To the world you may just be one Small person, but to one person you may be the whole world!

Isn’t this the plot of the local church as well? To be just a small (or large) group of people gathering on Sunday to hear the word of God and then keep the doors of the church building closed the other days of the week. Yet, the church could be the whole world to someone or some group that needs to hear the word of God, if the doors were open to the world.

A Message from the Conference Disaster Response Team

We found out today that the City of Clay has stated they have stopped taking volunteers until Feb 11, 2012.

Please help us spread the word. We apologize that the unexpected word from the city has put a kink in many churches plans.

A Message from United Counseling

United Counseling, formerly United Methodist Pastoral Care and Counseling, Inc., has provided care for the United Methodist clergy, their families and congregations of North Alabama for more than 40 years. We are and always have been open to anyone who needs our services. We are committed to providing the highest quality of care with respect to diversity of religion and beliefs to adults, children, teenagers, couples, groups and families who are in need of therapy and/or psychiatric services.

Since the severe tornadoes in April, 2011, and the more recent storms, our office has made efforts to address the emotional and spiritual health needs of people affected by the storms. Thanks to the support of North Alabama Conference and United Methodist Committee on Relief, we are providing counseling at no charge to anyone directly affected by the tornadoes,

Because we serve North Alabama, we feel it is important that those who need our services do not have to travel so far to access them. Therefore, we have satellite offices throughout North Alabama. Our current satellite locations are Birmingham, McCalla/Bessemer, Gadsden, Huntsville and Tuscaloosa/Northport. United Counseling's Central Office is located at 1313 Alford Avenue in Birmingham. Our phone number is (205) 824-8320. You can also reach us by email at umpcc1313@gmail.com. Visit us on the web at www.unitedcounseling.org.
 

For the next few weeks I’ll be focusing on some of our distinctive Wesleyan beliefs from my book on that subject.

The following information is from the Birmingham Bar. THis information is important for tornado victims—particularly renters. Please note this is time sensitive information. Renters who can no longer live in their homes have 2 weeks from the date of the tornado to notify landlords if they want to terminate their leases.  That date is Feb. 6, 2012.  If the renters don’t cancel they may be obligated to pay rent even if they can’t live in the apartment or house.  This attachment includes all the relevant information and form which may be used.

North Alabama United Methodists are active in response to the storms that struck the Jefferson County area Monday morning, Jan. 23, 2012.

Clay United Methodist Church is serving as the relief center and hub for the Clay community's disaster response efforts. Volunteers in the United Methodist Disaster Warehouse in Decatur have been locating and shipping needed supplies to the affected areas. Beginning Tuesday morning, Early Response Team (ERT) volunteers from churches throughout the North Alabama Conference have been working in the Clay area. Click here to see pictures of some of the volunteers in action.  (If you have pictures of a team from your church working please send them to Danette Clifton at dclifton@northalabamaumc.org.)

Conference Director of Mission and Advocacy Rev. Matt Lacey reminds people, "that as the disaster progresses, we are learning and adapting. Volunteers should keep this in mind when working with ERT teams."

He also noted that on Thursday, January 26, the Clay area will NOT be taking teams because of potential bad weather. The work will resume on Friday, January 27!

We have spoken with the EMA in the Clay area, which was heavily affected by Monday morning's storms, and as of Tuesday, January 24 at 8 a.m., they will be ready to receive Early Response Teams (ERT) from within the North Alabama Conference that fit the following criteria:

• Team leader must have ERT badge current in the last three years.
   
• Team members must have had ERT training at some point.
   
• All individuals must be disaster response sensitive and flexible.

Churches are encouraged to go ahead and have teams assembled and ready to tarp roofs and complete debris removal.

Team members must by 19 years of age and older. The EMA in the area will supervise volunteers and dispatch them. As always, teams are encouraged to maintain flexibility as disaster situations can change quickly.

Teams are to meet Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, at 8 a.m. at Clay United Methodist Church at 6790 Old Springville Road, Pinson, AL 35216. Teams are encouraged to wear your green Disaster Response t-shirts or a shirt from your local United Methodist church.

At this time we are only calling for in-Conference ERT teams. After completion of work, team leaders please email Rev. Jonathan Todd, Central District Disaster Coordinator, at johnctodd@gmail.com with the number of hours worked and number of properties each team assisted.

If you have any questions concerning ERT work, please contact Rev. Matt Lacey at mlacey@northalabamaumc.org.

Our prayers go out to all those affected by last night's storms as lives were lost and homes and buildings were damaged. Our heart goes out especially to those who had to relive the trauma of April 27th, 2011 once again.

I would like to once again urge caution as we begin to assess the situation and let local law enforcement and rescue agencies do their jobs first, by helping those in immediate danger. The most important task right now is opening up lines of communication and getting reports of damage so that we can help when the time comes. We do not discourage neighbors helping neighbors as long as the situation is safe.

Right now as power is out in many areas, communication is a concern. If you have damage to church property or mass damage to a particular area of the conference that has not been reported by the media, please email me at mlacey@northalabamaumc.org, use your smartphone to post on our Facebook wall at www.facebook.com/missionsnal with reports.

We recognize that the people who were effected the most by the storms will not get this email, but we hope that as you get reports from your family and friends, you will relay this information to us. Myself and Rev. John Hassell, the Disaster Response Coordinator for the conference, are working to assess the damage and mobilze ERT teams when the time comes.

Again, please stay safe and do not mobilize any ERT team until the call is sent out and local officials have had time to do their jobs.

Blessings,
Matt

P.S. ERT (Early Response Team) volunteers can begin to prepare for response efforts by getting their team and supplies organized for when the Conference puts out the call for ERT volunteers. He reminds teams that the Conference Disaster Response Team must defer to local officials first and coordinate with them to safely deploy ERT volunteers.

Currently, the most immediate need at this time is for financial gifts to support the disaster response effort. Direct gifts to the North Alabama Conference Disaster Response can be sent to North Alabama Conference, January Storms Disaster Response, 898 Arkadelphia Road, Birmingham, AL 35204.

This week, I continue to focus on some of our distinctive Wesleyan beliefs from my book on that subject.

No motif in the Wesleyan tradition has been more consistent than the link between Christian doctrine and Christian living. Methodists have always been strictly enjoined to maintain the unity of faith and good works, through the means of grace… The coherence of faith with ministries of love forms the discipline of Wesleyan spirituality and Christian discipleship…. Discipline was not church law; it was a way of discipleship. (The United Methodist Book of Discipline)

Our Lord Jesus preached peace, but “not as the world gives.” Peaceful Jesus was from the first a disturber of the status quo. Alas, too often Jesus’ followers have been on the side of peace at any cost, peace as the world gives in opposition to Jesus.

For the next few weeks I’ll be focusing on some of our distinctive Wesleyan beliefs from my book on that subject.

How many times have we failed to keep our New Year’s Resolutions a week into the New Year or maybe not even a day? Each New Year gives us a chance to do away with the old and start over with the new, especially in attitudes.

A Christmas story, can’t remember where I heard it, but I tell it to you as you begin your own celebration of Christmastide.

Christmas is a time of giving. One of the great gifts of the North Alabama Conference is Urban Ministry. This year we celebrated the 35th Anniversary of this vital ministry to the community (West Birmingham) that has the lowest median income in the entire state with a poverty rate of over 40%. Urban Ministry serves more than 7000 each year through the Community Kitchen, Food Pantry, Homelessness Prevention and Emergency Services programs. Then there’s the Urban Kids after-school and summer learning program, the Joe Rush Center for Urban Mission (which offers exterior house painting), and West End Community Gardens (17,000 volunteer hours were given by people this year!).

Pastor Christopher Herbert is leading some dramatic changes at Union Chapel UMC. Most of our small membership churches are in serious decline – but not all! A key to the small congregation having a viable future, from my studies of our small congregations, is the pastor’s leadership toward growth. There is nothing amiss in a congregation being small – there is everything wrong with the idea that churches have no part to play in the growth of the Kingdom of God. After seeing some of the great growth at Union Chapel, I asked Christopher to comment on what is happening there and he gave testimony to a church where “the light shines.”

Will Willimon
 

 “The North Alabama Conference is a model of how to respond to a natural disaster and how to keep responding over the long haul.” That’s what a fellow bishop said to me the other day.

I agree. I couldn’t be more proud of our sustained, active response to the spring storms. We have been hosts to hundreds of UM work teams every week since the storms. We have purchased and equipped staging areas and housing for these volunteers, and we continue to handle hundreds of cases. I asked Nancy Cole, who has been responsible for designing an excellent system of response.

The needs of the Children’s Home are now greater than ever, so they can continue the support of the many individuals and families they touch each month. The United Methodists of North Alabama have generously supported this great work for many years and especially during the holiday season. Let’s make this December a banner month for supporting the Children’s Home!!!

This is the story we Christians name as “Incarnation.” It is a strange, inexplicable story that we happen to believe is true, the story that explains everything, the key to what’s going on between us and God. It is the story that we encounter each year at Advent, that season of reflection and penitence before Christmas.

A reflection on how we listen to our outreach partner's true needs. 

S.T. Kimbrough, a great treasure of our Conference, is the foremost living scholar on the hymns of Charles Wesley. S. T. called my attention to Wesley’s hymn, “Happy the Multitude,” in which Wesley says that we Christians should banish “mine” from our vocabulary. On this week of Thanksgiving, pray with me this prayer, Wesley’s poetic response to Acts 4:32, “The multitude of them that believed, were of one heart, and one soul; neither said any of them, that aught of the things which he possessed, was his own, but they had all things in common. Neither was there any among them that lacked.”