for Harvest 2020
Our Christ United Methodist Church will be designating the first Sunday of June for the Bishop’s Appeal. The Bishop’s Appeal is a fresh challenge to our Conference from our Bishop Sally Dyck. Designed in the spirit of abundance and modeled after similar events in other annual conferences, we are embarking on a new tradition in the Northern Illinois Conference — a “Bishop’s Appeal” Annual Conference offering.
The first offering in this new focus will be designated for the Harvest 2020 Campaign and will be received during the 2013 Annual Conference in St. Charles, IL, June 5-8. Thereafter, each year’s offering will be designated toward a different cause or initiative.
What makes this offering different from others we have taken at Annual Conference in previous years? This offering will be a conference-wide initiative — inviting local churches, ministry groups, and individuals to contribute. This is not an ‘attendee only’ offering, normally taken during Annual Conference worship. It is a ‘connectional opportunity for every church to contribute to the heartbeat of the connection’. Congregations will be encouraged to initiate a local campaign through a special designated Sunday offering or a fundraising effort led by each local church. A couple of examples may be that the youth hold a car wash or the UMW set up a bake sale.
While this is our first-ever experience of pooling our resources from the pew to the Annual Conference floor, we know we can rise to the occasion. Bishop Dyck has been introduced to the vibrant, energetic spirit of our conference and anticipates an outpouring of generosity — this year and every year — for one designated conference‑wide offering collected during our gathering every June. The only other offering at Annual Conference will be the one taken during the Commissioning and Ordination service with individual attendee contributions for the Ministerial Education Fund.
As we celebrate and culminate the active phase of the Harvest 2020 campaign, raising funds and receiving pledges to provide resources for the planting of new faith communities now and over the next few years, this Bishop’s Appeal offering is our opportunity to say yes to the call of making disciples for the transformation of the world.