ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPCOMING EVENTS
C H R I S T I AN CONVERSATIONS
Youth Ministry Leader Part Time Youth Ministry Leader for Island Grove UMC, https://www. igrc.org/classifiedsdetail/18871612 to view requirements, responsibilities and how to apply for the position.
Maintenance is NOT the mission Matters of measurement and measurement matters
Bishop Kennetha scheduling District Town Hall meetings SPRINGFIELD – Bishop Kennetha J. Bigham-Tsai is scheduling Town Hall Meetings in each of the five districts in the upcoming months. and ask questions. The day's schedule will have the bishop preaching at a church in the morning followed by the District Town Hall Meeting in the afternoon. This will be an opportunity to meet Bishop Kennetha The following dates have been confirmed: Central District – Sunday, Feb. 2. Preaching at Taylorville: First UMC, 8:45 a.m. Town Hall at Belleville: Union UMC, 1:30 p.m. East District – Sunday, Feb. 23. Preaching at Champaign: Faith, 9 and 10:30 a.m. Town Hall Meeting at Charleston: Wesley, 3 p.m. North District – Sunday, March 23, Preaching at The Bridge, Town Hall at Pontiac: First UMC, 2:30 p.m. West District – Sunday, April 6, Preaching at Macomb: Wesley. Town Hall at Monmouth UMC, TBA South District – Sunday, May 4. Preaching at Mt. Vernon: First UMC, 10 a.m. Town Hall Meeting at Carbondale: First UMC, time TBA
Nepal. Lester serves as a General Practicioner and Training Coordinator and Deborah serves as the Expatriates Support Officer. The fourth panelist will be Yu-ting Chiu who serves as Support Staff for Communications with the Christian Conference of Asia in Thailand. You will have the opportunity to meet in a small group to hear a presentation from a single missionary during the call. When you register, you will select the speaker's presentation you wish to attend. You will get a confirmation email once your registration is accepted. If the limit is reached, you will get priority for future events. Read more about the #StillinMission broadcasts by visiting: https://umcmission. org/stillinmission/
West Chestnut St, Chatham, IL Cost? $25 (includes lunch). Register by Feb. 12. Questions? Contact Kay Clifton, akclifton38@ gmail.com Use a registration form for each person registered. Registration and payment due by Feb. 12. Download the registration form by visiting: https://files.constantcontact. com/72d8f968001/739e8795-b8c9-4ee4-a52d- 1b027dc9d4e6.pdf Please send form(s) and check payable to ‘IGRC United Women in Faith’ to: Sally Smith, IGRC UWFaith Treasurer, 902 Eldridge, Washington, IL 61571 Bishop Bard to host Confirmation Rally AUBURN – Bishop David Bard is inviting confirmation students to join him for the 2025 IGRC Confirmation Rally, which will be Saturday, March 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Auburn UMC. Register for the Confirmation Rally by visiting: https://igrc-reg.brtapp.com/2025Bish opsConfirmationRally The rally is open to all current 2025 confirmation class students and those recently confirmed youth who joined the church in 2024. This special day of celebration and witness brings together confirmands from across our conference to strengthen their faith journey and connection with our United Methodist family. Cost is $8 per student confirmand with adult leaders being free. Registration of both students and adults are needed for an accurate lunch count. Registration deadline is March 24. Year-end reporting portal now open SPRINGFIELD – AC Stats, the year-end reporting platform is now open through Feb. 28 for reporting statistical information for 2024. AC Stats can be accessed through the Church Dashboard at: www.igrc.org/ dashboard The link will be found in the upper right-hand corner of the dashboard. To log-in into AC Stats, use the following information on your initial log-in: User Name: the church's six-digit GCFA number Password: stats2024! (you will be asked to change the password once you log in for the first time) Read more about the ACStat process by visiting: https://www.igrc.org/acstats Course of Study registration through Feb. 7 SPRINGFIELD – Registration for the April- May classes which will be April 4-5, May 2-3 are open through Feb. 7. Courses for the April-May session are: • COS 123 Formation and Discipleship (Instructor: Rev. Dr. Beth Fender) • COS 322 Theological Heritage III: Medieval and Reformation (Instructor: Rev. Dennis Powers) Read more and register by visiting: https:// igrc-reg.brtapp.com/COSApr2025 Applications sought from churches, candidates for 2025 Intern Program SPRINGFIELD – Applications are now open
The lessons of the pansies BY SHARON BROWN CHRISTOPHER
communities where they are situated? (communal transfiguration). These two key relational dimensions are clearly articulated in the current United Methodist mission statement: “The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Local churches and extension ministries of the Church provide the most significant arenas through which disciple-making occurs.” Making disciples involves personal formation in the way, truth, and life of Jesus. More people living the way of Jesus together, doing Jesus things, leads to a transfigured world. A more compassionate world, a just world, a healed world. While inspired by Matthew 28:19 “Go make disciples…” (The Great Commission), this mission statement has certain limitations, it could be rightly called the “Great Omission”: It leaves out the active call to “Go” into the world as part of discipleship. The phrasing implies a passive model of discipleship– waiting for people to come to the church rather than actively seeking them out. This reflects a deeper challenge: institutional processes and policies, while intended to facilitate mission, have unintentionally contributed to passivity, restricting churches from engaging in transformative mission to our communities. How sociology can guide new metrics From the perspective of a sociologist these are indeed constructs we can measure. I am currently conducting research at the University of Florida exploring the relationships between compassion, religiosity, religious affiliation, and political affiliation, aiming to explore their role in the “compassion gap”–the erosion of empathetic responses in the face of societal challenges like political division, loneliness, and inequality. The primary theoretical framework for my research is grounded in Allport and Ross’s (1967) Religious Orientation Theory which distinguishes between intrinsic religiosity, characterized by a deep personal commitment to faith, and extrinsic religiosity, which involves engaging with religion primarily for external rewards (Allport & Ross, 1967). Religious affiliation refers to an individual’s formal association with a specific religious group or tradition, regardless of the depth or personal significance of their engagement with its teachings or practices. While religious affiliation marks group membership, forms of religiosity emphasize personal belief orientation and the internal integration of faith into daily life. These distinctions are essential as religious affiliation alone may not lead to an increase in social compassion. And extrinsic religiosity shows weaker associations with prosociality. While intrinsic religiosity has been linked to heightened prosocial behaviors and greater well-being. Our current metrics primarily measure affiliation and extrinsic religiosity, not intrinsic religiosity. It is also possible to measure community impact. Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of social capital provides a valuable framework for understanding how churches create value through relationships (Bourdieu’s concept predates and is similar but distinct from Robert Putnam). Bourdieu’s theory of capital highlights the plurality of social fields, where various forms of capital–economic, cultural, and social–define the positions and possibilities of actors within these fields. Social capital, in particular, refers to the resources gained from group membership and social networks, which can enhance an individual’s social standing in different areas of life. This capital is produced through relationships and is crucial in determining how economic and cultural capital is leveraged. Social capital also has a symbolic dimension, where the recognition and distinction it provides play a critical role in sustaining power dynamics and influencing social positions. Social capital, a concept centered on social
BY MICHAEL ADAM BECK
For several weeks now I have been observing my balcony porch winter garden. It consists
How do we measure this? It seems to be the inevitable question that comes up in every training. Ten years ago, I wrote a white paper titled, New Missional Metrics for a Blended Ecology of Church . Denominational leaders and
for the 2025 IGRC Intern Program. Prospective interns, mentors, and host church representatives are welcome to visit www.igrc.org/interns for all the details and application links. Final deadline is March 3. Living Into My Yes sessions explore calls into ministry SPRINGFIELD – The “Living Into My Yes” online inquiry session is designed for people of any age or life stage who are beginning to discern a call to some form of vocational ministry but who have not yet officially begun the process toward ordination or licensing. Pastors and other leaders are welcome to attend to learn more about the process. Upcoming events in the Living Into My Yes series include: • Tuesday, Feb. 11, 1 to 2 p.m. Living Into My Yes for Pastors. This session is for pastors and other leaders who are walking alongside someone who is discerning. • Tuesday, April 29, 6 to 7:30 p.m., Living Into My Yes for Supply. This session is especially for laity currently assigned to a church as Supply to learn their options. • Thursday, June 12, 6 ot 7:30 p.m. Living Into My Yes online inquiry session. This session is for anyone discerning how God might be calling you. Read more by visiting: https://www.igrc.org/ living-into-my-yes United Methodist Scholarship portal open for 2025-26 school year NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Information for the 2025-26 school year. Scholarships and low interest loans made possible through UM Student Day offering. Applications will be accepted through March 31. Apply for a UM Scholarship by visiting: https://www.gbhem.org/scholarships/apply- for-scholarships UM Higher Education Foundation accepting scholarship applications The United Methodist Higher Education Foundation is now accepting scholarship applications for the 2025-26 school year. The foundation's scholarship program awards $2 million to nearly 1,000 students attending United Methodist-related institutions. Deadline for applying is April 1. Read more by visiting: https://umhef. org/2025-scholarship-applications Job opening CENTRAL DISTRICT ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: The Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference is seeking an individual with a servant’s heart to maintain an effective administrative system undergirded by excellent relational, communication, and organizational skills. The successful ANNOUNCEMENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
of two small red cedar trees, two box elders, and seven pots of pansies. With just-the-right positioning of my chair I can see, through two long, wide glass panels, all my pansies. This is what I am learning from them: • They require much less water than my summer flowers, I suppose in large part because of the lower temperatures in which they dwell. • With a bold fierceness they defiantly withstand the north and east winds that bludgeon them on stormy days. In fact moderate breezes strengthen both the stems and the root system. • They droop dramatically when the temperature descends below freezing point and especially when it drops to 10 degrees or below. • They sag even more when glazed with ice during winter ice storms. • And, and, and with an untold gumption they pick themselves up and raise their colorful faces to the sun when above-freezing warmth returns. • How many times have I written them off for dead... only to be both surprised and amazed when strength and beauty and their resulting endurance show up again. Stronger than the Energizer Bunny. A resurrection of sorts. If I were to identify one word to best describe their character, it would be “resilience.” 1. the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness 2. the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape 3. Elasticity... flexibility, pliability, suppleness, plasticity (Definitions from Oxford Languages) Resilience, or being mentally tough, refers to the ability to bounce back from setbacks, adapt to challenges, and maintain a positive mindset in the face of adversity. It involves emotional strength, nimbleness, and the capacity to persevere through difficult situations. It has something to do with being grounded in hope. As I anticipate the winds of political uncertainty and disruption ahead of us, I am taking my cue from the pansies and their resilience. The first image is a composite of the pansies currently blooming on my porch. The second was taken several years ago in our Nashville front yard after a snow. (Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher is a retired bishop of The United Methodist Church. She served the Illinois Area from 1996 to 2008. Recently, she launched a blog, Gathering the Fragments, https://www.gatherinthefragments. org where she shares reflections illustrated by her photography. Persons can subscribe to the blog by visiting the blogsite, opening a blog post and clicking Subscribe at the bottom of the post. Reprinted with permission of the author.)
colleagues who read it often responded favorably, “Yes, this makes sense!” but that was as far as we got. However, today there is renewed energy around the missional metrics conversation. What is clear is that our current metrics are good at measuring decline. “Religious affiliation” or people self- reporting membership and worship attendance continue to decrease. This shift coincides with a broader decline in institutional religion, which has traditionally provided ethical frameworks for prosocial behavior. As religious participation declines, loneliness and social isolation are on the rise, as traditional church networks that foster community are diminishing (Murthy, 2023). The decline in church participation is particularly evident in The United Methodist Church (UMC), which has seen a steady drop in membership since the 1960s. The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated this decline, as did the disaffiliation of congregations from the UMC to form the Global Methodist Church (GMC). The UMC has faced significant loss of membership, resources, and leadership. This fragmentation not only weakened the church’s ability to present a unified mission but also diverted attention and energy from outreach and mission, deepening internal conflict and hindering its overall vitality. The resulting uncertainty has left many congregations struggling to maintain momentum and engage their communities effectively. These trends collectively underscore the urgent need for the church to adapt, or more specifically to appropriately measure the Spirit-led adaptation that is already occurring. What we measure matters. It programs the behaviors of people in the system. Clergy and congregations put energy and effort into the things they will be asked to report. Consider the annual evaluation of pastors in the UMC, of the 21 identified skills and behaviors, only one skill, “reaching out to and supporting the community beyond the church’s walls,” is truly outwardly focused. These assessments often focus on internal priorities such as preaching and pastoral care rather than innovative outreach which often push pastors toward institutional maintenance rather than mission-focused outreach. This creates a cycle where pastors prioritize satisfying members’ needs rather than pursuing new missional efforts. But does what we’ve been measuring really measure matter? Matter = anything that has mass and takes up space. Rethinking Church Metrics for a Changing Landscape In light of these changes, traditional metrics of church vitality – like membership, worship attendance, and giving– no longer suffice. Historically, these metrics have measured the internal health of churches. However, in the blended ecology, where traditional forms of ministry are living in symbiotic relationship with new expressions of church, these metrics fail to capture the full scope of the church’s outward-facing mission. Transvocational ministry, where clergy and laity work together as partners in God’s mission, requires a new approach to measuring church vitality. The church is a community of people, living in loving relationship with God, one another, the wider church, and the world. A simple framework for rethinking metrics should focus on real flesh and blood, matterized people, with two key relational dimensions: personal and communal. • Personal: how are people growing in loving union with God and neighbor (inner transfiguration)? • Communal: how do congregations impact the
Church and Society hosting online Book Study SPRINGFIELD – Lent is a season of prayer, fasting, and repentance. It's also a good time to dive deep into a challenging topic, discuss with our brothers and sisters in faith, and chart action toward a new future. We hope participation in this book study inspires action toward Church and Society's goal of becoming anti-racist in the IGRC. Register online for the book study by visiting: https://igrc-reg.brtapp.com/sumofus Meeting once a week for 4 weeks (March 12, 19, 26 and April 2, 7 to 8:15 p.m.) during Lent, participants will discuss the book, The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee and explore content with a theological lens. Sessions will also feature learnings on what is happening in our world now and how to engage in meaningful action. We hope you'll register today and join us on the journey. Please email christina.krost@ gmail.com if you have any questions. United Women in Faith Spiritual Growth Seminar focuses on soul and earth care CHATHAM – What is soul care? What is earth care? Our inner selves and our outer subsistence, given to us by our loving God. Come with ears to hear what the Bible says and how our Church and UWFaith are working to enliven our souls and sustain the earth. These are more connected than you thought. Program by Christina Krost and Kay Clifton. 9 a.m. — Check in and fellowship (bring snacks to share) 9:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. — Program (includes lunch) The offering will go toward our 2025 Pledge to Mission. (Checks payable to: IGRC United Women in Faith) When and Where? Saturday, Feb. 22, Chatham United Methodist Church, 104
MOVING FROM
Register for Covenant Keepers 2025 O’FALLON – Registration is now open for Covenant Keepers 2025, which will be held Monday, Feb. 24 - Tuesday, Feb. 25, at the Regency Convention Center in O'Fallon. This is scheduled as an in-person event. The theme for this year's event is From Grief to Hope , based upon Psalm 30:11-2 and Lamentations 3:21-22. Register online at: https://igrc-reg.brtapp.com/CK2025 The agenda will be from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday and from 8:30 a.m. to noon Tuesday. The presenters will be Bishops David Alan Bard and Kennetha J. Bigham-Tsai. Price: $50 (includes lunch on Feb. 24). Individuals are responsible for overnight accommodations. Rooms are available at the Hilton Garden Inn St. Louis/Shiloh/ O'Fallon, and the Hampton Inn O'Fallon. There will be no on-site registration. Registration deadline: Feb. 16 . IGRC missionaries to be on #StillinMission broadcast Missionaries Connie Wieck, Lester Dornan and Deborah Dornan will be presenting their missionary work via Zoom tonight through Global Ministries monthly #Still-in- Mission series. Wieck and the Dornons' presentation are part of a Feb. 6, 2025 #StillinMission broadcast, to air at 7 p.m. Central time. Registration is required at: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcuf- uorz0uGtKmBcbO9fATiGr1Y9FLuP99#/registration . Wieck serves as the Coordinator for English Language Programming with the Southeast Asia Mission Initiative. The Dornons serve together with the United Methodist Mission in
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