Dear
RENEW Network Friend,
You will be
pleased to know that Offering Jesus, the supplemental program
book produced for RENEW by Bristol House publishing, is now off the
press. We believe you will be pleased with this new program book,
dedicated to the memory of our good friend and RENEW consultant,
Diane Knippers. Diane was the president of the Institute on
Religion and Democracy (IRD), and, just prior to her death, was
selected by Time Magazine as one of the twenty-five most
influential evangelicals in America. Diane prepared an excellent
program for Offering Jesus entitled “Christ’s Kingdom in the
Realm of Politics.”
This new
resource includes eight programs and an introduction that can be
used as a devotional. Opening with the program “The Supremacy of
Christ,” there is also a powerful program on the plight of children
in war-torn situations, another on the gift of discernment and a
fun-filled, ol’ time radio-style production entitled “Prod E. Gal of
the Plains.”
The program
book is rounded out with three exceptional “tea” programs. The
first, “John Wesley Memorial Tea,” focuses on the John Wesley
teapot, made for Wesley by Josiah Wedgwood in 1761. This program is
an adaptation of a program by the same name recommended by the New
England Branch of the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society in 1938.
(You may send for a packet which includes the original program, a
1908 article by Mrs. Anna Onstott, who arranged for the first
reproduction of the original teapot, as well as a copy of a 1911
article from The Ladies Home Journal.)
The second
“tea” program is “A Special Tea Party, a Gracious Celebration.”
This program uses a tea event for evangelistic outreach. The final
tea program, “A Traveling Tea Party,” was shared by a UMW group in
Michigan and is a wonderful program for ministry to discouraged,
sick or shut-in women who are a part of your church or community.
Use the
enclosed order card to request your copy of Offering Jesus.
The resource will be sent to you from Bristol House, Ltd., our
partner in this project. They will include a catalog of other
excellent resources offered through Bristol. Bristol publishes
books, Sunday School curriculum, confirmation material and program
resources for United Methodists in the Wesleyan tradition.
Annual
Conferences are upon us. Some of you may have already had your
conferences, but, if you have not, we would like to offer you
another resource you can download from our web site at
www.renewnetwork.org.
A North
Carolina Conference church, Edenton Street UMC in Raleigh, North
Carolina, shared a guide for praying for annual conference which
they have used for several years. They enlist various churches to
pray continuously throughout their annual conference meeting. This
guide is posted to our web site and can be easily downloaded. It is
a wonderful guide for individuals, churches or entire conferences to
use. You may want to share it with your district superintendent,
your conference lay leader or your bishop as a potential resource
for use across the district or conference.
Finally, we
are offering our Spring 2005 report and analysis of the Women’s
Division Board of Directors meeting. Katy Kiser and Sharon Lodovic,
our press reporters to this April meeting, did an excellent job both
reporting and researching the various topics addressed at this board
meeting. It is important for you to be aware of the broad scope of
issues the Women’s Division considers, and the perspective from
which they are presented. RENEW appreciates the time our reporters
put into attending these meetings and the energy they expend to
research items they think deserve more information for our network
members. Use the enclosed order form to request this report.
Let me give
you an update on the planned Christian conversation between the
RENEW Network and the Women’s Division. RENEW has submitted its
recommended guidelines for this meeting and we are waiting to hear
back from the Women’s Division with their recommendations. Keep
this planned conversation in your prayers. The setting, the format,
the participants and the content of this discussion are all very
important. A detraction to open conversation was the communication
piece sent out under Kelly Martini, communications director for the
Women’s Division. Be sure to check our web site for our response to
this inaccurate, misrepresenting document.
As the summer
months approach we need you to stand with us in prayer and through
financial support. Your gift of $25, $50, $100 or more will help
finance our part in the upcoming conversation with the Women’s
Division, and move us forward in our plans to hold “Inspiring
Models” events. Contact us to host an event in your area.
Sincerely in Christ,
L. Faye Short
President