Beta Testers Wanted

IGRC Communications is in need of 12 to 15 Android smartphone users to beta test our new IGRC Connect phone app. Interested parties need to contact Mike Hembrough at 217-529-2734 or email mhembrough@igrc.org for the download. To preview the mobile site which can be viewed from any smartphone, click the headline above.

IGRC Scholarship Information

Applications for both the Conference Merit Scholarship and the IGRC Leadership Scholarship are now being accepted through March 30.

Today's Bible Study

 

Ezek 13-18

50 Days of Prayer Before and During General Conference

 Upper Room Ministries has published a booklet to be used during the period of 40 days prior to and the 10 days of General Conference 2012. The IGRC delegation is inviting you to join them beginning March 15 as they prepare to engage in conferencing around the leadership and shape of the church's future.   Read more »

Risk-Taking Mission in Prison

 With prison population in Illinois state prisons at a record level (nearly 50,000), one of the church's greatest frontiers may well be prison ministry. The February issue of The Current explores those possibilities. Read more »

2011 Apportionments Finish at 92.21 percent

 IGRC congregations finished 2011 by paying apportionments at 92.21 percent -- just 1 percent less than the record-setting year of 2010. Spoon River District led the conference paying 98.86 percent. View the entire report. Read more »

Platform announced for Covenant Keepers 2012

 Worship leader Keith Elder, a Monday night concert by the Wanda Mountain Boys and presentations by Neil Alexander and Rev. Amy Gearhart will be a part of the Covenant Keepers 2012 program Feb. 6-7. Childcare registration is also available online. Read more »

Racism still stings, bishop tells King

 Retired Bishop Woodie White, who served the Illinois Area from 1984 to 1992, writes on the progress of race relations in the United States in his annual birthday letter to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Read more »

Sirleaf takes oath, promises reconciliation

 President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf pledged to work harder toward achieving national reconciliation at her second inauguration ceremony Jan. 16 in Liberia, a nation that emerged from civil war nearly a decade ago. Read more »

Bishops endorse 20/20 Global AIDS Initiative

 Bishop Gregory V. Palmer is one of 55 United Methodist bishops that has endorsed the 20/20: Visioning an AIDS-Free World initiative by lending their personal and financial support. This effort by the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund Committee seeks to mobilize the denomination to raise $5 million for HIV and AIDS education, prevention, care, and treatment around the world. Read more »

Church Snapshot

 The Church Snapshot is a new feature that provides an easy way to access historical data for key church statistics. A quick link will give data for 2002-2010, plus 1980, 1990, and 2000. Data can be either printed or highlighted for copying and pasting into Excel, Power Point or another program. Read more »

A Message for the New Year

 "There isn’t just one way to welcome a new year," writes Bishop Gregory V. Palmer in his New Year's Day Message. ”What action or practice we choose matters far less than how we approach the new year." Read more »

The Power of the 'Same Old Story'

 In a Christmas Eve message, Bishop Gregory V. Palmer writes, "In the Christmas story we are reminded and reassured that God is subverting what is in order that we can live in God’s reign." Read more »

Risk-Taking Mission: Ministry with Youth and Young Adults

 Youth and young adults are a segment of the population largely underrepresented in the pews. Find out why and how some churches are addressing the issue in this month's issue of The Current. Readers can view the current issue or can visit the 2011 Archive page to download a PDF. Read more »

Navigating Change Conference

 Fairview Heights Christ UMC will host the second Navigating Change conference and pastors in attendance can get continuing education credit for the event. Enjoy a $10 savings for registrations prior to Jan. 31. Read more »

UMNS News