Susquehanna Daily LINK - June 10, 2016


SPECIAL OFFERING FOR TODAY Celebration of Ministry Service, Friday, June 10, 2016


The Mongolian Mission of the United Methodist Church (2440) supports our missionaries and their work in a country where the major religion is Buddhism, but church leaders are finding people longing for the gospel. Mongolia lies between China and Russia in northern Asia and is undergoing rapid social and economic changes. In 2011 Bishop Park was named the first presiding Bishop of the Mongolian Mission of the United Methodist Church. He travels there once a year to conduct an annual meeting and to supervise, support, and strengthen the mission of our church in that part of the world.


PERSPECTIVE FROM A YOUTH A Living Church By Morgan Robinette


Excitement was in the air as a congregation of 1,300 strong gathered for opening worship at Annual Conference. The service commenced with songs


and worship, as well as several youth delegates


rallying the crowd together, united by a common theme, creating new places for new people. Bishop Jeremiah J. Park then took


the floor and, in his sermon, likened the theme of Annual Conference 2016 to the parable of the farmer and the seeds, found in Matthew 11. Much like the


farmer, the United


Methodist Church is sowing seeds. It is a global church, sowing seeds on foreign soil, seeds that bear much fruit. Churches in European and African nations,


the


Philippines, and many other parts of the world are experiencing vast growth and expansion.


Unfortunately, seeds in America have


Creating CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1


congregations. This year the theme has shifted. It is important for the church to disciple young people and create new, exciting, vibrant space for faith to grow and flourish. In referring to Matthew 13:1-9, he underlined the importance of the sower of the seed, and the kinds of soil the seed fell upon. The sower was extravagant in broadcasting the seed, although the soils that it fell upon were not always productive. He related that to our spiritual life. At times we can be barren, rocky, or fruitful in our faith life. The question becomes, “how it is with your soil today?”


Are you ready to take root and flourish? What is in your heart? At the end of the day, it is what is on the inside that counts. God does surprise us. “Open your


eyes and look at the fields” Bishop Park implored. Don’t give up, for the fields are ripe for harvest. People are more ready to receive God’s grace than you might think! Keep spreading the seed, keep singing


the songs, keep telling the gospel, and don’t lose heart. Let those who have heart embrace a future filled with hope. Bishop Park concluded the service by leading a spirited rendition of “How Great Thou Art.”


Remain in love CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1


people” to follow Jesus. “We live in that place that society sees


as a contradiction,” spoke Steffensen. These contradictions resonate in us as we mourn the loss of brothers and sisters in Christ who are yet united as members of Christ’s body (Romans 12:4). Unlike the cold, lifeless stones that adorn gravesites, Rev. Steffensen reminded the Conference that the faithful remain forever “engraved on the palm” of God’s hand. They live in us as our church seeks unity, in spite of division over human sexuality. They speak to us through John 12:9-17, which was Rev. Steffensen’s chosen sermon text: “Now remain in my love … [now] go and bear fruit” (John 12:9b, 16b). Rev. Steffensen challenged the Conference


to heed Jesus’ seeming


contradiction: stay in deep relationship with God in order to go and bear fruit for the gospel. Remaining in relationship with God “is not the leftovers, is not remaining unchanged.” Remaining in God’s love


means seeing God as the perfect home. As an Annual Conference, we took time to remain in God’s love together during the Celebration of Death and Resurrection. Together


we celebrated communion,


a foretaste of the coming feast in glory. Together we supported an offering to the Cup of Water Fund. Together we cried and sang with saints – past, present, and future.


“What fruit are we called to produce?”


asked Rev. Steffensen. In reply she quoted demographic data that suggests upward of 80 percent of people in our districts still do not know Christ’s redeeming and forgiving love. For the people of the United Methodist Church and the Susquehanna Annual Conference, fruitfulness is not gauged by buildings or titles or committees … it’s not even about whose sin is bigger than the others. Fruitfulness is found in the core of our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.


SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT


We are pleased to announce our new, lower investment management fees as follows:


For Accounts up to $1,000,000, the fee is still the low 1.45%


(unchanged for several years)


For Accounts from $1,000,000 to $3,000,000 the fee is 1.2% For Accounts from $3,000,000 to $5,000,000 the fee is 1% For Accounts over $5,000,000, the fee is 0.75%


Please note these fees are flat fees—as soon as an account is over the next tier amount, the ENTIRE AMOUNT, including the first million, is charged the lower management fee rate! These fees are also socially responsible investments which means they endeavor to exclude investments in objectionable


products and services as listed in the Social Principles of the 2012 Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church. Our fees go to support your local and conference wide stewardship education programs along with other value


added services not found in banks or for-profit organizations.


For more information please contact: The United Methodist Stewardship Foundation


Serving the Susquehanna Conference 303 Mulberry Drive, Suite 300 Mechanicsburg, PA 17050-3141 717-766-7343; 717-766-1673 fax: 800-272-0113 sfcpa@susumc.org www.umstewardship.org


The Reverend Phyllis M. Bowers, Executive Director Facebook: facebook.com/SUSUMC and Twitter: twitter.com/SUSCONF


gradually begun to retract their roots, as the membership of the United Methodist Church declines. Youth are absent from pews, and many, many people remain unreached. Even so, there is hope. God is at work in the barren soil of America, opening to the gospel more hearts than ever before. Missions of the church continue to expand and impact thousands. God is creating new places for new people all over the world, and He is working in the United Methodist Church. While


within the future may lay


challenges and division, in God there is success and unity. This was no more apparent than when a final song was sung at the end of the service, and 1,300 voices became one. During that hymn, all speculated states of the church were effaced by a single reality possessed by every member of Annual Conference: The church is alive, and it is alive in Christ together.


This is the FINAL YEAR for the


Alive in Christ TOGETHER (red & black) T-shirts


2 for $10.00 Buy 1, Get 1 Free You can still get


Susquehanna Conference Neck Wallets for $4.00 at the Young People’s Ministry display table.


Supplies are limited!


Funds collected from the sale of t-shirts and neck wallets will go to subsidize new t-shirts for the new quadrennium starting in 2017.


3


BOGO SALE


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