Graduation Celebration

Wesley United Methodist Church in Vinton is supporting about a dozen high school graduates with special needs this year. As participants in the Community Partnership for Protecting Children initiative for Benton and Iowa Counties, they are helping students who are aging out of foster care or living on their own.

The Graduation Celebration, recently featured on KCRG-TV9, is hosting parties for these youth to enjoy their school achievements in ways that are not readily available to them. They arrange for graduation photo packages from volunteer photographers. Dishes, bedding, and other supplies have been donated from the people of their community to help the students set up their own households. The group is also collecting funds with a goal of $1,000 for each student.

Leaders at Wesley UMC have been working on their vision to be “A Church for All God’s Children” this year. They are developing more intentional ways to reach out to children, youth, and their families. The Graduation Celebration is just one example of their ongoing commitment to this vision.

Their visioning process emerged during their studies through the Healthy Church Initiative. HCI is supported this year in part with a $60,000 grant from Parish Development. These funds are made possible through the apportionment gifts of United Methodist churches throughout the state of Iowa.

Ministry Alignment

Several staffing changes are taking place this year in response to the Iowa Conference’s strategic priority of directing our resources to our common goals. The Healthy Conference Initiative is guiding the implementation process to equip our leaders and our local churches to adapt and thrive in our current and ever-changing ministry environment.

Joni Mardesen, the Director of Human Resources, plays a key role in helping to align the Iowa Conference’s organizational structures and staffing resources for the sake of our mission and vision. Her work has included consulting with a variety of conference leaders to develop job descriptions for three Directors in New Communities of Faith, Congregational Excellence, and Clergy and Leadership Excellence.

Her office and the Human Resources Committee of the Iowa Conference continues to support alignment efforts by encouraging staff covenants to guide working relationships, especially as job roles are adjusted. The team also facilitates recruitment and hiring, compensation planning, performance management, and training and development practices for staff across the state.

In 2018 the office is receiving $102,380 in apportionment gifts from the United Methodist churches of Iowa. Additional monies for their ministries are provided by the Conference Board of Pension for the administration of the benefit plans of employees.

Conversations with Bishop Haller

St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Iowa City recently hosted one of several events being held throughout the state with Bishop Laurie Haller. She is exploring options with lay and clergy leaders to maintain and strengthen the unity of The United Methodist Church in light of our differences regarding human sexuality.

Participants discussed the most important values and convictions of their faith in Christ. They also learned about two proposals that are being developed for consideration at a special global gathering of church leaders in St. Louis next February. Although a final proposal is not yet completed, information about its development through the work of the Commission on a Way Forward is available and updated online regularly.

United Methodist bishops all around the world are pursuing these same conversations in their conferences to help the Church determine how we may remain united for the sake of our shared mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. The Episcopal Fund, which pays bishops’ salaries, covers their office and travel expenses, and provides their pension and health-benefit coverage, is made possible with the support of each annual conference of our global Church. In 2018 the Iowa Conference is contributing $375,148 toward these purposes in apportionment gifts from United Methodist churches throughout the state.

Demographics Aid Mission

MissionInsite provides demographic information to local church and conference leaders to help them in their outreach efforts. One way of learning about new people in our communities is to study statistical data provided through the U.S. Census. Demographics assist both established churches and new communities of faith better understand and engage their mission field.

Local church leaders participating in Healthy Church Initiative consultations, for instance, prepare a demographic report provided by MissionInsite to help them assess their outreach potential. The material can identify persons or groups who are not being reached by our churches and offer insights about how we can develop relationships with them.

In addition to HCI and other church revitalization processes, the demographic information is used by superintendents as they consider pastoral appointments and by conference leaders to identify and start new communities of faith. Bruce Wittern, the chair of the Iowa Conference Standing Committee on Parish Development said, “We have seen a great increase in the use of MissionInsite over the past couple of years.”

His committee invests $10,000 annually in a contract with MissionInsite so that this demographic information can be available free of charge to all churches and leaders within the Iowa Conference. These funds are made possible through the apportionment gifts of United Methodist churches across the state.

 

Lake Mills Food Shelf

The Lake Mills Food Shelf is a part of a network of about 500 partner agencies with the Food Bank of Iowa—food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, schools, and others—who serve Iowans in need directly.

“Right now in Iowa,” the Food Bank reports on their website, “one in eight people struggles with food insecurity.” In addition, “one in five children may not have food at home.”

The Lake Mills Food Shelf, alongside their many partners across the state, invites the people of their area to be Difference Makers. With donations of food, funds, or time, supporters respond to hunger needs by providing “food for Iowa children, families, and seniors to lead full and active lives, strengthening the communities where they live.”

The Food Shelf was originally located in Asbury United Methodist Church in Lake Mills. This ministry was one of the practical ways the people of their congregation were transforming their world as disciples of Jesus Christ. The pantry is now located in the Helgeson Civic Center, which allows the organization to have set hours with a staff of volunteers.

Apportionment gifts from the United Methodist churches of Iowa have supported the Food Shelf through a $2,500 Matthew 25 grant from the North Central District.