Liberia collapsed June 26, and thousands of Liberians who had begun to return to their homes are once again fleeing for safety.

Before the drive on Monrovia, Liberia’s civil war had already uprooted one million people within the country and sent 300,000 fleeing to neighboring countries, according to news sources.

Churches and individuals can help by making donations designated to UMCOR-NGO Advance # 982353-7.

For more information visit http://www.umcorngo.org/english/countrys/liberia.htm#top. 

PHILIPPINES—The United Methodist Church in the Philippines is providing relief to families who have fled their ancestral homelands due to intensified military activity in Oriental Mindoro Province. For more than 17 months uprooted people have lived in makeshift shelters on property of the Union Theological Seminary in Dasmarinas.

UMCOR reports people need food, tools, medicine and improved shelter. Donations should be designated for Philippines Emergency Advance #240235-3.

IRAQ—Church World Service (CWS), the humanitarian agency supported by the United Methodist Church and other denominations and based in New York, is shipping $1.2 million in donated medical supplies to Iraq.

CWS cited a United Nations report stating Iraq’s health care system is operating at no more than half of its capacity and malnutrition among children has doubled in some parts of the country since the start of the war.

In December 2002, CWS helped found the multi-agency “All Our Children” campaign for Iraqi children’s health. The campaign, supported by the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), has provided $264,000 in cash and $183,414 in in-kind emergency medical aid, food and supplies for pediatric hospitals and clinics and a program serving street children.

Donations should be designated to CWS/UMCOR Relief in Iraq.

Donations for those and other UMCOR relief efforts may be sent to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, NY 10115, or placed in church offering plates. Credit-card donations can be made by calling 800-554-8583.

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© 2003 Florida United Methodist Review Online