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TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Save the Date - 2017 Academy
- From the Coordinator
- Disaster Response Update
- News from General Conference and Jurisdictional Conference 2016
- List of Current UMVIM Team Openings
- Upcoming Trainings
- GBGM Highlights: Two Global Justice Volunteers from NEJ
- US Project List Updates Needed
- Schedule Tom to Preach or Teach at Your Church
- 2016 Academy Recap
- Recommended Reading
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New Coordinator & Office
Rev. Tom Lank assumed duties as the new Jurisdictional Coordinator on June 1st. The new UMVIM NEJ office will be located at 568 Montgomery Ave, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 on the premises of St. Luke UMC. Tom is available to preach or teach in your congregation or at your next event. Email nejvim@gmail.com to schedule a date.
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September 11-17 Wyoming, PA October 9-15 Clearfield, PA October 22-Nov 5 Kenya October 31-Nov 9 Antigua November 1-15 Ghana November 5-13 Nicaragua March-April Nicaragua April 20-27 Colombia July 2017 Zimbabwe July 18-26 Mozambique September 10-18, 2017 Portugal
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Upcoming Trainings-
Sept. 10th @ First UMC, Manchester, NH
Preparing for Natural Disasters and Human-Caused Threats
(special focus on Active Shooter situations)
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November 5th - VIM Team Leader Training @
GNJUMC Mission & Resource Center, Neptune, NJ
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August 30, 6 p.m. @ Hyde Park UMC
ERT Recertification Course
September 10, 9:30 a.m. @ Bellmore UMC
ERT Recertification Course
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Recommended Reading / Wathcing
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The Servant's Journey
August 2016 Issue
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From Everywhere to Everywhere |
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From the Coordinator
“Jesus said to them, ‘What are you talking about as you walk along?’” (Luke 24:17)
Greetings in the name of Christ!
This is the first edition of our newsletter in quite some time, so I hope you will read it carefully and get caught up to speed. We have launched a re-design, too, and you may have noticed that the new title for the newsletter is “The Servant’s Journey.” The journey of serving with Jesus can take us to our own neighborhood, to the people we ignore every day, or to the far corners of the globe. Jesus’ love knows no boundaries, so neither do we. Now more than ever, mission is "from everywhere, to everywhere."
Since the beginning of the year, there have been floods of volunteers going out from the Northeast in mission locally and globally - 130 teams registered with us, representing 1,837 participants in God’s mission through UMVIM-NEJ. It is estimated that we only hear about roughly 40% of the teams that serve. We know there are more out there and we would like to know them all! Please encourage every team leader to register their teams through our website so that we can continue to tell the story of what God is doing.
In addition to the flood of volunteers, of course, the literal flooding has been a challenge around the country, and the NEJ has been no exception. We all saw evidence of the destruction in West Virginia at the end of June. Ellicott City, Maryland also sustained damage at the beginning of August. Our Disaster Response Coordinators have been hard at work trying to amplify the presence of Christ in those places and our hearts are there with them.
As you read on, I pray that God will spark a new journey for you and continue to connect you with other United Methodists in mission as you go.
Peace of Christ to you, Tom
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Disaster Response Update ERT Badges!!
ERT Badges are now able to be produced by the UMVIM-NEJ office! Trainers who have completed all of their paperwork, including Safe Sanctuaries verifications, should send the supporting documentation and photos to Tom Lank at nejvim@gmail.com. Badges can be returned in a week if all documents are in order. If you still have a backlog of badges that have not been processed, please let Tom know. West Virginia Although there are a few muck-outs left, the transition to long-term recovery is under way. A new Disaster Response Director has been hired and 2 Disaster Case Managers are being sought. Some locations are set up to host volunteers and almost 30 teams have registered already. West Virginia hopes to be able to receive teams by the end of September or early October.
Maryland Ellicott City Minor flooding affected a few dozen homes and businesses in the suburbs west of Baltimore at the beginning of August. No ERT Teams have been requested as the local resources are currently judged adequate for the response. Crisfield Teams are scheduled through October, but the recovery apparatus is winding down after four years. No new teams are being scheduled past October. Special recognition goes to Ben Botti, who has been coordinating the response in Crisfield. Well done!
New Jersey 242 houses complete and 23 houses in process. A Future With Hope, the Greater New Jersey response to Superstorm Sandy, continues to need volunteers for the recovery. AFWH is equipped to accommodate volunteers for the fall and winter with flexible extended weekend crews for you and your congregation. Teams of 4 or more should email Lisa Park or call 732-359-1012 to schedule. Check out the Communities of Hope initiative as well, which aims at long-term asset-based community development using the Communities of Shalom model.New York The NYAC Sandy Recovery ministry is still looking for Done in a Day teams to complete projects in Connecticut and in Brooklyn/Queens. If you are interested please contact Gina Grubbs, Volunteer Coordinator at sandyrecovery@nyac-umc.com, or Tom Vencuss at tvencuss@nyac.com. There is also a great need for rental assistance / mortgage assistance for those still displaced from their homes. Outside the Jurisdiction South Carolina has 3 locations operating to deal with the October 2015 flooding. Louisiana has long-term recovery operations from April flooding and the latest flood response will roll into the existing operation. Mississippi is taking teams for rebuilds. Four of the five conferences in Texas are doing disaster response right now. Holston Conference needs roofing crews. Northwest Detroit Flood Recovery Project still has homes that need to be mucked out from the flooding TWO YEARS ago; UMCOR funding runs out at year-end. Virginia is doing tornado response. Missouri is doing flood recovery. Arkansas is responding to tornadoes and flooding. Oklahoma continually has recovery efforts operating.
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2016 General & Jurisdictional Conference Update
For those affiliated with UMVIM there were many things to celebrate at our global gathering in Portland, Oregon in May: - UMVIM Awareness Sunday is not just a suggestion anymore, the Book of Discipline now says "there shall be an UMVIM Awareness Sunday" in each annual conference. UMVIM Awareness Sunday will be the 3rd Sunday in October (the same day as Laity Sunday!). NEJ will post materials to aid your congregation in celebrating the occasion this Fall.
- Jurisdictional Coordinators moved from the Book of Resolutions to the Book of Discipline. As a grassroots movement, we initially developed outside the official structures of the UMC and are only slowly becoming recognized and incorporated. This change puts UMVIM more firmly on the map.
- One Great Hour of Sharing is now UMCOR Sunday. This should make it clearer to the average person in the pews what their special offering will support.
At the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference held in Lancaster, PA last month: - A Call to Action was passed unanimously to address racism at a structural level in the Jurisdiction. UMVIM was urged "to incorporate training and conversation around systemic racism and cross-racial and cross-cultural power dynamics into their gatherings and ministries." If you are interested in helping to craft training and conversation like these, please contact nejvim@gmail.com.
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| GBGM Highlights:
Two Global Justice Volunteers from the NEJ; Staffing Restructure
Right now, there are two young adults from the Northeastern Jurisdiction serving as Global Justice Volunteers. Nana Kojo Anguah Dei, pictured left, has this to say about his placement:
"I and a fellow Global Justice Volunteer(Justin Bell) are working on creating a website for the United Methodist Church Department of Health and Welfare Liberia in Monrovia, Liberia so they will have an internet presence. We visited four clinics and one hospital around Liberia, where we gathered information and pictures to put on the website. I have attached a picture of myself at Diecke, Guinea where we visited Diecke Clinic, one of the United Methodist clinics that the United Methodist Church Department of Health and Welfare Liberia works with."
Jennifer Shepheard describes her work as a Global Justice Volunteer as follows:
"I am currently serving in Rosita, Nicaragua at Accion Medica Cristiana. AMC works with community health leaders, midwives, and traditional medicine healers to promote health, prevent disease spread, and know what to do in emergency situations. During my time in Rosita, I have been helping with community visits and running workshops to empower community leaders.
In the photograph on the right, she is working to help set up a botiquín, a small pharmacy, that offers medicine at very low costs to ensure everyone in the community has access. Way to go Jennifer! Please pray for our young people as they step out boldly into God's wide mission field! ....
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Check Out These Photos from the 2016 Academy. Remember to put March 26-29, 2017 into your calendar now for the 2017 Academy!
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