02 May New Healthy Ministry Resources Sign
Today is the public launch day for Healthy Ministry Resources. With that, Steve Dennie and Cathy Reich took down the old sign in front of the building and unveiled the new sign. We like it.
02 May Jeff Bleijerveld Headed to Asia
Jeff Bleijerveld, director of Global Ministries, speaking to the 70-some persons who attended the “Hang with the Bishop” meeting on April 16 at East Washington UB church (Ashley, Mich.).
Jeff Bleijerveld, our new Global Ministries director, leaves today on his first overseas trip. He’ll be in the Pearl River Delta part of China (which includes Hong Kong, Macau, and the surrounding province) until May 7, and then travel to the Philippines May 8-12 to take part in the 25th anniversary of the Looking Unto Jesus church, which is how our Philippines churches are known in their country.
01 May Greg Helman Assigned to Blue Rock Church
Greg Helman has been named senior pastor of Blue Rock UB (Waynesboro, Pa.) effective May 16.
01 May Tidbits from Global Ministries
- Randy and Toni Fennig plan to depart for their first term of service in Sierra Leone this month. Pray that they will complete their support-raising efforts, and then for their transition to the field.
- The Looking Unto Jesus Church in the Philippines, one of our national conferences, will celebrate its 25th Anniversary on May 11 in the capital city of Manilla. Pastor Michael Brown (Franklin UB, New Albany, Ohio) and Jeff Bleijerveld (Director of Global Ministries) will participate.
- The US Center for World Mission created a 20-minute DVD titled “Global Purpose.” It combines dynamic special effects with biblical, historical, strategic, and cultural perspectives to give an overview of God’s movement throughout history. It’s an effective teaching resource for Bible studies or small groups. You can borrow the DVD from our Global Ministries Lending Library. Contact Darlene at darlene@ub.org.
01 May Gary Small Having Back Surgery
Gary Small, pastor of Atlantic Avenue UB church in Franklin, Pa., will undergo back surgery on May 9. Your prayers are appreciated.
01 May A Forum for UB Interaction
The new BishopBlog has several purposes:
- A vehicle for me, as bishop, to cast vision.
- An informational Grand Central Station (as already described).
- A forum for interacting over UB-related issues.
We’ve needed a forum.
- The United Brethren magazine was a forum…until we discontinued it in 1993.
- Annual and midyear conferences were a forum…until we discontinued them in 2005.
- The national conference isn’t a good forum. Not with several hundred delegates, and meetings only once every two years.
But good interaction can occur via the Internet. That’s what we want here.
- I want your honest reactions to what I and others write.
- I want to know what’s on your heart.
- I want to know how you perceive things.
- I want to learn from you.
- I want us all to learn from each other.
01 May Your One-Stop UB Bookmark
The BishopBlog is your one-stop United Brethren browser bookmark. The UB Grand Central Station of information. Come here, and we’ll point you to what’s happening in the UB world.
The United Brethren church has a large web presence.
- The UB.org site–the official website of the UB church in the United States.
- UBMissions.com–the work of Global Ministries and our international conferences.
- Huntington.edu–the Huntington University site.
- The BishopBlog–which is where you’re at right now.
- AtMyChurch.com–a UB service which provides websites for churches.
- The UB News page–where we regularly post UB-related news.
- The staff openings and church websites pages frequently contain new info.
- The UB church and missionary directories are tied into our master database.
- Blogs by UB people–a growing list.
So how do you keep track of what’s happening?
- Bookmark all of these sites in your browser.
- Check each one individually to see if something has changed?
No. Just come here. As a shortcut, Bishopblog.org will get you here, too.
30 Apr Hit the Bullseye Conference
Ron Ramsey speaking to cluster leaders on Tuesday night, April 29.
Most of the cluster leaders, plus several Healthy Ministry Resources staff, are attending the Hit the Bullseye Conference in Lima, Ohio. It started yesterday and ends today. We registered 35 people through our office, mostly cluster leaders, and some other UBs came on their own. So the UB church has a good representation here.
Altogether, there are probably 350-400 people attending the conference.
This conference is led by Dr. Paul Borden, from whom we have learned the consultation process. Pat Jones has conducted six consultations thus far, with several other UB ministers–sometimes cluster leaders–helping him as part of each consultation team.
On Tuesday night, after the evening workshops, Pat, Steve Dennie, and I met with the cluster leaders for about 90 minutes. Pat and I went over several issues relating to the work of cluster leaders, particularly the process for stationing ministers, and Steve gave a brief presentation about the Healthy Ministry Resources branding.
29 Apr Emphasizing What Jesus Created
It’s all about the local church. It’s not about the denominational headquarters.
I work out of the national office in Huntington, along with ten other people. Our only reason to exist is to support our churches as they carry out the Great Commission.
Healthy Ministry Resources is the new name of the United Brethren national office. That’s how we will answer the phone when you call. That’s what this website is about. The name reflects our focus on serving and resourcing our churches.
The church is the only institution established by Jesus. That’s the sharp end of the spear, the place where ministry occurs. The place where we continue carrying out the mission of Jesus.
Denominations are organized hierarchically, with the man-made part at the top and the Jesus-made part–the local church–at the bottom. We are switching that around, focusing everything we do on the Jesus-made part.
We can’t avoid all of the ecclesiastical functions of the national office or the role of the bishop. As a group of churches, we’ve agreed to submit to accountability and various standards, and to give the bishop authority.
But mostly, Healthy Ministry Resources is here for this mission: “To effectively resource pastors and congregations of the US National Conference to fulfill the Great Commission.”
28 Apr Welcome to the New BishopBlog
I’m glad you made it to the new BishopBlog on the new HealthyMinistryResources.com
site. The BishopBlog will be the centerpiece of United Brethren communications.
We’ll talk about a wide range of issues here. This is also the place to learn what’s happening in other parts of the UB internet world.
When I took office, I intended to create a “brand” for the national office in Huntington. It would do the following:
- Provide an official name and logo for the office. In the past, we’ve always used generic names, like UB Headquarters, United Brethren Offices, or for the more sarcastic among us, “Mecca.”
- Focus our purpose squarely on serving and resourcing our churches.
- Emphasize that our only reason to exist is to help our churches thrive. Our churches don’t exist for the sake of the national office.
- Change the perception of this building as a bureaucratic, top-down, hierarchical entity.
Some things to keep in mind:
- We’re not changing (or de-emphasizing) the denomination’s name or logo.
- The Healthy Ministry Resources name and logo apply only to the national office.
- The UB.org is still the official website of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA.
Healthy Ministry Resources is focused on serving local churches. It’s why we exist. I pray that our heart for churches, and for fulfilling the Great Commission, comes through strong and clear.