Where
First United Methodist Church, Columbus, Indiana618 8th Street
Columbus, IN 47201
Driving Directions
Hotel
Clarion Hotel and Conference Center
2480 Jonathan Moore Pike
Columbus, IN 47201
To book, call 812-372-1541 and tell them you are with the United Methodist Mission Conference.
Block rates are $89 per night, and are available until Oct. 23, 2014.
Empowerment 2014: Lithuania
November 14-15, 2014
First United Methodist Church, Columbus, IN
Revs. Bill and Helen Lovelace
The Rev. Bill Lovelace is a United Methodist missionary with Global Ministries, serving as district superintendent and pastor in Lithuania. Bill has been actively involved in the implimentation of 50/50 partnerships in Lithuania.
The Rev. Helen Byholt Lovelace is a missionary with Global Ministries, assigned as director of diaconal ministry in the Lithuania United Methodist Church. She also mentors and assists church-related children's and family centers in Lithuania. Helen is also active in the development of women in the United Methodist church in Lithuania, and is currently helping to plan 2015 Women's Retreat in Lithuania.
Ms. Jeanie Kurka Reimer
Jeanie is the In Mission Together Partnership Coordinator for Lithuania. Jeanie has been involved in helping church partners in the United States and Lithuania to transition from traditional missional models to paradigm shifting 50/50 Partnerships.
Jeanie has also worked with her church congregation at First United Methodist Church in Green Bay, WI and more recently at First United Methodist Church in Neenah, WI to grow in their partnership with Pilviškiai United Methodist Church in Lithuania. She has been leading mission trips to Lithuania since 1998 and recently has championed the concepts of 50/50 in the planing and implementation of these trips. She promotes regular contact between these partner churches resulting in monthly online Bible studies and other connectional activities.
Jeanie's passion and career has focused on the Violence Against Women movement. As a therapist and advocate, she has worked in the mental health field supporting victims of sexual assault and domestic violence and as a partner promoting community change in response to these crimes. This work correlated to her missional connection in Lithuania where she was an integral part of organizing the 2010 Women's Retreat. Today she is working with her sisters in Lithuania and the US in planning the next Women's Retreat to be held in 2015. Jeanie is presently a consultant with the WI Department of Justice helping communities to improve their response to sexual assault and domestic violence.
Rev. Patrick Friday
Patrick is the Director of In Mission Together (IMT) for Global Ministries. He leads a team of partnership coordinators that facilitate missional engagement within the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. They provide training in best practices for mobilization, multiplication and movement strategies
Patrick is passionate about lay mobilization, Wesleyan class meetings and bi-vocational ministry. He has over twenty years of experience in pastoral leadership, missionary service, church planting and partnership development. He lived in the Baltic States and Russia for eight of those years as a congregational developer and leadership trainer
Mr. David Phipps
David Phipps is the In Mission Together Partnership Coordinator for West Africa. . He became involved in Missions shortly after graduation from Bethel College in Indiana. He has been on dozens of mission trips around the world, serving as team leader for several. He has served as interim Missions Director at Ginghamsburg Church, where he has attended since 1990. His understanding of missions took a leap forward through Community Health Evangelism (CHE) training. Since that time, he has joined the In Mission Together team, as a consultant, practitioner, and fan. In addition David is currently on New Path Board at Ginghamsburg, works on "Neighborhood Transformation" in Trotwood, OH, where Ginghamsburg's most recent church launch is located and is scheduled to "scout" an area of South Sudan to initiate the launch of a faith community using CHE as the entrance methodology.
Agenda
Friday, November 14, 2014
10:00 a.m. Registration Opens
11:00 - 11:15 a.m. Welcome & Introductions
Rev. Howard Boles, First UMC in Columbus, IN
Ms. Jeanie Kurka Reimer, IMT Lithuania Partnership Coordinator
11:15 - 12:00 p.m. Immersion Experience: Online Bible Study
Pilviškiai UMC, Lithuania & First UMC Neenah-Menasha in Wisconsin
12:00 -1:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 - 1:45 p.m. Partnership Journey: A Paradigm Shift Ms. Jeanie Kurka Reimer, IMT Lithuania Partnership Coordinator
1:45 - 2:45 p.m. Methodism in Lithuania Today:
Roadmap to Growth and Transparency for the Future
Rev. Bill Lovelace, Lithuania District Superintendent
2:45 - 3:00 p.m. Break
3:00 - 4:00 p.m. Healthy Missional Engagement: Long-Term Impact
4:00- 4:45 p.m. Implementation Panel: Moving from Needs-Based Dependency
to Asset-Based Sustainability
4:45 – 5:00 p.m. Break
5:00 -- 6:00 p.m. Breakout sessions
Session # 1 - Development of United Methodist Women in Lithuania
Session #2 – Using Social Media for Partnership Communication
6:00 - 7:00 p.m. Dinner
7:00 - 7:30 p.m. Lessons Learned as a Partner Church (Q & A)
7:30 - 8:00 p.m. Next Steps: In Mission Together Core Values
Rev. Patrick Friday, Director of In Mission Together
8:00 - 8:30 p.m. Evening Devotion
Rev. Howard Boles, First UMC in Columbus, IN
Saturday, November 15, 2014
7:30 – 8:30 a.m. Early Morning Worship (Interactive webcast w/ Lithuania Partners)
8:30 – 9:30 a.m. Collaboration Session (Interactive webcast w/ Lithuania Partners)
9:30 - 10:00 a.m. Break
10:00-11:00 Session 1: When Helping Hurts
50/50 Mission Partnerships for Long-Term Impact
11:00-12:00 Session 2: Glocal Partnerships for Community Transformation
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-2:00 Session 3: Mobilization, Multiplication, Movement: The Wesleyan Way
2:00-3:00 Session 4: Implementation: 50/50 in Your Church
Suggested Reading
When Helping Hurts is a study of poverty alleviation and ministry to those in need. Emphasizing the poverty of both heart and society, it definces poverty as more than a simply a lack of financial or material resources and that it takes much more than donations and handouts to solve the problem of poverty.
While this book exposes past and current development efforts that churches have engaged in which unintentionally undermine the people they're trying to help, its central point is to provide proven strategies that challenge Christians to help the poor empower themselves.
The Class Meeting: Reclaiming a Forgotten (and Essential) Small Group Experience is a guide to the theory of the Wesley class meeting, an essential element of truly Wesleyan spirituality. This book aids in the development of a deeper discipleship. The class meeting is made workable without losing its essential dynmic as a gospel-based accountable community. Author Kevin Watson has resurrected the class meeting and given it new meaning, showing its relevance for the church today and how it may be a perfect means for church renewal.
Questions about the event? Please contact:
Julie FrickeProject Manager
In Mission Together (IMT)
(920) 403-0447
imtpartnership@gmail.com
Questions about IMT partnerships in Lithunia? Please contact:
Jeanie Kurka ReimerIn Mission Together Partnership Coordinator for Lithuania
imtlithunia@gmail.com
920-851-5485