Rio Texas Conference Mission Service & Justice Ministries - Connection Opportunities

November 2020

1. Transformational Communities Network www.tcnriotx.org program, formerly Transformational Communities of Praxis, is requesting Team Applications for the 2021 program cohort. The Information Sessions are scheduled on Fridays – November 20, December 18 - 2020, and January 8 - 2021 at 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm. Register for one of these sessions. DOWNLOAD Program Information and Team Application Team applications are due January 13, 2021. The program will begin February 5, 2021 with a team orientation session. Up to 5 teams will be selected for 2021 Transformational Communities Network class.

2. Rio Texas ERT’s Respond in Louisiana https://riotexasresponse.org/latest-news-1/2020/10/6/rio-texas-erts-respond-in-louisiana

3. Mission: Border Hope – Eagle Pass …serving asylum seekers again https://www.missionborderhope.org/

4. Global Mission Fellow - Open for Applications https://umcmission.org/global-mission-fellows/

5. Religion & Race Learning Opportunities

   1. https://gcorr.teachable.com/p/antiracism101   

   2. https://www.r2hub.org/courses-and-workbooks/p/implicit-bias-workbook

6. Harvest Sunday 2020 – Beginning November 1 throughout November… Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9hNRTdN-ro&feature=youtu.be Food Insecurity: https://map.feedingamerica.org/ 

7. Texas Border Collaboration Network November Webinar Tuesday, November 17 from 10:30am to 12Noon. This is the last webinar of 2020. The monthly webinar series will resume Tuesday, January 19, 2021. Register here: https://bit.ly/3jmThwU

8. Christian Community Development Network: Learning & Connection Session - Wednesday, November 18 from 10:30am to 12:00pm – Register here: https://bit.ly/2Tn5uqN  Moving from Charity to Justice & Wednesday, December 16 from 10:30am to 11:30am – Register here: https://bit.ly/3okqax

9. Global Ministries - #StillInMission Episode 25 - Thursday, November 19 at 11:00 AM EST / 10:00 AM Central. Registration: https://gbgm.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwsceitqjIvHNXfs7fUHGypHG4qQMV6cSpi  Want to hear recordings of previous meetings?  Visit our vimeo channel. Want to have a missionary join on of your events?  Click here!  New Episodes in 2021 – schedule forthcoming

10. U.M. ARMY LOCAL: Thanksgiving Weekend November 27-29, 2020 & Christmas December 27-30, 2020 https://www.umarmy.org/news/2020/may/um-army-re-imagined-due-covid-19

11. Global Ministries Missionary Presentation Monday, November 30 from 11:30am to 1:00pm. Our Conference Missionary, Rev. Emily Everett, will be presenting about serving as the International Partnership Promoter for Shade & Fresh Water in Brazil.  Register here: https://bit.ly/37E2uP0.

12. Church & Society - CALLED SEMINAR 2020: Conversations and Advocacy on Educational Equity via ZOOM. November 30 – December 1. Register: https://www.umcjustice.org/news-and-stories/called-seminar-2020-registration-1154

13. Border Sponsorship Forum – Tuesday December 1 at 5pm – 6:30 pm https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0PiR-1T9T06Ix9fAQRvyGQ. Meets monthly 1st Tuesday/month at 5:00pm via ZOOM

14. Mission Monthly Networking Session Thursday, December 3 from 10:45am to 12:00 noon. For ZOOM Connection information, contact Nicole Alabi at nicolea@riotexas.org.

15. Russia Initiative Webinar - December 9 at 10:00 am to 11:00 am Central – U.S. Register at https://bit.ly/2UoM7ya. Join the Moscow Theological Seminary in our celebration of Advent and preparation for Christmas in Russia. We'll share stories of faith and miracles, as you listen to sacred music from our Russian heritage.

Transformational Communities Network program - Requesting Team Applications for the 2021 Program Cohort

The Transformational Communities Network www.tcnriotx.org program, formerly Transformational Communities of Praxis,  is requesting Team Applications for the 2021 program cohort. As a congregation considers submitting a team application, three INFORMATION SESSIONS are provided as a time for an interested team to:

• share about their community engagement ministries,

• learn how the Transformational Communities Network program works and how the tools and process can enhance and transform their community engagement ministries, and

• answer any questions the interested team may have

The Information Sessions are scheduled on Fridays – November 20, December 18 - 2020, and January 8 - 2021 at 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm. Register for one of these sessions. DOWNLOAD Program Information and Team Application. Team applications are due January 13, 2021. The program will begin February 5, 2021 with a team orientation session. Up to 5 teams will be selected for 2021 Transformational Communities Network class.

The program is designed for a church and community resident team to begin the process or go deeper in the application of community development with the end goal in mind of effecting measurable transformation within a given community. It is hoped that through this program, models of ministries applying community development principles and processes will emerge to serve as reference points and even teaching centers of spiritual transformation within the church and community. The program’s Vision is to see Transformational Communities, made up of local churches and community residents and partners, actively seeking shalom through learning, relationship-building, community development, and mutual support. Its Mission is to build a network of transformational communities by equipping locally imbedded leaders with training and ongoing support for the work of shalom. 

Over a one-year period, participants will gain training, knowledge, and experience in the application of a theology of Shalom, asset-based community development [ABCD], facilitation techniques, action planning and application, identifying underlying contradictions and challenges within communities, while deepening their understanding of God’s will for their community. Training will be presented in an online format. Training includes online reflection conversations, and teaching webinar presentations. A member of the Transformational Communities Network Development Team is assigned to accompany each team on their transformational journey.

Thanks and blessings,

Transformational Communities Network - Development Team

Cynthia Engstrom

Mickey McCandless

Dionisio Salazar

Amy Moritz

Bob Clark

Abel Vega

Lance Freeman

Local Initiatives Grant 2021 sponsored by the Council of Bishops of the UMC

This grant is for local initiatives for ecumenical/interfaith ministries. The grant is annual and is for $1,000 to utilize in 2021.

Deadline to apply is September 14, 2020.

Link to application

Rio Texas Conference RUSSIA INITIATIVE: An Inspirational & Informative Webinar

Wednesday, July 22, 2020 via ZOOM

11:30 am U.S. Central / 7:30 pm Moscow

Click Here To Register

Moscow Theological Seminary newsletter

The Rio Texas Conference RUSSIA INITIATIVE invites you to join this inspirational and informative webinar via ZOOM. During this session, you hear about the origins of our connection to the United Methodist Church of Russia and Moscow Theological Seminary. We will hear testimony from seminary students as the seminary approaches 25 years of development, growth, and producing critical leadership for the church in Russia and beyond.

For more information about the RTC RUSSIA INITIATIVE, contact Cindy Stone at stonecj12@gmail.com. Your gifts to RTC ADVANCE #2038 supports the ministries of the United Methodist Church in Vologda, District Superintendent travel funds, and Moscow Theological Seminary student scholarships.

Cindy Stone - Moscow Theological Seminary Board Member; Chair, Russia / Eurasia Initiative, Rio Texas Conference

For many years, I have listened to stories of what brought these young people, not just young in age but also young in faith, to study at the Moscow Theological Seminary. One thing stands out. They knew in the deepest parts of their hearts that there had to be something more. Something that would give them hope as they all struggled with loss, some with addiction or abandonment, others who sought to be loved. They wanted answers, and through their search, they found God was the answer. Their faith and their faithful way of life has amazed and inspired me. In a culture where complete trust and openness are rare, they have learned to reach out and share with the sick, the poor, the orphaned, the homeless, the stranger. They are each other’s family, and I have been blessed beyond all imagination as they have welcomed me into it.

Sergei Nikolaev, PhD - President, Moscow Theological Seminary and E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism in Ruediger and Gerlinde Minor Chair

In 1991, God inspired a bold, dynamic vision among leaders of the United Methodist Church: restore the church in Russia and Eurasia and bring more people to God. This historical moment resulted from the dissolution of the former Soviet Union and opened doors that had been closed for more than 100 years. Broad-based support from generous Methodists and their churches in the United States generated not only a resurgence of Methodist Christianity across the Eurasian continent but also the establishment of a Methodist Seminary in the heart of Moscow. In 2022, the Moscow Theological Seminary will celebrate its 25th anniversary.

The 1997 graduating class—the first group—of Methodist seminarians included two students who would embody exceptional theological training and leadership skills. Following initial studies at the Moscow Seminary, these two men attended Methodist seminaries in America. One of them, Sergei Nikolaev, received a Doctor of Philosophy from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University; the other, Eduard Khegay, received a Doctor of Ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. Sergei now serves as president of the Moscow Seminary, and Eduard as bishop of Eurasia, the largest parish in the worldwide Methodist Connection.

In combination with their respective predecessors, these leader/scholars have been pivotal in helping the church in Russia and Eurasia grow from just a handful of congregations in 1991 to more than 100 today, across all 11 time zones. In a complementary way, the seminary’s innovative class scheduling, focus on solid biblical and theological education, and emphasis on vital spiritual formation have resulted in a student body of more than 90 students at this time. This population represents a larger student body than that of some American and all European seminaries. God certainly blesses His church in wondrous ways.

Elena Melnikova, D-Min - Vice President for Development and Administration, Moscow Theological Seminary

What is it that makes people seek to know God and be part of God’s work through this rather young religious education establishment? United Methodism in Russia is not mainstream. In many ways, it is counter-cultural for a society that still honors patriarchy and high church traditions associated with the Russian Orthodox Church. But it is very appealing, especially to the younger generation, because it brings new life and vigor, and because the Russian Methodist Church is about relationship rather than ritual. Russian Methodism has inherited good things from the Orthodox Church—mysticism and the spirituality of hearts strangely warmed—and went further to combine it with the Western simplicity of community and the Open Table.

Another thing that makes the Moscow Theological Seminary the desired place to be for many of its students is the supportive approach of women in ministry, be it an ordained ministry or lay leadership. The two vice-presidents of the Seminary hold the DMin from Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C. Elena Melnikova and Olga Kobzeva, both Moscow Seminary alumni, have a heart for empowering women, especially those who are still reluctant to use the power God has equipped them with for doing ministry in this world. The United Methodist Seminary in Moscow is the only place offering this level of education, where women can study for ministry if they decide to answer their call.

But the greatest asset and treasure of the Seminary is its people - staff and students alike. John Wesley once said: “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.”

And this is exactly what God is doing through the ministry of the Moscow Theological Seminary.

Three new teams preparing to engage communities for transformation

Three new teams, Henson Chapel UMC – Gonzales, Evans Chapel UMC – Gonzales, and Trinity UMC – San Antonio will come together in February to begin their learning journey in preparing to engage their communities for transformation. The Transformational Communities of Praxis [TCOP] www.tcopraxis.org program, now beginning its’ 4th year, will convene the teams at the conference center for three intensive learning sessions in February, May, and October.

During these sessions, participants will garner community engagement skills to enhance and nuance their current connections and relationships with the communities they serve. Utilizing the skills learned, in October, the teams will host respective community convening events each inviting church members, neighbors, and community stakeholders to envision how they can work together for long-term sustainable change and community transformation. 

The overall outcomes of the TCOP program are: a team prepared to lead the church to be missional in the context served, cultivating a mindset shift from scarcity to abundance, developing new relationships with neighbors and other community stakeholders, cultivating new practices for leading and innovating, creating a plan of action for seeking the shalom of the community, and the 2020 team becoming part of a greater community making the same journey.

The TCOP class of 2020 will have opportunity to connect with regional / national community development conferences as well as cultivate a micro-project beneficial in the development of their communities. The Praxis development team will accompany each team in their developments through out the year and beyond. The teams also now become part of the growing community development network within the conference and beyond.  

Kinney County Coalition Initiative Emerges

Kinney County, Texas is  a border county with 3,800 residents. Brackettville, the county seat town has 1,740 residents. Over the past six years or so, Hope Outreach Center, an community extension ministry of First UMC Brackettville has served as a connector of various social services to the needs of residents.

Prior to the birth of Hope Outreach, the church connected and worked with residents on improving and weatherizing their homes. It was through those interactions that the church began to hear their neighbors’ and new found friends’ concerns. Overtime, understanding the socio-economic, health, education, and employment concerns of the community, it has become increasingly apparent and pressing to work towards adequate responses. 

In 2017, a team from FUMC / Hope Outreach became part of the initial learning cohort in the conference’s community development program – Transformational Communities of Praxis [TCOP] www.tcopraxis.org. The deeper community development work now begins. Through the convening of the church, community residents, local government officials, and people of faith, residents are coming together to envision the transformational development of Kinney County.

In November 2019, about 30 residents came together to envision some actions they could take over time to strengthen their community as well as reflecting on what the holistic well-being of the community might look like [Shalom – Jeremiah 29:7]. The gathering was also a means of measuring the will of the community to embrace the development of a county-wide coalition to embrace the long-term sustainability of the vision. 

In 2020, the Kinney County Coalition will meet over the next four months to garner the skill-set and mind-set of organizing and mobilizing the community for sustainable and measurable change.  

Considering a Rural Initiative in the Rio Texas Conference

Of the 83 Texas counties composing the bounds of the Rio Texas Conference, 56 to 62 counties [67% to 75%] are considered to be rural, depending on the various state systems that classify urban and rural settings.

Recently, various pastors and laity met to share joys and challenges of the presence of the church and its’ ministry in rural community settings. The conversation was convened by the Transforming Communities Vision Team with the intent of garnering interest and insights of the value of launching a rural initiative in the Rio Texas Conference.

When asked about their interest in being past of this particular conversation, some items mentioned by participants were: passion for the small church and its’ role in the community, seeing the rural church as the heart and soul of the UMC, the rural church has much to give, yet feels at times like an unheard voice, interest to hear from others serving in similar settings, and seeing what additional resources might be available to support and enhance the ministry work of the rural church. 

In brainstorming possible issues to address that can increase support for rural churches and the pastors serving them, some next steps cited were: enhancing the ways pastors serving in rural settings are cared for, broadening resource support for clergy and congregations, providing training opportunities for clergy and rural congregations and communities, and lifting up success stories and the celebration highlights of rural congregations and communities. 

In February, the Transforming Communities Vision Team will gather to look for ways to cultivate this initiative through follow up and further conversation with participants of the initial gathering as well as broadening the conversation to connect with pastors and rural congregations and communities throughout Rio Texas. 

As the Transformational Communities of Praxis [TCOP] program www.tcopraxis.org begins training new teams in 2020, two of the incoming teams are from rural communities.

Through TCOP, deeper community development work has begun in Brackettville [pop. 1,740], where through the convening of the church, community residents, local government officials, and people of faith, residents are coming together to envision the transformational development of Kinney County [pop. 3,800].

FUMC / Hope Outreach Center – Brackettville was part of the initial TCOP learning cohort in 2017.  

Holding Institute Featured on Texas Public Radio

It started out as a school for Mexican-American children who weren't allowed in Texas public schools. Now, it's a shelter for migrants from Central America.

A Honduran woman sat with her young son outside the Holding Institute, a community center in Laredo that cares for migrants, as the sun began to set. It was a special moment of serenity in a place that also offers migrants some stability and safety.

The institute was founded in 1860 as a school for Mexican-American children who weren’t allowed in Texas public schools. It takes up an entire block in downtown Laredo and is filled with families just like hers.

The mother and her son were in a section where kids can play basketball or enjoy the playground and swing set.

“My dream has always been to find the best life for my son because I didn’t want anything bad to happen to him,” she said.

The woman didn’t want her name used in fear that speaking out would hurt her claim for asylum. She said after she crossed the Rio Grande with her son they turned themselves over to Border Patrol agents and were sent to a processing center, then transferred to another facility.

After being fully processed, she and her son were sent to a local church in Laredo, but the church was full, so they ended up at the Holding Institute instead.

READ MORE & LISTEN ON TPR.ORG

Read about Rio Texas’ Growing Response to the Migrant Crisis

Vitalizing Cohort with a Successful Experiment

Devine FUMC hosted a community-wide Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday the day before Easter.  We had about 400 in the community show up including about 200 children who hunted for about 7,500 candy-filled eggs.  We gave away about 50 sets of Resurrection Eggs to families to help them share the meaning of Easter. We had a plastic egg recycling station that doubled as a photo backdrop.  We had a “sharing table” where kids with too many could share with kids with too few eggs.  We asked some youth to be “helpers” and gave each a lanyard with a nametag and a bag of candy.  We gave away prizes at each of the five egg hunts, and an additional prize at a sixth egg hunt for children who arrived late.  

The postal carrier for the area told one of our members, “In all my years delivering the mail in Devine, I have never seen anything like this--many people and children gathered at one place.”  

Many in the community responded to our invitations, attending Easter Sunday where we worshiped 208 in three services, a 39% increase over the previous year.  Some community families came by our office the following week to drop off plastic eggs, wanting to support us in making the Egg Hunt an annual community event.  It will be!  We praise God for the incredible blessing we all shared.  It will be!  We praise God for the incredible blessing we all shared.

Your fellow servant in Christ,
Pastor Harold Dailey

Hill Country District Finishes Another Lenten Used Clothing Drive

"Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days," says the book of Ecclesiastes. It has to be true if it’s in the Bible, right?

Well, the bread Rio Texas churches have been casting on the waters came home last week.

Johnson City UMC, in partnership with Hill Country District churches, collected used clothing and turned it over to the Seventh-day Adventists’ Community Service Disaster Response center in Keene, Texas.

The Disaster Used Clothing Drive, conducted every Lent, spread to churches all around Central Texas.

The Adventists make the rounds of participating churches by picking up the bags and boxes and taking the clothes to their warehouse where they are sorted, sanitized, packed and stored until a disaster requires used clothing. They loaded their trucks and waited for the morning when the survivors come out of the shelters.

A clean change of clothes is almost as welcome as a hot shower. Collecting in advance of the disaster is important because the need for used clothing usually lasts only 24-48 hours. These clothes are ready when the spring tornados and floods hit, or the summer wildfires and storms, or the fall hurricanes.

"This winter was difficult because we were collecting used clothes for the asylum-seekers on the border at the same time we were collecting for the Adventists,” explained Pastor Lee Romero of the First United Methodist Church: Johnson City.

“We were afraid we would short-change one need or the other, but the people of Johnson City stepped up and filled both needs.”

When Customs and Border Protection released approximately 100 refugees a day in Eagle Pass, the Methodists announced a call for more clothing. The Adventists quickly agreed the situation was a disaster and filled up a truck.

The Rev Becky Baxter Ballou thanked Marshall Gonzales, Director of Community Services, who was driving the truck, for all the clothes he was giving her.

“Don’t thank me too much,” Gonzales replied. “Most of these clothes are what we picked up from you Methodists last spring. We’ve just been storing it for a year.”

Then he and his empty truck set off to make this year’s rounds of churches, winding up his route in Johnson City, where the First Baptist, First Christian, and First Methodist Churches finished filling him back up again, and the truck rolled off to Keene to start the cycle all over again.

“There is no way any one denomination could have done this alone,” said Romero. It takes all of us partnering together to follow Jesus’ instruction to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for the stranger. Doing what Christ tells us is basic to being a Christian. We each take our guidance from the same book."

Written by George Barnette

College students visit Perkins and Adam Hamilton

Texas State students ministry leaders recently explored graduate school options at the Perkins School of Theology at SMU in Dallas. While at Perkins, students joined a talk by Adam Hamilton on the "Future of a Diverse/Divided Church." This seminary trip was part of a grant awarded to the United Campus Ministry at Texas State from the Young Clergy Initiative of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of The United Methodist Church.

Written by Rev. Todd Salmi

Hill Country District Asks for Donations of Clothes: Lenten Disaster Relief Clothing Drive

Hill Country District’s annual Lenten collection officially began Ash Wednesday, March 6. We invite & encourage your church to catch up. We collect wearable used clothes until our partners, the Seventh-day Adventists, send their trucks to collect our collections. This year, the trucks should come the week of April 8-12 to have your space cleared out before the run-up to Easter. The exact schedule will depend on which churches participate and how much each collects. Yes, they can accept hats, belts, and shoes. No, they cannot take swimsuits or used underwear. 

Once they have the clothes we collect, the Adventists take it to their warehouse at Alvarado where it is sorted, sanitized, packaged, and stored until there is a disaster requiring used clothing, then they load their semi and have it parked outside the shelter door in the morning when survivors wake up. The Adventists are nationally known for this disaster ministry, and they tell us the Hill Country District’s collection gives them the most and highest quality clothing of any they have all year. 

Why not just wait for a disaster to collect? Because by then it’s too late. The post-disaster need for used clothing lasts only 24-48 hours. After that, survivors usually can acquire new. There are exceptions, of course, and the Adventists are prepared for that. There also is a difference between survivors who NEED free clothing and those who merely WANT it. NEEDS are short-lived in this case; WANTS are always there. By the time a local church can decide to launch a clothing collection, and run the campaign, then deliver the bags to the disaster area, the NEED is over, and the bags of mixed dirty clothes are just more trash for the landfill. That way doesn’t work. Ours does. 

More information will be forthcoming. The more churches we have participating, the more good we can do. 

Any church in the Rio Texas Conference is welcome to participate. This is the contact information or you can contact Pam at the Hill Country District Office, 830-896-6400, dispro512@gmail.com. 

Written by Pam Elliott

Ministry Builds Ramps for Disabled Rio Grande Valley Residents

McAllen—28 volunteers came out to serve disabled people in need on Feb. 22-23. Both youth and adults served.  They were joined by students from UTRGV Campus Ministries as well.  Three ramps were built and two others were repaired and painted.  

FUMC McAllen’s CORNERSTONE MINISTRY is a ministry that has evolved over the past 26 years into one that serves primarily physically disabled individuals and their families with wheelchair ramps and other assistance.   

In the past few years, they have partnered with the Texas Ramp Project (TRP) in this ministry who provides us the majority of the funds for the supplies for the ramps.

It is such a blessing to come together in service with our neighbors!  To GOD be the GLORY!

"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.  In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God."

-Ephesians 2:19-22

Written by Susan Hellums