Pastor Rick Warren is the Senior Pastor Megachurch Saddleback in California and the author of the best selling book, The Purpose Driven Life. Last Wednesday Rick Warren posted a blog on the church’s website appealing to his congregants for $900,000 as there was a shortfall in the offering. The blog was as follows:
“Dear Saddleback Family,
THIS IS AN URGENT LETTER unlike any I’ve written in 30 years. Please read all of it and get back to me in the next 48 hours. I have thrilling news to share with you below but first some seriously bad news:
With 10% of our church family out of work due to the recession, our expenses in caring for our community in 2009 rose dramatically while our income stagnated. Still, with wise management, we’ve stayed close to our budget all year. Then… this last weekend the bottom dropped out. On the last weekend of 2009, our total offerings were less than half of what we normally receive – leaving us $900,000 in the red for the year, unless you help make up the difference today and tomorrow.
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That’s the dilemma facing leaders of the United Methodist Church, and it may bring the long-standing practice of guaranteed jobs for pastors to an end.
Since the 1950s, United Methodists and their ministers have had a deal: Ministers went where they were assigned, even if it meant leaving a church they loved, and the denomination guaranteed ministers they would always have a job.
“It’s kind of a sacred trust,” said the Rev. Ann Moman, associate general secretary at the Nashville-based Methodist General Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
But shrinking membership and budgets may make that system unsustainable. Methodist bishops and two denominational committees want to end job security for ministers, known as guaranteed appointment.
“There’s a good deal of momentum towards doing away with guaranteed appointment,” said Lovett Weems, who runs the Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.
Membership Declines
Job security for Methodist ministers dates to 1956. At that time, Methodists had begun ordaining women pastors, but at least one bishop refused to appoint them to churches. African-American pastors ran into similar problems.
“It started as a restriction to the power of bishops,” Weems said. “A few years later, it became a right of clergy.”
But as membership has dropped, so has the number of churches able to afford pastors. In 1960, United Methodists claimed about 10.8 million members. Today, membership is at 7.8 million. Average Sunday attendance is about 95 people. And half of Methodist churches draw 50 or fewer people to Sunday services.
The Methodist job guarantees apply only to full-time ordained clergy, known as elders in full connection. Weems said that a church needs about 125 people to support a full-time minister. In some cases, elders serve two or more churches at a time. Many churches are served by part-time or local pastors who have no job security.
Article Source: www.tennessean.com
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- Funeral arrangements will be announced at a later date
- Bishop Melvin Powell was born in 1932 in the Jamaica Parish of St Elizabeth
- He became a Christian in his teens and was ordained as a minister in 1948
- He immigrated to England in 1961.
- He co-founded and jointly led the New Testament Assembly alongside his friend and colleague Bishop Donald Bernard for over 45 years. Their leadership partnership was renowned and respected throughout the black Christian community because they were example of united Christian leadership.
- Aside from his work in establishing the New Testament Assembly, Bishop Powell was a great supporter of humanitarian work in Africa and Asia
His Story …
The Rt Revd Melvin Lea Powell, co-founder of one of Britain’s most influential and respected black Pentecostal denominations, the New Testament Assembly –England died peacefully on Wednesday 4th November aged 77. Bishop Powell served as International Presiding Bishop of the New Testament Assembly until August 2009
Jamaican born Powell arrived in the UK in Spring 1961 and was amongst the thousands of first generation West Indians who immigrated to the UK during the 1950s and 1960s. Desirous to provide a spiritual home for the many black people that had settled in the UK, Bishop Powell worked alongside his friend and colleague Bishop Donald Bernard and planted the first ever branch of the New Testament Assembly in Streatham, south London in August 1961.
From its inauspicious beginnings in 1961 The New Testament Assembly (NTA) has become a leading black Pentecostal denomination with several branches in the UK, as well as churches in Ghana, South Africa, the USA, Canada, Jamaica, India, Singapore and Malaya, and is well respected for its ecumenical work dating back to the 1970’s.
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Every hour for the past year the bells ring at Cathedral of Christ the King in North Phoenix, but those bells could soon be silenced.
“I still can’t figure out what law I have broken, but I was found guilty today in court,” said Bishop Rick Painter.
Painter was convicted of two counts of creating “an unreasonably loud, disturbing and unnecessary noise.”
“We’re expressing our religion we glorify God by the bells,” he said.
The City of Phoenix sent this statement to ABC 15:
“The City of Phoenix Prosecutor’s Office charged Rick Painter with 2 counts of a Phoenix City Code Violation of § 23-12 for creating “an unreasonably loud, disturbing and unnecessary noise.” The listed dates of violation are March 16, 2008 and March 26, 2008. The charges were a result of neighborhood complaints of the church bells ringing every half hour on the March 16th date of violation and hourly on the March 26th date of violation. At all times, the neighbors complained the bells were ringing at a high volume. Though the complaints list a single date, we do that for legal reasons, but the neighbors testified the ringing was ongoing and continues to this day.”
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At Lighthouse Church of All Nations in Alsip, the congregation can get more than just prayer at the Sunday worship services.
If a lucky — or “blessed and highly favored” — churchgoer is in the right seat, they can also receive a cash prize.
At each of the three Sunday services, the Rev. Dan Willis pulls a number of one seat from a bag and the worshiper in that seat wins a cash prize. Two of the churchgoers win $250 and the third gets $500. The church gives away $1,000 each Sunday, Willis said.
The cash prize is part of Willis’ recent focus on helping his congregation pay bills and begin a debt-free life, he said.
“We’ve had soooo many of our people displaced from jobs, facing foreclosure,” he said. “When people’s faith was high, their debt was down. When their faith was down, their debt was high. I realized the two are connected.”
Willis concedes the cash prize is a gimmick to fill the pews. But he’s unapologetic about the plan, because it’s working. On a typical Sunday, his church draws about 1,600 people to its three Sunday services. But since the money giveaway started, about five weeks ago, the congregation has grown to about 2,500 each week, he said. The money for the giveaway comes from the church offering. Lighthouse is a non-denominational church.
“If I can get someone in here and teach them and give them money, that’s what I’m going to do,” he said.
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Bishop Melvin and Rose Powell
It is with great sadness we report that one of the UK’s most esteemed Bishop, Melvin Powell co-founder of the New Testament Assembly Churches has succumbed to illness and died yesterday 4 November at 1.22pm in the afternoon.
Bishop Melvin Powell co-founded the New Testament Assembly (NTA) churches in the UK, starting from the early 1960’s. His ministerial partnership with co-founder Bishop Donald Bernard is often lauded as the most successful in UK Black Church history, lasting more than forty years.
A humble man, a family man, a man of vision and purpose. A compassionate man – who it is said – still found the capacity to minister to people that came to see him during his final days.
A dignified statesman and giant of The Faith: Bishop Powell leaves an unblemished record and a lasting legacy of the work God called him to achieve.
Prayers and expressions of condolence to his wife, Mrs Rose Powell and family should be directed to the headquarters Church of NTA, Tooting, Beechcroft Road, London SW17 7BU Tel: 020 8672 9416. At the request of his family we were unable to report this until today.
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* Jose Feliciano and the rectory where Rev Ed Hinds’ body was found.
A caretaker has been charged with the murder of a priest whose body was found in the rectory of his US church.
Jose Feliciano, 64, stabbed and slashed Rev Ed Hinds 32 times with a kitchen knife after the pair had an argument, according to prosecutors.
The 61-year-old pastor had been in his clerical robes when he was killed and Feliciano was one of two people who said they found the body, it is claimed.
The body was discovered at about 8am on Friday after Rev Hinds failed to attend Mass at St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Chatham, New Jersey. Feliciano, who had worked at the church for 17 years, was arrested the following day and also faces weapons charges.
Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi said investigators found the priest’s mobile phone, bloody clothing and a bloody towel at Feliciano’s home in Easton, Pennsylvania.
The pastor had wounds on his upper torso, the back of his body and his head that were created by a kitchen knife, officials said. Rev Hinds also had defensive wounds on his hands and face, according to Mr Bianchi.
A post-mortem found the cause of death was severe trauma. Mr Bianchi told reporters: “Mr Feliciano had got into an argument with the pastor at approximately 5 pm the night before (Thursday night).
“It was during that altercation that the pastor was assaulted. “Mr Feliciano grabbed a knife inside of the rectory and inflicted the multiple stab wounds that led to the unfortunate demise of the pastor.”
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Bible 21 Conference
Rediscovering the relevance and transforming power of the Bible in the 21st Century
This conference will take place at Thomas Risley church on Saturday14th November 2009 and the keynote speaker is Derek Tidball. The bible is the “most bought, least read book”. We live in an age when an ever decreasing number of Christians in the UK read the bible. The church is also in serious decline. Is there a correlation between the two and has this most ancient of texts really got any relevance for 21st century life?
Bible 21
CLICK HERE FOR PDF thomasrisley.org/BIBLE_21_leaflet
Who should attend?
Anybody who believes that the bible is the central document of the Christian faith. This conference will help you to understand the relevance of its message, equip you to understand it for yourself, and enable you to communicate it more effectively to others in our post-modern culture.
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