School of Christian Mission
School of Christian Mission
SCHOOL OF CHRISTIAN MISSION 2012
Design the logo- see details below!!
Theme: That All May Have Life
St. John's University in Collegeville
July 17-20, 2012 Weekday
July 19, 2012 Drive-in Day
July 20-22, 2012 Weekend Event
2012 SOCM Logo Form
2012 THEME: That All May Have Life
God’s ultimate will for humankind is that all persons will have fullness life-a life of wholeness and hope; a life of freedom from oppression, a life of justice and truth, a life of inner peace and strength. Jesus’ ministry and teaching embodied this will. Yet, how is fullness of life for all possible in a wounded, broken and sometimes hostile world where systems oppress, hearts are hardened, margins separate, and attitudes demean? As people of Christ, let us change what needs to be changed, say what needs to be said, do what needs to be done and love as Christ would have us love so that all may have life and have it abundantly.
Spiritual Growth Study: Immigration in the Bible
This study shares the story of the Bible as a narrative of immigrants and migration. Exploring the Biblical and theological understandings of immigration, immigrants, and migration, this study seeks to enable the participants to examine what it is to be a sojourner and to live into the Biblical mandate of hospitality for “the stranger” and “aliens” in our midst.
Geographic Study: Haiti
This study offers an overview of the cultures that shaped Haiti’s past and the ongoing legacy of colonialism, along with glimpses into the heart and soul of Haiti’s people through pictures and Creole adages. The mission study also includes the impact of the devastating January 12th earthquake in 2010.
Current Issue Study: Poverty
Our Christian faith invites each of us and our faith communities to become agents of God’s compassion and healing in a wounded world. Poverty is a human rights issue with grave impact on women and children. This mission study on poverty is designed to help participants recognize and claim for themselves the connections between Scripture, church tradition, compassion for the poor, social outreach, and social justice.
Detail descriptions/objectives available on request.
· The logo design is to illustrate the artist’s conception of the theme and include the three studies.
· The logo must be submitted on 8 ½” X 11” white paper, copy ready.
· Logos may be black/white or color, but should be reproducible in black/white.
· A brief statement, 50 words or less, explaining the drawing must accompany the submitted art.Back of form may be used to write statement.
· Do not include any copyrighted graphics or design.
The form below must be completed by the artist and submitted along with the logo design.
Designs and forms are to be sent to the Representative by January 15, 2012 for consideration
by the Regional School Planning Team.
Name of artist(s):___________________________________________
E-mail address: ____________________________________________
Address: __________________________________________________
Telephone: _______________________________________________
Conference: _______________________
Church:________________________
Permission to use artwork is given with the signature of the artist below.
Artist signature: __________________________________________________
Return artwork and form to:
Laura Pfeffer, W 10132 Koltes Road, Lodi WI 53555 ljspence@aol.com
1/5/12
SCM Skit for 2012
Need:
Three people to hold signs and short recitation
One person as narrator
Three posters: one with a big H, one with a big I, one with a big P. Make them colorful and decorate them with “retro” look flowers etc.
People standing so audience sees “HIP”
Narrator:
We are looking forward to School of Christian Mission July of 2012. Our studies this year are:
Haiti (person holds up the H sign). In our geographic study, we learn about the people of Haiti, their issues, struggles and their hope for the future.
Immigration in the Bible (person holds up the I sign next to the H) As we explore this Spiritual Growth study, we find that the Bible is full of accounts of “people on the move”. The issues of immigration are not new to the world but through further study, we can learn more about how we can respond to these needs in our world today.
Poverty: (person holds up the P sign next to the other two.) The number of people in poverty is on the rise. While it is biblical that “there will always be the poor”, Poverty is not something we “simply have to accept”. In this issue study, we will learn more about poverty but also how we can partner with people who need our help.
Together: Be HIP!! (all raise the signs up) Join us for School of Christian Mission 2012
SCHOOL OF CHRISTIAN MISSION 2011
I am Patti Marsh Cagle from Lake Harriet United Methodist Women. I will be leading the full eight-week study using the School of Christian Mission book, The Journey on Thursday evenings from 7-9 p.m. from January 19 to March 8, 2012. I am thinking that some folks from neighboring UMWs might be interested in joining us in this study especially those who missed it at SCM last summer or who would like to experience it in more depth during the full 16 hours.
Here is a description of the sessions.
The Journey: Forgiveness, Restorative Justice and Reconciliation –
You are invited to join fellow seekers on Thursdays, January 19-March 8, from 7-9 p.m. as we explore stories from the Bible and recent history that illustrate the redemptive power of forgiveness. Our guidebook for the eight sessions will be The Journey: Forgiveness, Restorative Justice and Reconciliation, a 2011 School of Christian Mission book that will help us find paths to forgiveness, reconciliation and restorative justice for ourselves, our families and humankind by going deeper into both biblical and our own stories, taking restorative justice from spiritual concept to tangible life skill. The text was written by Co-Executive Directors of JustPeace, Stephanie Hixon and Tom Porter and published by The Women’s Division of the UMC, 2011. The class will meet at Lake Harriet United Methodist Church, 4901 Chowen Ave. Minneapolis (near 50th and France). The sessions are jointly sponsored by the Adult Learning team, Lake Harriet UMW and the Peace and Justice team.
We will carry out each session using a relational covenant developed by the group that will emphasize speaking and listening with respect, keeping confidentiality, and commitment to participation. In preparation for each two-hour Thursday night session we will read assigned Bible text and keep a journal of questions we want to ask related to the text. Optional reading from the guidebook for each session will prompt us to go deeper with our questions. Each weekly session will follow a format with inclusive circle discussion of questions related to the Bible text for the day, as well as a creative exercise, for example, drawing maps of our personal journeys, movement such as walking or moving in a circle, etc. For further information and to indicate your interest by contacting leader Patti Marsh Cagle 952-831-1531 jrpmc86@msn.com. Copies of the book will be available at the sessions for $7 each.
St. John's University in Collegeville
Studies:
2011 THEME: All Things Made New
As Followers of Christ, we hold fast to God's intention to bring hope and wholeness to the world through Jesus Christ. Grace-filled, we long for a world that moves from brokenness to wholeness, from suffering to healing, from injustice to justice, from scarcity to abundance, from estrangement to reconciliation and from despair to hope. As partners in God's mission, the transformation we seek today is that of taking what is broken and restoring it to fullness in the light of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Faith-filled, we believe that out of the rubble and ashes of devastation will come new life- a life of hope, a life of abundance, a life of joy for the journey.Spiritual Growth Study: Coming out on the side of Grace: Forgiveness and Reconciliation.
The theme deals with how individuals, families, and communities are called to a life-long journey of practicing forgiveness, justice, and reconciliation in our relational lives. The study explores the real-life journey of Jacob, the key imperative of the Great Commandment and the call to the ministry of reconciliation. Using stories and instances from history, contemporary and ancient, the study employs transformational, educational, and liturgical methods and means to apply the biblical stories for today's context. Geographic Study:
Current Issue Study: JOY TO THE WORLD:
SCHOOL OF CHRISTIAN MISSION 2010
Faith, Hope, and Love in Action
Studies:
For the Love of God: John’s Letters
Joy to the World: Mission in the Age of Global Christianity
The Beauty and Courage of Sudan
FAITH • HOPE • LOVE IN ACTION
2010 Schools of Christian Mission Theme
As people of FAITH, we trust in the promise of Christ to bring light into darkness and
new life to brokenness and death.
As people of HOPE, we celebrate and share the good news of Jesus Christ. Together in
the world we are partners in God’s mission of healing and wholeness so that all might
have abundant life.
As people of God, we LOVE because God first loved us. It is out of that love that we
welcome all into community, unite what is divided, mend what is broken, call for peace
where there is war, make just what is unjust, and offer hope where there is despair.
FAITH • HOPE • LOVE IN ACTION: All God’s people in mission together in the
world!
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD: JOHN’S LETTERS
2010 Spiritual Growth Study
Written by Justo L. and Catherine Gunsalus González, this study offers an in-depth study of John’s Letters. It seeks to answer key questions such as “Who wrote the Letters?,” “To whom were they written originally?,” and “What do these Letters mean today to us?” Further the study explores the common references such as the polarity between life and death, light and darkness, truth and falsehood in John’s Letters and the Fourth Gospel. The study also examines the resemblance of images and phrases that appear in John’s Letters and the Fourth Gospel, including the view that salvation consists in “having life,” God being “light,” Christian life as “walking in
light,” and many others.
1 John, rather than a letter in the strict sense, was a resource intended to be read to
gathered congregations as they prepared to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. The partakers are being told that they are partners with God. This partnership or koinonia also meant communion—the celebration of the Lord’s Supper that was the high point of Christian worship. Communion was named koinonia because through it, Christians became partners in the body of Christ, and also because the early communion services were occasions of sharing in which all brought what they could, and in that particular moment, as in a foretaste of the Reign of God, none would be hungry.
John Wesley found the simplicity of 1 John quite valuable, and he deplored the manner
in which many preachers in his time confused complexity with profundity, and form with
substance. Wesley said, “If any man speak,” in the name of God, “let him speak as the oracles of God;” and if he would imitate any part of these above the rest, let it be the First Epistle of St. John. This is the style, the most excellent style, for every good preacher. And let him aim at no more ornament than he finds in that sentence, which is the sum of the whole gospel, “We love Him, because He first loved us.”
In 1 John, the emphasis lies on love of God and of one another—a love that expresses the hope of believers for what is to come. Different age groups in the community of faith—and, by implication, other groups on the basis of gender, culture, etc.--are all part of the same community, and the commandment of love applies to all of them—particularly across group lines. 1 John draws the readers to the close bonding between Christ and his church. The followers of Jesus who are joined to Christ in baptism are anointed as he was anointed—they were made christs, anointed ones, by virtue of the Christ, the anointed One. In ancient baptismal services, the newly baptized were anointed with oil on the forehead as a sign that they were part of the holy, priestly people of
God. If this was already the practice in John’s time, what he was telling his readers sounds familiar in today’s context: “Remember your baptism.” They will not be led astray by the antichrist because they have received the chrisma of Christ. The authors explore how 2 John talks about truth and love, and 3 John about unity in love. Together, 2 John and 3 John show the complexity and difficulties inherent in the unavoidable task of “discerning the spirits.” Keeping both truth and love—or even better, knowing that truth without love is false, and that love without truth is not love—is the constant calling to which we, the readers of the Letters, must return today.
The study guide by Mary Kathyrn Pearce offers a variety of methods of facilitating the study, examples of love in action and models of beloved community. Examples are from the
writings and impact of persons such as Martin Luther King, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letty M. Russell, Wesley Ariarajah, Wahu Kaara, and others.
JOY TO THE WORLD: MISSION IN THE AGE OF GLOBAL CHRISTIANITYMission Study 2010-2011
Dana Robert, author of the mission study text and Professor of World Christianity and
History of Mission at Boston University School of Theology, says this in her
introduction:
“Joy to the World” is a shout of celebration, penned by the great hymn writer
Isaac Watts in 1819. Although it is a beloved Christmas carol, its message does not stop
at Christmas Day. Its deeper message is not about the birth of a baby, but about
fundamental changes brought into the world by the coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to bring “abundant life” in place of human limitations ,brokenness and death(John
10:10)…The title of this mission study reflects the conviction that for United Methodists, mission and evangelism flow from the joyous gratitude for the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
Joy to the World: Mission in the Age of Global Christianity by Dana L. Robert, with
study guide by Toby Gould, explores the theology of mission and evangelism in the
twenty-first century context of Christianity as a world-wide religion. The study invites us to look at why we are involved in mission and how we proclaim the Good News in Jesus Christ. What are the biblical mandates for mission? Does Christ call each of us to be his evangelist?
The study sets the biblical and historical context for the reality that Christianity is now the largest world religion and explores the theological foundations for Christian mission, drawing upon the New Testament model of Jesus Christ and on Methodist history as sources for United Methodist understandings of mission and evangelism. Contemporary practices of world mission will be examined through models of mission rooted in both scripture and history: mission of hospitality, mission of healing and mission of reconciliation-all ways of celebrating God’s intention to bring hope and wholeness to the world through Jesus Christ.
One hundred years ago, in 1910, the first World Missionary Conference was held in
Edinburg, Scotland. At the same time, church women were celebrating a 50 year jubilee
of the first women’s missionary society. In 2010, there will be a follow-up to the
Edinburgh conference and celebrations of 150 years since that founding of the women’s
missionary society. Joy to the World: Mission in the Age of Global Christianity gives
us the opportunity to “catch up” with the changes in direction, goals, and methods of
mission work in these 100 years.
Joy to the World! The Lord is come! We know there is much hard work before us, and yet God is with us. It is time to celebrate! (Dana L. Robert)
The Beauty and Courage of Sudan: Why a Dream of Peace Is Possible
2009-2010 Mission Study
For most of the past twenty years the country of Sudan has been plagued with severe
drought. Desertification is apparent in the west, where thorn bushes dominate the savanna landscape of South Darfur and are killing out the native acacia trees. The shortages of food due to drought have sometimes reached famine proportions. Climate change in Sudan is not just a looming crisis; it is the reality on the ground. And then there are the wars of Sudan: unremitting, for nearly all its history.
Yet at Sudan’s core is beauty. Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski captured it well:
“More than anything one is struck by the light.” Aside from the landscape’s beauty, there is an interior beauty: The spirit of courage. A richness of tradition, antiquity, cultures, and natural resources. Human interchange and endurance in all its mystery. The Mission Study for 2009-2010, The Beauty and Courage of Sudan: Why a Dream of Peace Is Possible, written by Linda Beher, with study guide by Maxine West, offers an extended portrait of Sudan. Explored are an overview of history that began in Bible times; the country’s main ethnicities, religions and languages; touch points and possible causes for the wars; the way Sudanese women are contributing to the peace process and to the culture as a whole; a critique of the severe impact of colonialism and current challenges; and some ways in which people of faith can embrace and affirm the Sudanese people. Sudan is “other” in ways that disconcert Westerners who struggle to understand. The theologian Sally McFague encouraged us to view differences with others with a “loving eye” rather than the “arrogant eye” sometimes brought to such discourse. Using our loving eye in this study, we can see that Sudan and its people embody and inspirit many of the issues of the 21st Century continent of Africa. Their beauty and courage promise the hope that eventually they will realize the dream of peace.