Joomla! site syndication http://www.scadvocate-online.org/home Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:30:00 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.scadvocate-online.org/home/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png http://www.scadvocate-online.org/home Joomla! site syndication http://www.scadvocate-online.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=589&Itemid=271 Are there any limits on the authority of the secretary of General Conference to decide the number of delegates?That’s what the United Methodist Judicial Council is being asked to determine when it convenes Oct. 27-30 in New Orleans.The S.C. Conference is requesting a ruling on whether the secretary has the right to determine the number of delegates to General Conference. Per the United Methodist Constitution, delegates to the quadrennial General Conference must be no fewer than 600 and no more than 1,000, half of which must be clergy and half laity (Para. 13). Every annual conference is entitled to two delegates. Beyond that, conferences get a proportional number of delegates based on a formula established in the Book of Discipline (Para. 502). Latest News - 2010 News Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:43:20 +0100 http://www.scadvocate-online.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=588&Itemid=271 So many times, she has sat across a kitchen table and heard the all-too-familiar stories of hardship and desperation.The mother who hasn’t seen her children in 10 years because she’s working like a slave to support them. The husband facing a deportation hearing, scared he’ll never see his wife again. The man living in a trailer with seven other men, eating stale bread just to survive. The woman with broken English who struggles daily to help her children rise above and succeed.Right here in America.For the Rev. Emily Scales Sutton, the pain and sadness that countless Hispanics endure every day is heartbreaking. “These people live in fear,” Sutton said. “Every day I meet someone with an immigration issue. I got a call this morning from a lady whose son might have a deportation hearing, but he might not, because she can’t understand the documents. Every day someone tells me ‘I don’t have a job because I don’t have the documents,’ or ‘I can’t go to the food bank because I don’t have the documents,’ or ‘I can’t go to a physician because I don’t have health insurance because I don’t have the documents.’” Latest News - 2010 News Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:31:58 +0100 http://www.scadvocate-online.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=587&Itemid=271 If United Methodism is a loaf of bread, then for the Rev. Ken Nelson, the black church is the yeast. Like yeast, the black church uplifts and inspires the denomination – and adds a healthy dose of unique flavor. “Everyone brings something to the table,” said Nelson, congregational specialist, African-American ministries, for the S.C. Conference. “The black church’s celebration and enthusiasm for passionate worship – I see that as yeast in the batter of Methodism. It’s something particular to the black church, distinctive.” And it’s that distinctiveness and energy that Nelson is hoping to tap into later this month at the inaugural Summit on the Black Church. Set for Sept. 23-25 at the Radisson Hotel, Columbia, the summit features three days of workshops and worship designed to strengthen this ministry and “rekindle the flame” for making disciples. Nelson said there are embers that exist in every congregation. “The winds of the Holy Spirit are fanning the flames and igniting the passion of every congregation so they can be places of transformation,” he said. But flames can dwindle. Yeast can settle. And congregations can lose their vitality, become a place where disciples are no longer made, where transformations no longer occur. The Summit on the Black Church hopes to help churches regain that vitality. Latest News - 2010 News Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:24:16 +0100 http://www.scadvocate-online.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=585&Itemid=271 Work has begun on a new district-level structure for Connectional Ministries designed to better equip local churches and increase connectionalism conference-wide.Approved at Annual Conference, the new structure will create a District Council of Connectional Ministries in each of the 12 districts. Overseen by the district superintendent and that district’s congregational specialist, each DCCM will comprise four separate areas of ministry (discipleship, advocacy, outreach and lay leadership). Those four ministry areas will each comprise six to 10 members appointed by the district superintendent, congregational specialist and district lay leader, for a total of 36-40 DCCM members.The idea is that each DCCM will be more connected to the local church and more able to equip local churches than the current structure, said the Rev. Willie Teague, director of Connectional Ministries. Now, Connectional Ministries staff is getting to work on the next step: creating a viable system for the DCCM launch. Staff is focusing on two things immediately... Latest News - 2010 News Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:50:18 +0100 http://www.scadvocate-online.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=584&Itemid=271 When Meagan Rogers was 14 years old, she lost her mother to ovarian cancer. In that moment, her world was forever changed. The solid foundation that had been her life began to crumble; her father had trouble taking care of a teenager by himself. She found herself beginning a cycle of “shuttling” – home to home, relative to relative. Latest News - 2010 News Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:15:51 +0100