06272019E-Newsletter

The Moscow United Methodist Church 126 Church Street Moscow United Methodist Church Moscow, PA 18444 Office: 570 842-7251 Email [email protected] Website www.moscowumc.com e-newsletter June 27, 2019 In This Newsletter Please Join us for Welcome Pastor Lori Worship July 7, 2019 A Way Forward UMC NEXT at 9:30 AM and Helping Hands & Hearts 2019 welcome Moscow Rolling River Rampage VBS United Methodist Book Club Church’s new pastor Learning Tree Graduation Learning Tree BBQ Lori Robinson. May20th Ad Council Minutes

As our traditional United Methodist (UM) motto (right) reads, everyone is welcome into the ministries of our UM Churches. However, the decision of the 2019 special Session of the General Conference indicates that LQBTQ+ people are not really welcome. Although they may have been gifted and graced for ministry at their baptisms by God’s Holy Spirit and called into the ministry of Jesus Christ, UM Church doors remain closed for clergy ordination. Although the United States Supreme Court has guaranteed their civil rights including that of marriage, the UM Church voted to deny them opportunities for marriage within our churches. Many had hoped that our denominational conflicts around these issues would have been resolved by the adoption of the Bishop’s “One Church Plan”, which allowed for differences among United Methodist congregations and Annual Conferences in their interpretation of Biblical teachings about human sexuality. Instead, the traditionalist plan was adopted by a narrow margin in 2019. Churches who cannot abide by this ruling may consider a “gracious exit” from our UM denomination. However, such exits can cost up to one year’s budget for small to mid-sized churches. The UMC Next movement is a group of people who are passionate about wanting our UM denomination to be inclusive of all people. They are planning proposals for this to be presented at our next General Conference in 2020. The General Conference is the ruling body of the global United Methodist Church. In Jesus’ prayer for the unity of his followers, recorded in John’s gospel on the night before he died, he prayed, “As you, Father, are one in me and I am one in you, may they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21). All United Methodists are asked to safeguard our heritage of faithful witness with prayers for unity and wholeness in Christ. Moving Forward - Reclaiming “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors.” If you are interested in learning more about the future of the United Methodist Church and care about making disciples in the spirit of Jesus’ love, then you are invited to gather on Wednesday, August 14, 7 pm at Tunkhannock UMC in the rear of the sanctuary. Information will be shared about UMC Next. All are welcome.



HELPING HEARTS AND HANDS 2019 A Youth Mission Event Sponsored by Fishburn Church 1215 Fishburn Road Hershey, PA 17033 (717-534-2262 www.fishburnumc.org PURPOSE OF THE HELPING HEARTS & HANDS MISSION CAMP The Helping Hearts and Hands Work Camp began as a youth established mission in 1999 in Noxen, PA. Its intent was to offer youth and adults an opportunity for spiritual growth while serving persons in need in the rural communities of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Each year a variety of projects are made available. In the past, these projects have included painting, repairing roofs and porches, installing insulation, repairing wheelchair ramps, cleaning houses and basements, yard cleanup, and many other odd jobs with the aim of sharing God’s love. In 2008, the work camp relocated to the Damascus, PA area to provide youth and families in beautiful rural Northern Wayne County similar opportunities for spiritual growth. This is the twelveth year the Helping Hearts and Hands Camp is offered, but the first at Fishburn Church in Hershey. We will gather on Wednesday evening, August 7th and will work for 3 days; sleeping in the church. The camp day ends with worship and fun. Experienced Safe Sanctuaries supervision for youth is provided and safety protocols are followed on all projects. For more information you can visit their website: https://sites.google.com/view/fishburn-hhh-2019/home

Community VBS Daleville UMC, Gouldsboro UMC, Maple Lake UMC, Moscow UMC, and Spring Brook Congregation Church invites you to join us for a week of fun! Date: July 22 -July 27 Place: Maple Lake UMC 35 Harriett Drive, Spring Brook Time: 6:00 – 8:30 PM (Mon to Fri) 10AM – 3PM (Sat) Ages Pre-K to 7th Grade

Moscow UMC Book Club The Lost Girls of Paris Thursday, July 25th 6:00 PM All Are Welcome

The Learning Tree Class of 2019 Piper Edwards Keeley Carroll Scott Felter Luke Johnson Jaxon McCracken Thomas McGoff Gracie Valenti Caleb Smerdon Skyler Ritter Henley Smith

Last Day Of School BBQ

Moscow United Methodist Church Administrative Council Meeting Minutes Monday, May 20, 2019 Attendees: Pastor Jean Blackie, Paulette Fotta, Howard McIntosh, Kim Havenstrite, Heather Phillipsstor Jean opened the meeting with a prayer. There was a small change to the April minutes. The date for Safe Sanctuary should be changed to Thursday, May 9th instead of Thursday, May 7th. Howard made the motion to accept the minutes pending this change. Paulette seconded the motion and all were in favor. Budget Report The budget for the month of April was distributed and reviewed. Now that the oil season has ended and there will be no more heating bills, hopefully some ministry shares can be paid. Howard made the motion to accept the budget report. Paulette seconded the motion and all were in favor. The Learning Tree budget was distributed and reviewed and it looks as if it will break even for the 2018/2019 school year. The question was raised as to what the procedure would be to receive the conference grant for next year. Pastor Jean stated that procedure is always changing. We will need to contact the District Superintendent to find out the current procedure. Howard made the motion to accept the Learning Tree budget. Paulette made the second and all were in favor. The Trustees budget was distributed and reviewed. Pastor Jean stated the numbers reflected will be lower than projected because there is still an outstanding furnace bill that is not shown. The estimated stewardship for 2019 is as follows: 62 total pledges totaling $115,028 ($83,718 towards the general fund and $31,310 towards the maintenance fund.) Pastor Report Pastor Jean reported that May 19 was a joyous day in worship with two preschool families (Carroll’s and Stout’s) presenting 6 children for baptism and three adults for joining; we had another adult joining as well, Karen Moore; June 9 another baptism – Oren Paul Chmieleski family; June 16 another baptism, Elias Jude Shoff. Carole Phillips made a request that we purchase 25 Worship & Song Paperback Hymnals to accommodate the quarterly Contemporary Worship services. She has been printing out the music for MUMC members who have requested to see the music as they learn the tunes and even tried to put together a mini-booklet but the effort is very time-consuming. Cokersbury is offering the hymnals which have contemporary as well as old time favorites that missed getting into the hardback hymnal (Love lifted me; Fill my cup, Lord, etc) at $10.50 per book. Twenty-five would cost $260 which she feels might be doable using memorial fund money which is often used for this type of worship purpose. The hymnals could be kept under the mailboxes and brought out for the contemporary worship service. People could pick them up as they walk in that Sunday if they wish to use them in addition to slides. Another approach is to purchase and have people donate money in memory or honor of loved ones. $15 would cover the cost of the bookplates honoring the donors and those memorialized. Pastor Jean made a motion to purchase these hymnals. Second from Paulette and the motion passed unanimously. The musical group, Simple Gifts, has asked if MUMC is interested in another PCAA grant for a Fall 2019 or Spring 2020 concert. If yes, they will fill out paperwork for us for submittal in mid-June. And the church will need a point person to work with the NPCA, Simple Gifts, PAA and also the MUMC congregation. Paulette agreed to act as the contact person. The church received a request from PA Mentor to provide education for Foster care. However, the committee agreed that they were not interested in that at this time. Lay Leadership The new Investment Trustees Merger Meeting took place on Monday, May 13. The group (consisting of: Pastor Jean, Gary Boam (2020), Frank Ciero (2019) and Bill Wright (2019) - Steve Phillips (2020) could not be present) met to discuss investment access in light of Jack Carling’s stepping down from both the permanent endowment trustees and the Fleckenstein trustees. The following accounts were discussed and individuals assigned access to the accounts

(see below). Letters removing old signers/access and assigning new ones will be presented at the June 2019 Ad Council meeting for approval and signatures. Fleckenstein Ameritrade Acct – Frank Ciero, trustees treasurer and Bill Wright Fleckentstein Checking Account – trustees treasurer and Bill Wright Frontier Permanent Endowment Fund – MUMC treasurer. Trustees treasurer, Frank Ciero Loveland/Frontier Investment Fund – MUMC treasurer, trustees treasurer and Steve Phillips Morgan Stanley Fund -MUMC treasurer and Bill Wright MUMC Lay Member, Muriel Smailes is attending a workshop on the alternative minimum structure for church leadership at the Annual Conference next week. This method of leadership combines some committees and leadership roles to help churches streamline meeting schedules and empowers the congregation to get more involved in the work of ministry without having to serve on a “committee” and attend meetings. More and More UMC’s are changing over to this streamlined structure as it becomes more difficult to develop full lay leadership rosters for various reasons. Muriel will more provide information for MUMC to consider after the workshop. The nominating committee will start up Tuesdays beginning May 28 at 6 pm. New members will be trained; prayer and discernment to nominate; calls to be made and hopefully positions to be filled. After the group gets going, they will invite the new pastor to join them to get to know people and the process as it works at MUMC. Old Positions: Finance Chair (several years) Youth Group Leader (1 ½ years) Alternate Lay Member (2 years) New Positions: Auditors Lay Leaders Sunday school coordinators Children’s Choir coordinator Nursery coordinator SPRC Paulette reported that the SPRC has met with Pastor Lori and she is looking forward to her time at Moscow United Methodist Church. The surveys have been coming back and there are 33 people who would like worship time changed to 9:30AM; 17 people who would like to keep it at 11:00AM; and 11 people who did not have a preference. There are many concerns regarding the Sunday school program if the worship time is changed. All of these should be addressed with the new pastor. It was also suggested to have the summer worship begin at 9:30AM instead of 10:00AM. This might help transition into the new worship time for the fall. Pastor Jean’s going away party will be scheduled for Sunday, June 16th. Preschool The Learning Tree board met on May 19th to discuss the future of the Preschool. Diane Croom attended the meeting as well as both Learning Tree teachers, Megan and Jennifer. Both agreed that they would not be financially comfortable accepting a salary based on the number of enrollments. Every year the number of students has increased and there are already 16 students for next year. Heather has been is filling out the paperwork for People’s Bank. She has also reached out to RLE and drafted a letter to a few local businesses for donations. Howard is 90% certain that RLE will make a donation again next year. Heather mentioned running enrollment incentives to increase the number of students. However, she would not be comfortable doing this unless the donations were a definite. The next Preschool meeting will be May 30th and they will decide whether the Preschool will remain for the 2019/2020 school year. Fleckenstein Two candidates applied for the Fleckenstein scholarships this year – Jessica Galey and Evelyn Ciero. Both girls will receive their awards on Sunday, June16th. Howard made the motion to award these two applicants the scholarships. Second by Heather Phillips – all were in favor. The next meeting will be Monday, June 17, 2019 at 7:00PM. All were in favor to adjourn.