PETER CARTWRIGHT FROM PAGE 7
CONFERENCE NEWS
large, embracing a wide territory, numbering a great many stations and circuits now entering into different districts. In 1830 this society had no existence, while its territory was included in the Jacksonville circuit. In 1835 the Illinois conference appointed to the Jacksonville circuit Rev. James A. Bristow and Rev. Technology has changed exponentially. Peter Cartwright traveled by horse through his territory. Since then, we have trains and planes and automobiles. We stay connected by phones that are also multi-purpose communication and educational devices. We are awash in information and flooded with disinformation. The temptation is great to live in echo chambers of the like-minded. The world has changed dramatically in 200 years, and the world still needs the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ. The world still needs people who proclaim that a rich life isn’t about wealth but about love and growing in love and serving in love, about loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength – notice mind – and loving our neighbor as ourself. If I were a rich man. A rich man approaches Jesus and wants a richer life, the best life. Jesus loves him and tells him that it is his very wealth that is getting in the
on East State Street for purchase to erect a building and chose the first president: James Frazier Jaquess, a Methodist minister educated at what is now DePauw University in Indiana. In 1893, the College's fortune changed when the trustees chose Dr. Joseph Harker as the seventh president, who became the college’s longest-serving president. Harker changed the College's name in 1899 to Illinois Woman's College (IWC), envisioning a standard college with an enhanced college campus. With successful capital campaigns conducted by the Methodist Episcopal Church and Dr. Harker, a large endowment was established and in 1909, the College granted baccalaureate degrees. In 1913, as evidence of the improved curriculum elevating the College to a higher rank of academics, the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools granted accreditation. In 1920, the Association of American Universities placed IWC on the "accepted" list and a year later, the College became a corporate member of the American Association of University Women. In 1955 the Board of Trustees, on the motion of Milburn Peter Akers, grandson of founder Peter Akers, voted to establish a MacMurray College for Men that would exist alongside MacMurray College for Women. The decision to admit men stemmed in large part from a desire to take advantage of the great number of Baby Boomers who would be entering college in the 1960s. New residence halls were built on the South Campus to accommodate men. The two coordinate colleges joined in 1969 to become the coeducational MacMurray College. The College was plagued with financial difficulties and in May 2020, ceased its operation. Akers’ legacy The Illinois Conference, in its memoir of Akers in 1886, wrote, “Dr. Akers was a man of marked character, of large frame, of giant intellect, or extensive learning, of wonderful eloquence. “He would have been a leader in any department. He stood in the church the peer of the foremost. As a preacher, he was rarely equaled, never surpassed. His profound knowledge of the Scriptures, his intimate communion with God, his fidelity to his convictions, his eloquence and his humility, combined with his physical strength to make him the most powerful preacher in the west” (Memoir, 1886, 56). Works cited A Church with a History: the Ebenezer Society , Illinois Historical Society, 1910. Accessed through: https:// genealogytrails.com/ill/morgan/ebenez.htm Bateman, Newton; Selby, Paul; and Short, William; Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Morgan County; Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co. 1906. Peter Akers, Memoir, 1886 Journal of the Illinois Annual Conference , Methodist Episcopal Church *The account about Abraham Lincoln at the Spring Creek Camp Meeting is told in W. N. McElroy, Central Christian Advocate, Sept. 9, 1896. It is also in Ida M. Tarbell, The Life of Abraham Lincoln (New York, 1900). way. And the rich man turns away. If I were a rich man. Jesus says, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God…. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God…. [Yet] for God all things are possible.” If I were a rich man. Peter says to Jesus, “Look we have left everything and followed you.” And Jesus assures him that they have discovered true riches, richness of heart, life and soul. If I were a rich man. As followers of Jesus in the Wesleyan way, you are. On the 200th anniversary of this church, you have a deep well of riches from which to draw. The Wesleyan way of following Jesus is richness of life. Let’s be about it, by the grace of God and the power of God’s Spirit. Amen.
love, by a warm heart and keen mind, by being missional and engaged. Today is a time to look forward and to look backward. It is a time to reclaim deeply and profoundly our Wesleyan way, not in a way that suggests institutional snobbery, but a joyous affirmation that this Wesleyan way of following Jesus is a rich way of life, is filled with richness of heart, mind, soul and live. Certainly the world is very different from 1824. Slavery is nowhere the law of the land in the United States, but its legacies and the legacies of the exclusionary laws and practices that followed still need to be addressed. Women had few rights in 1824. Now we welcome them as leaders in the church and in the world, though here, too, legacies from the past linger. Children had few labor laws to protect them and few educational institutions in which to learn. How will we continue to protect their future?
Equalization members announced for the 2025 Annual Conference
SPRINGFIELD – Annual Conference Secretary, the Rev. Dr. Camilla Hempstead has announced that 267 churches have been granted an additional lay member to the 2025 Annual Conference. The announcement was made in an email from Hempstead to IGRC appointed pastors Oct. 16. Because the Book of Discipline requires that the composition of the annual conference is equally divided between clergy and lay members, the Annual Conference needs the 267 additional lay members to equalize the difference between the number of clergy members (elders, deacons, associate members and licensed local pastors) and the number of lay members.
Each charge is entitled to elect a lay member for each clergy member (elder, deacon, associate member and licensed local pastor) under appointment to the charge. Charges being served by certified lay ministers and supply pastors only are still entitled to one lay member per charge. In addition, each church listed below is entitled to an equalization member even if the regular lay member comes from another church in the charge, by virtue of being one of the larger churches paying 100 percent of their 2023 apportionments in accordance with the IGRC Standing Rules. For this year, every church that paid full apportionments with 85 or more members are granted an equalization member this year.
Hempstead has asked that the Equalization Member Update Form be downloaded and completed no later than Dec. 31 once the church's charge conference or church council acts upon electing the equalization delegate so they can be added to the list of eligible lay members to annual conference. Because a Special Session has been contemplated prior to the 2025 Annual Conference is a special session of the 2024 Annual Conference, the lay membership for the special session will be those that were elected to the 2024 session. The churches that meet the requirement for an additional equalization member to the 2025 Annual Conference are as follows:
AKERS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7
It was at this point that a change came to Peter Akers’ preaching. Revivals occurred under his ministry with large numbers converted. He continued to serve in Kentucky at Augusta College, Louisville, Danville and Harrodsburg, Louisville a second time, and in 1831, a second stint at Augusta College. Transfer to Illinois In 1832, Peter Akers transferred to Illinois where he believed he would be appointed to Jacksonville. However, because of the timing of the Kentucky and Illinois conferences, Bishop Joshua Soule believed he could not make that appointment. Akers, not tethered to a single charge, did evangelistic work during his first year in Illinois. It was during the 1833 Spring Creek Camp Meeting six miles west of Springfield that Abraham Lincoln heard Akers preach a three-hour sermon. Lincoln called Akers the greatest preacher he ever heard. Akers vigorously applied Old Testament prophecy and predicted that God would overthrow the sinful world and end slavery. He argued that his audience would live to see it, and that those who would accomplish God’s work were right there on the campground! On the way home that night, Lincoln told his companions that he could not stop thinking about the possibility that Akers was referring to him* (Central Christian Advocate, 1896). Akers was vocal in his opposition to slavery. In 1844, he helped draft a resolution censuring Georgia Bishop James Osgood Andrew for owning slaves that he had inherited. When the resolution passed, the Southern conferences left and formed the Methodist Episcopal Church South. In 1833, Akers became president of the newly named McKendree College in Lebanon and served until 1836. The school – the oldest Methodist-related institution west of the Appalachian Mountains – was formed at the suggestion of Cartwright by the Illinois Conference at its 1827 Annual Conference. Initially named Lebanon Seminary, it was renamed for Bishop William McKendree who donated the land on which the college is situated. He would return to McKendree on two more occasions to serve as its president – from 1845 to1846 and from 1852 to 1857. Ebenezer Manual Labor School In 1835, Ebenezer Methodist Episcopal Church was founded four miles northwest of Jacksonville. “Prior to the year 1835 there existed in this community a religious order of the Presbyterian church known as Associated Reformers. A few families, whose religious training was of the Methodist persuasion, had settled in the neighborhood before 1835, but they were not in an organized shape, and whenever they desired to attend Methodist services they went to Jacksonville, where a small society had been formed as early as 1830 or before. The Jacksonville station was established in 1833. The Jacksonville circuit, which was formed in 1830, was
WORLD METHODIST COUNCIL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14
Normal Calvary UMC Bloomington Wesley UMC Springfield First UMC
Middlefork UMC Centerville UMC Hanna City UMC Chatsworth UMC Mount Vernon Wesley UMC
Harrisburg First UMC Carthage First UMC
Hamilton UMC Mossville UMC Nashville Grace UMC Sidell UMC Oakford UMC Shields' Chapel UMC Carmi First UMC Homer UMC Centralia First UMC Rock Island Two Rivers UMC Knoxville UMC Moline Bethel Wesley UMC Albion First UMC Fithian UMC Quincy Union UMC Springfield Kumler UMC Clay City UMC Saybrook Wesbein UMC Henry UMC Alpha UMC Catlin UMC Morrisonville UMC Bonfield Evangelical UMC Virden First UMC Sandoval UMC Downs UMC Windsor UMC Glen Carbon New Bethel UMC Industry UMC Easton UMC Marshall Emmanuel UMC Princeville UMC Carlyle First UMC Saunemin UMC Chrisman UMC Oakwood UMC Divernon UMC Fairview UMC Galesburg Faith UMC Mount Carmel Evangelical UMC Goreville UMC Benton First UMC Herscher UMC Bourbonnais Grace Community UMC Dahinda UMC Williamsville UMC Oblong Central UMC Cisco UMC Vienna UMC Bement UMC Paris Otterbein UMC Walnut Grove (Prairie City) Loda UMC Kansas UMC United Church of Heyworth Marion First UMC
But even now, legal disputes continue over church property in Nigeria, where former bishop John Wesley Yohanna resigned with his cabinet in July to join the Global Methodist Church. On behalf of a large portion of the country’s United Methodists, 995 Nigerian delegates recently voted to remain in The United Methodist Church. With the ongoing friction in mind, the World Methodist Council sought input from the United Methodist Council of Bishops when Global Methodist leadership approached the ecumenical body about possible observer status. The Council of Bishops responded, saying it “encourages all requests from those applying for membership in the World Methodist Council when those applying mutually recognize all churches in the WMC as valid Christian expressions and as valid expressions of the Wesleyan Tradition.” While the new World Methodist Council membership document makes no direct mention To be eligible for membership, churches in the Methodist/Wesleyan tradition must: • Have a doctrine in keeping with the traditional standards of Methodist doctrine. • Affirm the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as the primary rule of faith and practice and the center of theological reflection. • Profess the ancient ecumenical creeds, the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. • Have a measure of autonomy, history and strength in its particular country and/or situation. • Be a national, regional or global church. No one from the Global Methodist Church attended the World Methodist Conference. However, the Rev. Dr. Larry Duggins of the new Methodist Collegiate Church was among the more than 1,000 people enjoying the conference. His denomination has just started the application process to join the World Methodist Council. White’s Chapel in Southlake, Texas, near Fort Worth, started the new denomination as it was of mutual recognition, it does spell out the commonalities its members should share. disaffiliating from The United Methodist Church in 2023. Today, Duggins said the new denomination includes seven former United Methodist churches in Texas and Louisiana as well as about 70 former United Methodist churches in Kenya, Congo and Uganda. Even with their exit from The United Methodist Church, he said members of the new denomination want to maintain ties. “We had a conservative congregation, and so because of that, we ended up needing to take the conservative views on the human sexuality issue,” Duggins said. “But that didn’t mean that we wanted to throw away our connection with everybody who disagreed.” (Hahn is assistant news editor for UM News)
Trenton First UMC Rushville First UMC Springfield Douglas Avenue UMC Delavan UMC Clinton UMC Sullivan First UMC Moline Riverside UMC Cambridge UMC Momence First UMC Colona UMC Quincy Melrose Chapel UMC Arcola UMC Salem Grace UMC Galva First UMC Tolono UMC Bradley Wesley UMC RiversEdge UMC
Peoria First UMC Normal First UMC
W. H. Mindow, M. D. A short time after entering upon their work these pastors arranged to secure a preaching place in this neighborhood and thus number it with other appointments, which at that time constituted the Jacksonville circuit. It was decided to have preaching in the private house of Peter Akers once every two weeks, on weekday; and accordingly Revs. Bristow and Mindow preached to small audiences who came to receive the word of life as these faithful servants in traveling their
Champaign Faith UMC Charleston Wesley UMC Macomb Wesley UMC Belleville Union UMC Canton Wesley UMC Springfield Laurel UMC Effingham Centenary UMC Taylorville UMC Pontiac First UMC O'Fallon First UMC Pekin First UMC East Moline Christ Multisite UMC Geneseo Grace UMC Pana UMC Monticello UMC Aledo UMC Danville Saint James UMC Carbondale First UMC Pekin Grace UMC Coal City UMC Willow Hill UMC Jerseyville UMC Edwardsville Saint John's UMC Gibson City UMC Mahomet UMC Dwight UMC Pittsfield UMC Sugar Creek UMC Chillicothe First UMC Mount Vernon First UMC Champaign First UMC Tremont UMC Shelbyville First UMC Peoria University UMC Quincy Vermont Street UMC Dunlap Prospect UMC Granite City Nameoki UMC Lexington First UMC Petersburg UMC Decatur First UMC Manteno UMC Paxton First UMC Orion UMC
Farmer City UMC Bartonville UMC Cuba UMC
Washburn UMC Farmington UMC Girard UMC Blue Mound UMC Lovington UMC Peoria Forrest Hill UMC Lebanon First UMC Findlay UMC
Good Hope UMC Illinois City UMC Peter Cartwright UMC Melvin UMC Litchfield Saint Timothy UMC Hull UMC Sugar Grove UMC (Chrisman) Forrest UMC London Mills UMC
extensive territory regularly met the earnest few, who eagerly sought this humble sanctuary to pay their vows to God (Church with a History, 1910). Following the church’s construction in 1836, it became home to the Ebenezer Manual Labor School. One of the rooms in the church was for worship and the other for training young men for the ministry. Akers was the founder and director of what was the first Methodist theological school west of the Alleghenies. The school trained many of the early leaders of the Illinois Conference. And what may have been the first outreach to Native Americans, a team of six men (three Caucasian and three Native American) were sent as missionaries to the Chippewa Nation in Minnesota. Akers would later relocate to Minnesota for a period of time and serve in Minnesota churches as a superannuated (retired) pastor of the Illinois Conference. "The influence of Ebenezer church has been wide. The manual labor school brought students from far and wide, among them three Indians from the northwest, John Johnson, Peter Marksman and George Copway. Missionaries and ministers have gone out to labor in many fields, this number none stands higher than Kate B. Blackburn, who, under the auspices of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, has devoted her life to the young women of Bulgaria” (Church with a History, 1910). Ebenezer Manual Labor School closed a few years later, but the church remained a congregation in the Illinois Conference and its predecessors until 1995. Akers and MacMurray College In 1846, the Illinois Conference organized the Illinois Female College. It was an early attempt at education for females. The institution provided "for the intellectual and moral education" of women in the interests of government and society. The school catered to teachers, benevolent workers and missionary workers. The early founders were comprised of devout and erudite clergymen, Cartwright and Akers, as well as several of Jacksonville's prominent men. Akers was the planner and organizer of this effort. Along with the Conference's Committee on Education, these men solicited funds, located teachers, selected five acres
Abingdon UMC Nokomis UMC Watson UMC Moweaqua UMC Elmwood UMC
Sparta First UMC Neoga Grace UMC Cerro Gordo UMC Marshall First UMC Living Faith UMC Pinckneyville UMC Mount Sterling First UMC Rantoul First UMC Jacksonville Centenary UMC
Maquon UMC Edinburg UMC South Fork UMC Reddick UMC Long Creek UMC Eldorado First UMC Anna UMC Ransom UMC
Greenville First UMC Fairview Center UMC Rossville UMC Streator First UMC Barry UMC
Grand Ridge UMC New Holland UMC Viola UMC McDowell UMC Maroa UMC McLeansboro First UMC Payson UMC Annawan Community UMC
Winchester UMC Lewistown UMC
Newton Grace UMC Peoria Bethel UMC Maryville Saint Luke's UMC Altamont First UMC Reynolds UMC Virginia UMC Elwin UMC East Peoria First UMC Roseville UMC Preemption UMC Macon UMC Springfield Cotton Hill UMC Urbana First UMC Washington Evangelical UMC Arenzville UMC Marshall Armstrong UMC East St. Louis Trinity UMC Port Byron First UMC Lawrenceville First UMC
Cantrall UMC Pawnee UMC Cissna Park UMC Camden UMC Thayer UMC Collinsville First UMC Camargo UMC Williamsfield UMC Smithfield Brock UMC Durbin UMC Rural UMC Chester First UMC Coulterville UMC Caseyville UMC Grand Prairie UMC Strasburg UMC Crossville UMC Crescent City UMC
Carlinville UMC Chatham UMC
Carterville First UMC Monmouth First UMC Vandalia First UMC Urbana Wesley UMC Galesburg First UMC Beardstown First UMC LeRoy UMC
Chenoa UMC Donovan UMC
Saint Joseph UMC Camp Point UMC Jacksonville Wesley Chapel UMC Rochester UMC Alton Main Street UMC Mattoon First UMC Kankakee Saint Mark UMC Havana First UMC
Atlanta UMC Milford UMC Hammond UMC Mount Pulaski First UMC
Stronghurst UMC Hoopeston UMC Waverly UMC Hudson UMC Murrayville UMC Auburn UMC Robinson First UMC Springfield Grace UMC Peoria Northwest UMC
Biggsville UMC Braceville UMC Danville Farmers Chapel UMC Ridge Farm UMC Carman UMC Waynesville UMC
Sheffield UMC Forsyth UMC Midland UMC Fisher UMC Griggsville UMC
Tuscola UMC Arthur UMC Casey UMC
16 | NOVEMBER 2024 | THE CURRENT
THE CURRENT | NOVEMBER 2024 | 17
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