COMING UP SOON
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ASP Chili Cook off
Sunday, Jan. 26, 11:30am Cost is $5/person or $15/family. This entrance fee buys your bowl and all-you-can-eat chili! Bring some cash to vote for your favorite entries. The ASP team would also welcome chili entries! Please email Hattie (youth@fumclg.org) if you would like to prep and bring a chili to serve at the cook-off. |
ASP Euchre Tournament
Saturday, Feb. 8, 7-10pm Join us Saturday, February 8, at Burke Beverage for a 21+ Euchre Tournament, 7-10pm. We will be playing 10 minute games, with rotating partners through the evening. Tickets cost $30. Reserve your spot here, and payment can be made at the door |
FUMC LaGrange Task Force update (Oct. 2019) -
After last February’s Special General Conference (where a vote passed a “Traditional Plan”), our church established a Task Force to monitor the situation in the larger United Methodist Church. It is our task force’s goal to gather information and keep you updated as the church as a whole, as well as conferences and individual churches determine next steps.
Since February, churches and groups across the nation have been gathering, responding, and preparing for January 2020 when new penalties take effect (against being an openly gay, practicing clergy, and against clergy performing same sex marriages). More than 20 Annual Conferences across the U.S. declared statements rejecting the Traditional Plan, including our own Northern Illinois Conference. At least nine conferences have commissioned or ordained openly LGBTQ individuals.
While a handful of churches have left the denomination, most moderate and progressive congregations are looking to have one more shot at changing the plan through the church's political system. One option is to include a vote at the next General Conference in May 2020 that would make the United States a “Regional Conference," allowing for different decisions in different global regions. The church is currently not structured this way. Additionally at least nine plans “dealing with this LGBTQ issue” have been submitted for vote at the General Conference. These plans would require enough votes to essentially undo the vote in 2019.
Our Northern Illinois Conference has tasked an Exploratory Committee with researching and developing some future options for our community. While watching the movement at the national and global level, a small group of leaders are establishing the procedure for churches in our conference to disaffiliate, or leave the UMC, as a contingency option if needed.
From our church's perspective in La Grange, nothing still changes. We will continue to hold our Reconciling Identity at the forefront, and we reject the Traditional Plan. And we are not alone. We are meeting and participating with churches in our conference and nationally. We are part of the estimated 28,000+ churches in the U.S. that would affiliate themselves with a Centrist/Progressive movement, representing almost 80% of the churches nationally. We pray and prepare for a path forward that removes all language and bans against LGBTQ individuals from being able to safely bring their full God-given identities to the table.
For a review of past task force updates, head here, and for a review of UMC structure, head here.
After last February’s Special General Conference (where a vote passed a “Traditional Plan”), our church established a Task Force to monitor the situation in the larger United Methodist Church. It is our task force’s goal to gather information and keep you updated as the church as a whole, as well as conferences and individual churches determine next steps.
Since February, churches and groups across the nation have been gathering, responding, and preparing for January 2020 when new penalties take effect (against being an openly gay, practicing clergy, and against clergy performing same sex marriages). More than 20 Annual Conferences across the U.S. declared statements rejecting the Traditional Plan, including our own Northern Illinois Conference. At least nine conferences have commissioned or ordained openly LGBTQ individuals.
While a handful of churches have left the denomination, most moderate and progressive congregations are looking to have one more shot at changing the plan through the church's political system. One option is to include a vote at the next General Conference in May 2020 that would make the United States a “Regional Conference," allowing for different decisions in different global regions. The church is currently not structured this way. Additionally at least nine plans “dealing with this LGBTQ issue” have been submitted for vote at the General Conference. These plans would require enough votes to essentially undo the vote in 2019.
Our Northern Illinois Conference has tasked an Exploratory Committee with researching and developing some future options for our community. While watching the movement at the national and global level, a small group of leaders are establishing the procedure for churches in our conference to disaffiliate, or leave the UMC, as a contingency option if needed.
From our church's perspective in La Grange, nothing still changes. We will continue to hold our Reconciling Identity at the forefront, and we reject the Traditional Plan. And we are not alone. We are meeting and participating with churches in our conference and nationally. We are part of the estimated 28,000+ churches in the U.S. that would affiliate themselves with a Centrist/Progressive movement, representing almost 80% of the churches nationally. We pray and prepare for a path forward that removes all language and bans against LGBTQ individuals from being able to safely bring their full God-given identities to the table.
For a review of past task force updates, head here, and for a review of UMC structure, head here.