Thank you so much to everyone who volunteered for, participated in, and donated to the Inaugural 2022 Resurrection Fun Run hosted by Ayden United Methodist Church in support of Ayden Christian Care. From 2 to 92, this event is fun for all ages and open to the general public. Participants included members of Ayden United Methodist church, as well as the residents those who live in, are from or were simply passing through the beautiful town of Ayden. Despite the cloudy weather and high chance of rain the event was a huge success thanks to the amazing members of the AydenUMC Resurrection Fun Run committee and the wonderful residents of the town of Ayden.

Andrea Norris and Phil Barth, residents of Ayden and members of Ayden United Methodist Church motivated everyone to finish the race. Truly an inspiration to the Ayden community! 

 

 Thank you to: Allyson Meyer, who, along with Rev. Jim McConnell and countless others continuously give of themselves to help others.

For more information about the Resurrection Fun Run 5k and 1 Mile visit:

Ayden United Methodist Church | Facebook

2022 Resurrection Fun Run 5k 

The United Methodist Church is a global church and it is a connectional church. As we sit in the pews each Sunday, we are joined across continents and time zones with a great community of faith that stretches around the entire globe. Our life together as united Methodists is based in the rules and order established in The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church. You can read the contents of Book of Discipline for yourself here.

The Book of Discipline is a living document, discussed, debated and amended as necessary by a quadrennial meeting called General Conference. General conference is comprised of both lay and clergy delegates duly elected from their local Annual Conferences. Every four years, this body gathers from around the world to discern the work of the Holy Spirit among the people called Methodist.

The last planned meeting of General Conference was in 2020. It was cancelled because of the outbreak of SARS-CoV2 and has been rescheduled several times since. It was most recently re-scheduled for August of 2022, but the Commission on the General Conference of the United Methodist Church has made the decision to postpone General Conference until 2024. This commission is a joint commission between laity and clergy and it represents the worldwide connection of the United Methodist Church. The decision was made in response to the persistent and ongoing logistical issues of bringing representatives of a global church together in one place in the midst of a world strained by pandemic. The full statement of the commission is available here.

This decision was not made lightly, but comes as a disappointing delay to many who were hoping for the resolution of  some questions regarding the unity of the United Methodist Church and the desire for some factions of the church to separate themselves from the United Methodist Church and form a new denomination. The division in the church is multi-faceted. Some will say that it has to do with scriptural authority, others with an unworkable church polity. At the heart of the matter for many has been the question of human sexuality, namely the ability to perform same-sex marriages and the ordination of LGBTQ clergy. The churches who wish to leave the denomination over these issues were anticipating a General Conference vote on a path for separation called the Protocol for Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation.

For a well balanced interpretation of this decision to postpone General Conference and the issues surrounding the decision, I commend to you the commentary of Bishop Ken Carter and the response of our own Bishop Leonard Fairley.

In his address, Bishop Fairley echoes my own sentiments when he says:

We still have people to feed, peace to make, justice to do, and a call to walk humbly with God. We still have people to reach for Jesus. I hope we do not lose sight of this in the midst of our frustration and disappointment.

May we receive this moment of uncertainty with the courage afforded us by the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and may we continue to work for his kingdom rather than our own.

 

Grace and peace,

 

Pastor Jim

We are cancelling Sunday Morning service for Sunday Jan 23, 2022 due to inclement weather.

As of Saturday afternoon, secondary streets in Ayden are still covered in ice and snow and even streets that have melted are likely to freeze overnight causing hazardous conditions for travel on Sunday morning.

A virtual message will be available on our YouTube channel on Sunday morning at 8:00 am.

Thank you,

Pastor Jim

In recognition of the enormous challenges of 2020 the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church made it possible for individual local churches to receive donations online at no cost to the local churches. This service was a tremendous help in a very difficult time, but as in-person worship resumes across the conferences this program is ending as of August 1st, 2021.

Many of you have given tithes and offerings through this service during the past year and we are grateful both for your generosity, and for the generosity of the Conference in providing this service free of charge to individual churches.

If you have been giving online and wish to continue giving remotely we encourage you to speak with your bank about scheduling recurring payments to Ayden UMC. Alternately, we can still receive and process any contibutions by check through the mail. Our address is:

Ayden United Methodist Church
PO Box 335
Ayden, NC 28513

Thank you so much for your generous financial stewardship!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Jim