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Pettit, Editor Thomas
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For the week ending September 29, 2000
Updated Saturday, September 30, 2000 11:32 AM
Bishop at Jones for World Communion Bishop Beverly J. Shamana, in her first public appearance in the Golden Gate District, will be the preacher and celebrant at World Communion Sunday, this Sunday, Oct. 1 (4pm) at Jones Memorial UMC in San Francisco. It will be held at Ben Franklin School (Scott & O'Farrell Streets), where Jones has been holding services while its new facility is being built on the Post Street site of its former facility. A "barn-raising" offering will be collected for the Jones building project at the event sponsored by San Francisco United Methodist Mission (SUMM). Click here to go to "Jones Opening Delayed"
Shook Appointed to Sonoma UMC Judith Shook, pastor of Aptos UMC and formerly pastor at St. Paul's Community UMC in Point Arena, was appointed by Bishop Beverly Shamana as pastor of Sonoma UMC. She begins there Dec. 1. Ted Virts, the present Sonoma pastor, was appointed in August to Bakersfield UMC by Bishop Melvin Talbert to replace Warner Brown, elected a bishop in July and appointed to the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference (Denver Area).
South San Francisco Merger The two South Francisco UMCs -- Aldersgate and St. Paul's -- merged on Sept. 10. The vote was 37 to 2 at Aldersgate, and 18 to 2 at St. Paul's. The new church is called "Aldersgate-St. Paul's UMC" until it later decides a new name. By the end of the year it is to decide which site to retain. In October the new church is worshiping at St. Paul's; in November it will worship at Aldersgate. In September it began a six-month process with Church Development Systems consultants Richard Southern and Robert Norton to create a vision for the new church. St. Paul's reported a membership of 96 at the end of 1999, and an average worship attendance of 27. Aldersgate reported 84 and 45, respectively. The Rev. John Song is in his second year as pastor at both.
Millbrae/San Bruno Deliberate San Bruno UMC and Community UMC of Millbrae merged in June. They are deliberating among five possible new church names: Community, Christ, Hope, New, and Peninsula.
Ridge View Voter Education Ridge View UMC in San Francisco will co-sponsor, with other community groups, a forum on the new district elections of supervisors the city is instituting this year. No candidate will be endorsed at the Saturday, Oct. 7, event at the Visitacion Valley Community Center from 1 to 4 pm; it is purely informational. Visitacion Valley is in the new District 10, an area with no incumbent supervisor and a wide-open race. The many candidates will be invited to speak. The Department of Elections will be demonstrating the new optical scanners for the Nov. 7 election.
Philo Nets $3,944 from Apple Pie! Philo UMC will be paying its 2001 apportionments from the sales of homemade apple pie at the Mendocino County Fair and Apple Show Sept. 21-24. The receipts totaled $3,944. The annual event has been going on 50 years. It was 210 pies -- plus ice cream, cake, pie-crust cookies, and drinks -- sold from a collective baking effort by the smallest congregation in the Golden Gate District. Philo UMC also coordinated the ecumenical worship service at the Fair at which ten congregations of many denominations were represented. Highlights were a Hispanic chorus from St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church, and a youth chorus from the Chapel of the Woods Baptist Church.
Pine Campaigns for Senior Housing Pine UMC in San Francisco has pledged $45,000 over three years for Kokoro Assisted Living -- a 54-unit senior residential facility that will break ground in the next few months in Japantown. Pine is one of 11 churches in the Japanese American Religious Federation that is producing the seed money for the facility to be built on property now owned by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. Kokoro translates from Japanese as a blend of heart, mind, and inner spirit.
Jones Opening Delayed The first worship service in a new church facility of Jones Memorial UMC in San Francisco, first anticipated for Easter, may not occur in this millennium milestone year. Markita Cooper, the building committee chair, reports several obstacles Jones has contended with. There was a misunderstanding about whether contractors would be paid. That was resolved with a new child-care partnership arrangement that netted a payment of $578,640. Among those credited for the resolution were attorney Michael Burke, Jones lawyer Richard Johns, Redevelopment commissioner Leroy King, and San Francisco planning director Gerald Green. Earlier in the summer, Jones needed $47,000 for PG&E work. The congregation raised the funds in three days. You will learn it here first -- in the new electronic Golden Gate Span (a special edition if necessary) -- when Jones schedules its opening day (unless you are a Jones member, of course).
Burlingame Thanksgiving For a second year, Burlingame UMC will hold a free Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, Nov. 23 at 1pm. "We plan to fill the needs of people in our community who would otherwise be alone or don't have access to a bountiful meal," said member Ruth Ann Poulos. "With help from congregation members and local merchants, we'll feed turkey and all the fixin's to 150 people" the same number as last year.
Edwards in England The Rev. Nymphas Edwards of Burlingame UMC and his wife Lois led a group of 11 American United Methodists on a tour of England in August. They went to Epworth, where John and Charles Wesley grew up; to Oxford University, where they started their intimate devotions that led to the founding of a major Christian denomination; to Bristol, where coal miners, shunned by the Anglican Church in the 1740s, had tears running down their blackened faces from hearing that salvation was available for even them; to Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, and Buckingham Palace. At the home of Charles Wesley, they saw the desk and chair he used to write his world-famous hymns.
District Training Days The Golden Gate District Council on Ministries (DCOM) decided last Saturday to sponsor two District Training Days next March. One will be held in one of the southern two counties on March 17; the other probably at a Sonoma County church on March 24. The District Superintendent will invite experts on various matters from the Conference to train in such areas as keeping financial records, stewardship, evangelism, and youth events. Churches will be asked to send members who deal with the various issues. More details later, but mark your calendars now for the more convenient of the two dates.
Hillsdale Hosts Lay Speaker Training Hillsdale UMC in San Mateo is host church for five successive Sundays -- Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29 -- from 6 to 9 pm for Basic Lay Speaker Training. It is presented by the Institute for Lay Theological Studies in Berkeley. The Golden Gate and Bayview Districts are presently combining lay speaker training. Downs UMC in Oakland will host two weekends for CLayM (Conference Lay Minister) training, Oct. 27-28 and Nov. 17-18 (7-9pm Fridays; 9-3 Saturdays). CLayM graduates may be placed in a pool for selection by District Superintendents for assignment to a church.
Temple 'Radical for Christ' Temple UMC in San Francisco will sponsor a "Radical for Christ" youth summit (junior and senior high ages) on Saturday, Oct. 28 --11am to 6pm, featuring San Francisco pastors, live music, free food, and surprise celebrities. The Rev. Schuyler Rhodes says it will be the first of several outreach events to build the future of the Church.
Healdsburg's Olympics Healdsburg Federated Church hosted four other Healdsburg churches this summer for Vacation Bible School with an Olympic Games theme: "Hope of Glory -- Jesus in You." A total of 118 children participated. The other churches were St. John's Catholic, St. Paul's Episcopal, Christian Bible, and Alexander Valley Christian Fellowship. One boy, making a difficult Olympic jump, said, "I have to pray about this." He did so and succeeded.
Sonoma Couple Joins VIM Nicaraguan Effort Sandra and Gordon Metzger of Sonoma UMC traveled to Nicaragua this year as part of a Volunteers in Mission team of seven to help hundreds of kids in Managua. Gordon Metzger is coordinator of Sonoma UMC's Volunteers in Mission. The group focused on helping boys who are trying to escape hunger, rejection and abuse. Getting to the mission site in Nicaragua was difficult -- by crowded bus, ferry, and pick-up truck. Once there the Metzgers helped to install roofs, plumbing, showers and electricity poles as the boys learned reading, math, carpentry, mechanics, and self-respect and respect for others. They also played at a beach. Sandra Metzger reported that the children were very much in need of hugs.
Charge Conferences Next Week Thursday, Oct. 5 -- Mount Tamalpais UMC, Mill Valley, 7:30pm Friday, Oct. 6 -- at Redwood City First UMC, cluster conference of First UMC and Woodside Road UMC, 7:30pm. Saturday, Oct. 7 -- Windsor Community UMC, 7:00 potluck; 7:30 conference.
Pastoral Thought of the Week"Faced with inevitable winter, what does nature do in autumn? It scatters the seeds that will bring new growth in the spring -- and scatters them with amazing abandon." -- The Rev. John Song, South San Francisco