Bishop's Advent Offering to support water ministry in Sierra Leone

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:   Grace and Peace to you in the name of our lord and Savior Jesus Christ! For the Advent Offering I am asking you to support the Water and Development Ministry of Sierra Leone, Africa of the West Africa Central Conference.   The Water and Development Ministry improves the quality of life for the people of Sierra Leone. This program provides sanitation and education and medical clinics that meet the needs of a struggling community.Supporting...

GBHEM awards $60,000 in scholarships to Detroit Conference students

Thirty-two individuals from 24 churches in the Detroit Conference were recipients of loans and scholarships from the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry in 2011, the GBHEM reported recently.    Of the $5.3 million awarded in 2011, over $60,000 was given to members of the Detroit Conference. The average scholarship or loan amount was $1,900, and the scholarships and loans ranged from $600 to $5,500.    Of the 32 individuals that received money, 10 are attending...

CFA Approves 2012 Budget

  A $9.6 million budget for the Detroit Conference is being proposed for 2012, according to the conference Council on Finance and Administration, which approved the budget at its February 22 meeting. The budget will now be presented to the members of the 2011 annual conference session for final approval.   The budget is a one percent, or $102,000, decrease from the 2011 budget that is currently in place. Included in the $9.6 million that will be apportioned to local churches is...

Churches Contribute 83 percent of Apportionments in 2010

  Note: This story was originally posted on February 7, 2011. It was updated on Feb. 11, 2011 with additional information.    Sixty-seven percent of the 443 churches in the Detroit Conference paid their conference apportionments at 100 percent or greater in 2010, it was announced recently by Anna Morford, conference treasurer. Among the 296 churches paying 100 percent include 47 that were not able to pay the full amount in 2009.    The Detroit Conference received...

Pastor's Birthday Celebration Warms 1,300 Homeless

  The Rev. Johnny Liles celebrates his birthday on December 8 every year the same way. When the congregation of Troy: Fellowship United Methodist Church asks what gift he would enjoy, the answer is always the same: blankets. Since 1991, Liles has received over 1,300 blankets which he has, in turn, “re-gifted” to the Baldwin Center in Pontiac, Mich.    This gift makes perfect sense. Liles has spent his life as an example of Matthew 25:40: “Truly I tell you,...

Vietnam Mission Sets Goal of Self-Sufficiency

  Imagine a place where the United Methodist Church is growing at a record pace, where 100 new congregations have already been planted in 2010 and the goal is to match that pace in 2011.   Then consider where these congregations are taking root - places with names like Ho Chi Minh City (the former Saigon), Bien Hoa, Phuoc Long, Hue and Hanoi. The Mekong Delta, which for many Americans evokes images of swift boats and the movie Apocalypse Now, is the birthplace of United Methodism...

United Methodist Foundation Announces Staffing Changes

The Rev. Dr. Wayne C. Barrett has formally announced his retirement as President and Executive Director from the United Methodist Foundation of Michigan effective July 1, 2011.  The announcement came today during a meeting of the Board of Directors in Okemos. Barrett will concurrently retire from the West Michigan Conference of The United Methodist Church. At today’s meeting the Board of Directors signaled there are no plans to change investment relations. They approved motions...

Missionary Mary Gladstone-Highland to Visit Detroit Conference in October

  Mary Gladstone-Highland, a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries, will be visiting the Detroit Conference from October 18-28 to make presentations about her ministry. Gladstone-Highland is serving as a Church and Community Worker with the Eastside Mission in Utica, N.Y., where she has been since July, and is one of the missionaries with a covenant relationship with the Detroit Conference.   The Eastside Mission was established in 2008 and is housed at Asbury...

October Edition of the Michigan Area Reporter Now Available

  The October edition of the Michigan Area Reporter, the official newspaper of the Detroit and West Michigan Conferences, it on its way to mailboxes, and the digital edition of the paper has been posted on the Detroit Conference website.   Included in the October edition is:   - An article on 5 O'Clock Rush, a ministry of Detroit: Metropolitan UMC; - A recap of the installation of the Rev. Mark Spaw, Ann Arbor District Superintendent; - A feature on prison ministries in...

Missionaries Lahi and Yema Luhani to Visit Detroit Conference in October

  Dr. Lahi Luhani and his wife Yema, both missionaries with the General Board of Global Ministries, will be visiting the Detroit Conference from October 21-24 to make presentations about their ministry in Kenya. Lahi is a mathematics professor at the Kenya Methodist University, while Yema teaches health classes at KEMU in addition to serving on the teaching staff at the Maua Methodist Hospital Nursing School. The Luhanis are two of the missionaries in a covenant relationship with the...

Society of St. Andrew in the running for $250,000 grant

Pepsi is granting 1.3 million dollars in September to fund ideas that will refresh the world. The Society of St. Andrew’s approach to feeding the hungry will certainly refresh the world of those in need.    You can help feed the hungry by voting every day in September for the Society of St. Andrew (Advance #801600) in the Pepsi Refresh Everything Project, Food & Shelter-$250,000 category.   Each month a different group of ideas submitted from all across the country...

United Methodists Support a Student’s Dreams to Become a Nurse

  Kelsey Jordan, a lifelong United Methodist, figured out pretty early that she wanted to make a difference in the lives of children when she started volunteering at her church’s nursery.    Now a sophomore at the University of Central Oklahoma, Kelsey prepares for a dream career in pediatric nursing. She attributes much of her opportunity to learn and grow as a student to a scholarship she received from the United Methodist Church, funded in part by gracious donations...

World Communion Sunday: Thankful Student off to an Amazing Start

  College sophomore Jamiela Isaiah knows the value of an education and she is working hard her to earn it. Thanks to a scholarship through the World Communion Sunday Offering she is beginning her second year at West Virginia Wesleyan in Buckhannon where she is getting her bachelor’s in psychology.   “It has been a good first year. I made all A’s both semesters, made lots of friends, and found my niche at Chapel Hill United Methodist near campus. I was also...

Advance staff to recognize Detroit Conference for giving excellence, encourage missionary support

from a General Board of Global Ministries press release   Adam Neal, staff member of The Advance at the General Board of Global Ministries will present an award for excellence in giving to the Detroit Annual Conference for the highest amount given to missionary support in the North Central Jurisdiction in 2009.    Adam will also address the Detroit Annual Conference to highlight the Covenant Relationship program.  Covenant Relationships build partnerships between United...

Conference Churches Contribute 79 Percent of Apportionments in 2009

Sixty-one percent of the Detroit Conference’s 450 churches paid their conference apportionments at 100 percent or greater in 2009, the conference treasurer’s office reported recently. Included in those 273 churches are 36 congregations that were not able to contribute the full amount in 2008.  Overall, the Detroit Conference received 79 percent of its apportionments in 2009, a slight increase from the 78 percent it received from churches in 2008 during the height of the recent...

Peace with Justice Offerings changes lives of Liberia’s ex-children soldiers

Frido Kinkolenge, a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries and the EmK Weltmission (United Methodist Church in Germany), is the Director of the Children’s Ministries in the UMC Liberia Annual Conference as well as the EmK Weltmission Children’s Project Manager in Liberia.    Mr. Kinkolenge’s focuses on working with the Liberia ex-combatant children’s ministry. This ministry helps former child soldiers to be reintegrated into the community and...

AU Graduate Earns Ph.D. in the U.S., Returns to Alma Mater to Teach

Fall 2009   by Karen Williams   Many of Africa’s top scientists are leaving their country to live and work in developed countries. Bucking the trend of brain drain from Africa is Dr. Walter Manyangarirwa. An Africa University graduate and lecturer in Entomology and Plant Pathology, Manyangarirwa returned to his native Zimbabwe to give back after earning his Ph.D. in the United States.    In August 2005, Manyangarirwa took a study leave to enroll in the Ph.D....

Black student leaders hopeful for Haiti’s recovery

By Ciona D. Rouse   If New Orleans can recover from Hurricane Katrina, there is hope the people of Haiti will find new life after the massive earthquake that struck Jan. 12.   “I feel hope for those people,” said Charlie Coleman, a student leader at Dillard University in New Orleans.    “I know that those people in Haiti right now are feeling like there’s lost hope and there’s nothing that can be done because it was a natural...

CFA Takes Action As Financial Uncertainties Continue for Conference

With continuing uncertainties in the financial support of the 2009 Detroit Conference budget, the conference Council on Finance and Administration has decided to hold off any decisions relating to salary increases for all conference personnel until further notice, according to the Rev. Carol Johns, chairperson of the conference's financial agency. In addition, the CFA is planning to introduce a resolution to the 2010 annual conference calling for the reduction of the conference's districts from...

Mom turns disappointment into dollars for Student Day

Andrew Giancola of Tarpon Springs, Fla., received scholarships from the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry in 2007 and 2008. This year, when his sister Lindsey was preparing to go to college, she applied also. However, she received a different response. Lack of funding prevented Lindsey from getting a scholarship.    This year the Office of Loans and Scholarships had far more qualified students apply and far fewer funds available. Most students and parents would be...