CORRECTED: Northern Flow/Mohawk Weekly Newsletter February 1, 2024

Northern Flow/Mohawk

Weekly Newsletter

February 1, 2024

2024 District Days with Bishop Hector

Save the date for 2024 District Days

In the new year, Bishop Héctor will be visiting local churches in all 12 districts from February to April. District Days are a way for the bishop to meet with laity and clergy across Upper New York. Clergy meetings are scheduled for each visit from 1-3 p.m. and another meeting will be held for laity (and clergy who couldn't attend earlier gathering) from 7-8:30 p.m. All United Methodists of Upper New York are invited and encouraged to attend a gathering closest to you.

Schedule and Locations

Northern Flow dCOM Teaching Day Offered

The Northern Flow District Committee on Ordained Ministry (dCOM) will be providing a teaching day for our Licensed Local Pastors and Certified Lay Ministers as part of their yearly interview credentialling process. We thought the information would be helpful to all our clergy and worship leaders from the district – so please consider this your invite:

What: 2024 dCOM Teaching Day

Where: DeKalb Junction United Methodist Church

4302 Route 11

DeKalb Junction, NY 13630

When: Saturday, February 17, 2024

(Snow date: February 24, 2024)

Tentative Schedule

9:30AM - 10:00AM Arrival and Refreshment

10:00AM - 10:30AM Worship

10:30AM - 11:15AM Presentation: “Spiritual Disciplines”

11:15AM - 12:00PM Presentation: “Time Off”

(days off, vacation, Sabbath, etc.)

12:00PM - 1:00PM Lunch

Reservations for the lunch (which is free) need to be sent to Barbara Greene (bgreene12873@yahoo.com) by February 10. If you have special dietary restrictions, please bring your own lunch.

1:00PM - 2:30PM Presentation: “Time Management/Boundaries”

2:30PM - 3:00PM Wrap-up

Theme: “Thrive in a More Healthy Way”/”The 3 R’s: Revive, Rely and Renew”

The teaching day is free and we hope you will consider joining us.

Grace and peace,

Rev. Leon VanWie, dCOM Chairperson

Northern Flow District Committee on Ordained Ministry

A Message from the Mohawk

Lay Servant Committee (Corrected)

The reorganized Mohawk District Committee on Lay Servant Ministries is composed of one clergy and two laity members today. One of our primary responsibilities is to provide an educational foundation with materials and courses to enable an individual to develop the confidence to become active in the affairs of their church. We also monitor the certification of individuals as Lay Servants who have accepted the calling to be active in their congregations and beyond.

Many of our Lay Servants have willingly accepted the call to step-up and become the leaders in their church and community. They, by their attitude, actions, deeds, and compassion for those around them, are the Disciples of Jesus Christ, walking among us.

Currently, there are 43 Certified Lay Servants (CLS), 2 Certified Lay Speakers (CLSpkr), and 10 Certified Lay Ministers (CLM) in our reorganized Mohawk District. That is a total of 55 active certified members of the Laity assisting their Pastors, leading their congregations, conducting Bible Studies, preaching from the pulpit, planning and/or leading worship, filling in for Pastors in other congregations or locations, visiting their homebound members, serving on various committees or councils within their church, district, or conference, and doing Pastoral work throughout their community.

There are currently 8 Certified Lay Ministers (CLM) assigned to churches in our district by the D.S. 4 CLMs are assigned to one church and 4 CLMs are assigned to a 2 church charge. Currently, 1 CLS is assigned to a 2 church charge and 2 CLSs are assigned to one church in our district.

In the present confines of the Mohawk District, we have a total of 49 churches and 1 New Faith Community. We have attendance at these churches ranging from 6 to 55 people. There are 18 Pastors and 11 CLMs or CLSs for a total of 29 individuals (Pastors, Elders, and Laity) serving the spiritual needs of our 49 churches and one Faith Community.

We have 9 Pastors appointed to 2 churches; 1 Pastor appointed to a 3 church charge; 8 Pastors (including 4 Elders) appointed to a single church. That is a total of 18 dedicated appointed Pastoral Leaders. Looking at those numbers, you can see there are several churches without an appointed or assigned Spiritual Leader.

You can begin realize the need for the Laity of our district to step-up and assume active roles in providing for the various needs of our congregations. The needs of the people in our congregations must be recognized and assumed by the Laity if our churches are to remain viable assets caring for the welfare of our Christian sisters and brothers.

A Pastor, CLM, or CLS with a 2 or 3 church charge cannot adequately provide for their congregation’s needs without the assistance of their Laity. The assistance from the Laity is critical in our churches today. Laity! That is each one of you reading this today! Your Church needs you. Our people desperately need you!

It is the Laity of our district that will rise up to assist our Pastors and provide those essential elements of leadership and direction for the people of our district.

I urge you (Laity) to take advantage of the courses offered by our committee (in-person, virtual, or Zoom) to gain the necessary knowledge and confidence to assist, serve, and lead the way for active Discipleship in our District as a Lay Servant or Lay Speaker.

Ken Guilfoyle, CLM, Director,

Mohawk District Committee on Lay Servant Ministries

kguilf2855@aol.com , 315 254 6673

The following Lay Servant Course is being offered to anyone in our District. If you would like to register or would like more information please feel free to contact me at tammymcadam@unyumc.org

This class is being offered online via Zoom and offered in person as well.

Basic Lay Servant Course

This course will begin on February 12th on Monday evenings beginning at 6:30 p.m. and will last 2 hours each week. It will last for 5 weeks. You must attend every class in order to receive credit.

It is being offered in person at the Brownville UMC as well as via zoom.

The class will be led by Pastor Joe Auslander. If you would like to register or need more information please email tammymcadam@unyumc.org

When registering please let me know if you are going to be in person or via Zoom.

You will need to purchase the Lay Servant Ministries Basic Course. Here are a couple of links to order the book from:

Upper Room

Amazon

Please register by February 5th

AC States Now Open for Local Churches

Local Churches will need to create all new Usernames and Passwords upon initial entry into the platform.

>>> Please remember that you cannot use the same email address twice for 2 different churches/Users. This can be solved by adding additional digits at the end of your email address for the 2^nd church like your GCFA #

Ex: Email Address/Username: AwesomeGod@gmail.com541236 <<<<

Stats will be open on January 2^nd.

They will close on February 15^th.

Charge Conference Reports Due

Just a friendly reminder of Charge Conference Reports that will be due soon!!

Due February 15th, 2024 - please scan and email to district office to tammymcadam@unyumc.org

Report of Trustees
Reports of Finance Committee
2023 Year End Financial Report - your church format
2024 Church Budget - your church format

Due March 15th, 2024 - please scan and email to district office to tammymcadam@unyumc.org

2023 Local Church Annual Financial Audit

* If you need any help getting a copy of any of the forms please contact the district office. *

Stewardship with Susan Ranous

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

BE CREATIVE YEAR-ROUND

SECOND QUARTER OF THE YEAR

Last week, I starting looking at Vanco’s creative list as a year-round stewardship idea. This list is part of the last of eight rules for effective church leadership laid out in the booklet put out by VANCO, titled The Complete Guide to Church Stewardship. It was to BE CREATIVE. In being creative,

My breakdown of their list is below. For the second quarter of the year (April, May and June), I am providing some additional ideas below.

January First Fruits

February The Gift of Love - Our Brothers and Sisters Keeper

March Ministry Team Spirit

April Miracles and Wonders

May It’s our Anniversary (heritage Sunday)

June Planting Good Seeds

July Virtual Messages/Social Media Sunday/The Conversion

August College Alumni Day

September The Unexpected/ Brick Layers

October Financial Testimonies

November A Praise of Thanksgiving

December The Christmas Gift

The second quarter of the year would include Miracles and Wonders; It’s Our Anniversary and Planting Good Seeds.

Miracles and Wonders – I know I find, and I believe you do, that when there is a need, because of weather, or war or something else, our people are generous. UMCOR (the United Methodist Committee on Relief) is just one way our denomination responds, often as the first responder, when there is a natural disaster and need. The church often takes the lead. Our Conference has a Mission Central Hub that funds as a centralized location to lead our churches in equipping “local churches to bring hope and relief to their neighbors facing a socio-economic or natural disaster.” So much is done here in our Conference and outside. There are miracles and wonders that happen because of the church!

It’s Our Anniversary – Vanco mentions this as an anniversary of a major milestone in the life of the church: 200 years, etc. However, every year, on third Sunday of May, The United Methodist Church is called to honor its heritage by committing itself to the continuing call of God known and spread by Charles and John Wesley, along with others the early Methodist movement reached and with whose denominations we are all joined as The United Methodist Church. Often, we celebrate the birthday of the church on Pentecost. In 2024, both Heritage Sunday and Pentecost occur on the same day! What an exciting way to honor the history of the Church, the denomination, and of the local church!

Planting Good Seeds – There are a few different ways to view this. One is to plant the good seeds of a new idea, a new ministry, new fundraising. If good seeds are planted, then good ministry will grow! Another idea is to focus on environmental protection and climate change. Maybe conversation and understand around the United Methodist Social Principles would open up some of our eyes to ideas that the church is involved in!

So just a few more ideas; next week, I’ll visit the third quarter of the year!

If you wish more information on anything you’ve been reading about, please feel free to contact me at (315) 427-3668 or sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org

Here we go Again!!

Phishing emails going around again

Emails are being sent out again claiming to be from DS Rev. Weeden. Rev. Weeden will never send an email asking for any sort of money, gift cards, etc. from you.

If you receive an email like this please block and delete.

The only email address you would get anything from for Rev. Weeden is mikeweeden@unyumc.org

This is a scam so please be aware they are going around again.

Contacting Northern Flow/Mohawk District Office

If you are trying to reach the district office please use the following information:

Email tammymcadam@unyumc.org

DS Rev. Weeden mikeweeden@unyumc.org

Phone 315-535-5149

Fax 315-535-5151

Mailing Address PO Box 208 Gouverneur NY 13642

Office Hours Monday - Friday 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

We are completely working from home and this is the best contact information to be able to reach us.

If you would like to sign up for our weekly newsletter or would like to have something posted please email me. Articles need to be sent in by Wednesday by 3:00 p.m..