April 27, 2018
Dear Clergy / Lay Member to Annual Conference,
United Methodists are committed to health, wholeness, and offering hope.
During this year’s Annual Conference session, South Georgia United Methodists have the opportunity to give gifts of hope to enrich the health and lives of people in South Georgia, the United States, and around the world.
Givers may choose to designate their gifts to one or more projects or they may leave them undesignated and the Conference will divide the funds between the Abundant Health Advance #3021770 and the Special Relief Fund for South Georgia Clergy.
Abundant Health projects:
- Water filters
- A gift of $2,000 will provide 50 water filters, allowing women and children to access clean, safe drinking water.
- Smokeless stoves
- A gift of $1,040 will provide eight smokeless stoves to households with children having recurrent health concerns.
- Fortified peanut meal nutrition
- A gift of $600 will provide 10 children with a six-month course of fortified peanut meal nutrition.
- Health care packages
- A gift of $500 will provide health packages for 40 pregnant women which includes prenatal care and immunizations for children.
- At-risk youth intervention in U.S.
- A gift of $250 will help combat the opioid crisis in the United States by sponsoring one at-risk youth for one year to complete resistance and intervention programs.
- Special relief for South Georgia clergy
- A gift of $100 will provide financial assistance for South Georgia clergy who face excess medical bills through the Fund of Special Relief.
The 2018 Annual Conference Special Offering is in partnership with Global Ministries’ Global Health focus of extending health interventions to one million children by 2020. Learn more about the Abundant Health Initiative and ways a local church can partner with Global Ministries in mission and ministry from “Everywhere to Everywhere” by visiting www.umcabundanthealth.org.
Every congregation is encouraged to collect an offering prior to Annual Conference. It will then be presented during the Opening Worship service. More information can be found online at at www.sgaumc.org/giftsofhope.
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The 2018 Book of Recommendations and Reports (BOR) for the South Georgia Annual Conference is now available.
Business items for the 2018 Annual Conference session are contained in the BOR. Inside the BOR you'll find a complete conference agenda, helpful annual conference information, detailed reports from conference ministries, resolutions, pension and benefits recommendations, conference budgets, and much more. One of the purposes of the BOR is to allow you to read the resolutions, recommendations, and reports before you come to conference. A good delegate is a prepared delegate.
As it's always been, the BOR will be an invaluable resource prior to and throughout the Annual Conference session. The BOR is now available for download as a PDF file at no cost in its entirety or in sections. You can also purchase it for $5 (plus tax and shipping) as a professionally bound book here, through lulu.com*.
Use discount code BOOKSHIP18 to save 10% on your order plus free mail or 50% off ground shipping. Expires April 30.
The Book of Recommendations and Reports will not be mailed nor will printed copies be available at the Annual Conference session. If you prefer a printed copy versus a digital download, you must print it at church, at home, or purchase it here.
Please continue to visit www.sgaumc.org/annualconference often as we approach annual conference. Some reports that did not make the BOR publication deadline will only be available on the website. These reports will be important to have during the Annual Conference session.
Prior to arriving on Jekyll Island please download onto your digital device or print all the materials you want to have with you during the Annual Conference session.
If you are a clergy person reading this email, please make sure your charge-wide lay member to Annual Conference has this information. In the same respect, if you are the lay member to Annual Conference, please ensure that your pastor(s) has seen this information. Since no materials will be mailed we are trying to spread the word in as many ways as possible.
We look forward to welcoming you to Jekyll Island in just a few weeks!
Dr. Jay Harris
Conference Secretary
jharris@sgaumc.com
Click here for all Annual Conference details
*The Conference is using www.Lulu.com, an online print-on-demand publishing company, to print the 2018 Book of Recommendations and Reports. Orders will be made and processed via their secure website and shipped directly from their facility.
