(260) 356-2312

UB.orgUBGlobal.orgChurch Search

20 Dec

December 20, 2011 |

Annette Sites (right), Jerusalem Chapel, Churchville, Va.

Instead of exchanging gifts in the Middle School Sunday school class (and tempting ourselves with greed and bad attitudes), we chose to share a gift with the church family. During December, we studied God’s example of gifting and looked at our attitudes when giving and receiving gifts. To conclude our study, the students filled snack-sized baggies of “gorp” (peanuts, M&Ms, and raisin mixture) this week and stapled a message of Christmas greeting onto the bag. The students were then given the freedom to go out into the church parking lot, where they placed the goodie bags on car windshields.

Even in our giving, one problem occurred–we ran out of goodie bags before we ran out of cars! (Woops!) So, to remedy this situation we first took the goodie bags off of the pastors’ cars (since they are always showing us an example of servanthood). When that still wasn’t enough, the teens agreed to take the goodie bags off of their own family’s cars. A true sacrifice that wasn’t in the originial teaching plan.

When the class came back together to look at the story of the Three Wise Men, I took it a step further and talked about God’s gift–and sacrifice–in sending his son into the world to save us.

The students had fun, and there was not even a hint of a bad attitude. What a great Christmas gift for me and my assistant–watching the class learn and work together for God’s glory!

Tell us something special your church did during the Christmas season–events, programs, ministries, anything. You can use this form or send an email.

20 Dec

December 20, 2011 |

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries

Here are some ways your Thank Offering gifts have already been used in the last few months.

Resourcing Workers

In India, we provided 30 church planters and pastors with Old Testament and New Testament Bible commentaries in the Telugu language. Most of these pastors have no Bible helps whatsoever.

Leadership Development

In India, we provided the same group of 30 church planters and pastors with a three-day training event that featured, an overview of 1 John and five characteristics of effective leaders.

In the Philippines, we provided $8000 to hold a leadership development event with 65 pastors and lay participants from our Philippine UB churches. During this time, we worked on their national documents, presented the history of the United Brethren denomination, taught the five characteristics of effective leaders, and gave a number of other practical messages related to evangelism and church planting.

Business as Mission

We provided $10,000 toward the support of a Business as Mission training team headed to Sierra Leone in January 2012. The team of eight will present a five-day workshop with two separate groups–first in Bo, then in Freetown. The participants will consist of church planters, pastors, and lay members seeking to develop alternative means by which to support ministry.

Additional Administrative Support

We hired Frank Y as an additional associate director, overseeing personnel and working to advance our Business as Mission efforts. Funding is being used to assist in his salary and travel budget.

Strengthening the Work of International Partners

Funds were used this past year to bring Behnan (last name withheld) from Turkey to the US National Conference in July 201. He offered a workshop at the conference and spoke in some of our churches. Behnan coaches Turkish church planters and workers throughout Turkey, which is less than 1% Evangelical.

19 Dec

December 19, 2011 |
Residents of Charis House with Santa (Anchor's own Tim Bauman)

Residents of Charis House with Santa.

The Christmas party was held in the dining hall at Charis House.

Anchor Community Church usually holds an all-church Christmas party at the church, complete with lots of food and a visit from Santa.

This year, Anchor held this event at Charis House, a 78-bed facility for homeless mothers and their children. Residents of Charis House joined people from Anchor on Friday, December 16, for two hours of food, music, fellowship, and pictures with Santa. Anchor brought along a lot of supplies and materials which Charis House needs.

Tim Bauman, lead guitarist/singer for the Anchor worship team, played the role of Santa, as he does each year. Throughout the evening, parents and children got their pictures taken with Santa. Meanwhile, two guitarists from the worship team sang Christmas songs for the gathering.

A lot of photos from the event have been posted on Anchor’s Facebook page.

Tell us about the special events and activities your church is doing over the Christmas season. Use this form or send an email to news@ub.org.

19 Dec

December 19, 2011 |

Jenaya Bonner, part of the Global Ministries staff in Macau, is on her way back to the States. Her grandfather passed away on Sunday afternoon, December 18, 2011. She had hoped to arrive before her grandfather’s passing. Please remember Jenaya and her grandmother, who has been quite weak as well. The funeral will take place Friday, December 23, in Huntington, Ind.

You can contact Jenaya at:

6187 N. Mayne Rd.
Roanoke, Ind. 46783
Email: jbonner@ubglobal.org

16 Dec

December 16, 2011 |

At the end of each year, pastors are required to complete forms which tell about the church’s ministry during the past year and their own ministry.

The annual report forms are being mailed December 28, 2011. Each church office will receive a packet of forms which will need to be returned to the bishop’s office.

Deadline: February 15, 2012. Reports need to be returned to the bishop’s office by that date.

These are the reports:

  • Local Church Report. This is the responsibility of the senior pastor.
  • Minister’s Report. There is a separate form for active ministers, inactive ministers, and retired ministers.
  • Women’s Ministry Survey. This brief survey will go to the Women’s Ministry Leadership Team.

These reports can also be downloaded from the UB website at ub.org/reports. They are available as:

  • PDF documents.
  • Microsoft Word documents which you can fill out on y our computer and email to the bishop’s office.
  • Online forms–fill in the blanks and hit “Submit.” The Local Church Report is the only one without an online form.

Note: If you need your report forms sent to an address or to someone’s attention other than the address the national office has on file, please contact Cathy Reich as soon as possible at 260-356-2312, ext. 311.

16 Dec

December 16, 2011 |

Greenfield, Ohio. Good Shepherd Church is seeking a senior pastor. The current pastor, Mike Anderson, came in June 2010, taking on the role while continuing fulltime at his local ministry with New Directions. He is resigning from the church so he can transition back to that ministry exclusively. He will perform interim pastoral duties while the church begins the process of searching for a pastor.

Grandville, Mich. Also in transition is Homefront Church. Tim Flickinger had been appointed interim pastor, but is returning to the Lansing Restart project on a fulltime basis. The church is preparing their profile to begin the pastor search process.

16 Dec

December 16, 2011 |

Steve Platt, a Huntington University basketball star (Class of ’74) and former coach, has been named the special ambassador for the university president. He will assist the Advancement Office as well as President G. Blair Dowden in fundraising efforts with a special emphasis on the $21 million “Together” The Campaign for Huntington University” capital campaign.

The campaign includes:

  • $9.5 million to expand the Merillat Physical Education and Recreation Complex.
  • $1.5 million for the digital and visual arts programs.
  • $3 million for the University Fund.
  • $2 million to increase the university’s current endowment.
  • $5 million for deferred giving commitments.

“I have a real passion for Huntington University,” Platt said. “I’ve spent a lot of years being involved with HU, and I look forward to helping in any way I can.”

As a basketball player, Platt was a four-time All-District Player of the Year and an NAIA All-American, and led the entire nation in scoring. He remains Indiana’s all-time collegiate leader in scoring with 3700 points. As the men’s basketball coach, he led the Foresters to 329 wins and a national championship run during the 2005-06 season.

15 Dec

December 15, 2011 |

In January and February, 3 work teams will travel to Jamaica to work on completing the dorm at Malvern Camp. We need more people, especially for the second and third weeks.

Week 1: January 28 – February 4. Eight persons are currently signed up.
Week 2: February 4-11. Just four persons have signed up.
Week 3: February 11-18. Only three persons have signed up.

The cost of the trip is $500 plus airfare, but if someone commits to a second or third week it would be $500 for the initial week and then $150 per week after.

Needed by Global Ministries before you sign up are the following:

  • a valid passport.
  • completed application form.
  • info needed for booking flights (name as it appears on passport, passport number, date of birth, date of issue and expiration of passport).

If you are interested in going to Jamaica one of these weeks, please contact Donna Hollopeter in Global Ministries.

15 Dec

December 15, 2011 |

Through our child sponsorship program with CH Global in Haiti, we are able to offer Saturday Children’s Programming for both our sponsored children and those living in the community. Approximately 6500 meals were provided to children through these programs in 2011 at an average cost of 55 cents per meal. In fact the program has been so successful that our Delmas 33 United Brethren church in Port Au Prince increased the frequency from once to four times per month. This has resulted in the children benefiting from consistent programming and the provision of nutritious meals.

In addition to the nutritional program, positive interaction is demonstrated through games, and spiritual development is addressed through Bible stories and scripture memorization. Children are influenced consistently, and are finding faith in Christ along with their families.

Plans for 2012 include implementing a Saturday program at the Croix des Bouquet UB church. The church/school is completed and serves well for stability, thus increasing the success of this program.

14 Dec

December 14, 2011 |

Arek and Donna Delik (right) are UB endorsed missionaries in Poland serving with Operation Mobilization in church planting and other ministries. The Deliks are excited about Mission-Net 2011, a large missions conference for European young people being held in Germany December 28 – January 2.

Operation Mobilization, one of several hundred mission organizations and Christian networks supporting this conference, hopes to send 50 Poles for conference. Donna Delik reported in early December that 25 Poles had already registered for the conference, and they hope to send a full busload of 50 Poles.

Mission-Net is held every two years “in Europe, for Europe, and by Europe.” The 2011 conference is the second Mission-Net.