RECONCILING
UNITED METHODISTS AND FRIENDS
MEETING
NOTES
April
3, 2000
Meeting
at Duke Memorial United Methodist Church
Durham,
North Carolina
Lois
Wright facilitated the meeting. There
were approximately 20 people present.
GENERAL
CONFERENCE MATTERS
Matt
also reported on our new web site (http://rumnc.tripod.com).
He has done research that has resulted in a free site that he is now
managing. This new web site has a
link to the old site where the address of the new site is given.
The old site will expire and be taken off Vickie Pruett’s account.
The
possibility of more people having the password to the wed site was discussed.
Matt will do most of the up dating, but this arrangement would allow
anyone with the password to up-date the site as needed.
As
part of our web site, we will be adding our stories.
The ones in our booklet will be put on the web site and all are
encouraged to send their stories to Matt for posting.
The more witnesses the better.
The
web site will list support/fellowship meetings, business meetings, and worship
with directions to each site. It
will be linked to National RCP, have fliers to be downloaded, as well as the
latest business meeting notes, and links to others pertinent sites.
Matt will also take over management of our e-group.
It
was decided that, since the majority of our active, attending members have
e-mail, the snail-mail will be limited to once a quarter to cut down on cost.
(There are approximately 95 different addresses on the snail-mail list
and each one requires address label, paper, envelope, and $.33 stamp.)
This quarterly mailing might take the form of a newsletter if we have a
volunteer to do the newsletter.
WORSHIP
AT ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Worship
will be Friday night during the dinner hour in the area adjacent to the dinning
room. This is the area that was
used last year and that experience showed us that we need a sound system to
counter the noise from the dinning room. Buddy
Dean will look into providing a portable system.
Nancy
Ruth Best will ask Brian and Dianne Wingo to coordinate the service and recruit
a preacher. Lois Wright volunteered
to type the worship bulletin.
It
was agreed that we would provide each delegate with a notice of our worship
service and information about our up-coming meetings and events.
The suggestion was that this notice be placed on every seat in the
auditorium near the beginning of AC.
RESOURCES
ON THE NET
Gayle
Felton shared the fact that Northaven UMC in Dallas has a book available on
their web site (free download) or by mail order ($3.00) that addresses the issue
of homosexuality and the UMC’s stance. One
of the contributors to the book is Bishop Wilke, author, with his wife, of the
Disciple Study Series. In Disciple
II Wilke supports the idea that homosexuality is sin, but, in this book, he
states he has changed his mind and tells why.
Helen B. King