2024 Summertime Mission u Studies
– We are excited to offer both a live/hybrid and a virtual Mission u study on Saturday, June 8, at First UMC, near Ogden, Utah. You can register for the live event now.
HYBRID Mission u Adult Study: “Exploring the Lord’s Prayer as a Spiritual Practice for Social Transformation”
Date: Saturday, June 8, 2024, 9:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. (Pre-event Gathering Time: 8:30-9:00 a.m.)
Location: Ogden First United Methodist Church, Marriott-Slaterville City, Utah/ also Offered via Zoom
Cost: There is no registration fee for virtual registrants.
The $12 per in-person registration fee covers the cost of lunch/snacks.
Study Leaders: Sandy Barton and Denise Logan
Study Book: “Exploring the Lord’s Prayer as a Spiritual Practice for Social Transformation”
Study Description: This study by Riva Tabelisma gives fresh eyes to the Lord’s Prayer. Often learned by rote, the Lord’s Prayer is a rich guide for how we can live out God’s kin-dom in our lives. Participants in this study are invited to step away from the automatic recitation of the prayer and dive deeply into the meaning of sections of the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6:9-13 (NRSV).
Online Registration Form: Click here to register.
Registration Deadline: May 31, 2024
Notes:
– Hotel near the church: Best Western Plus High Country Inn, 1335 W 1200 S, Ogden, Utah 84404. The hotel’s phone number is 801-394-9474.
– Offering Info: Offering will support the Seager Clinic in downtown Ogden, Utah. This clinic offers medical, dental and counseling services to those in need.
– Reimbursement for Caregiver Costs: May be requested and granted on a case-by-case basis. If interested, contact Kathryn Witte at kathrynwitte75@yahoo.com.
– Lay Servant Ministries/CEU Credit. Must complete these two recommended readings to qualify for this.
- Prayers of the Cosmos: Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus by Neil Douglas-Klotz (Amazon $9.79 paperback; $13.99 Kindle)
- Teach Us to Pray by Justo Gonzalez (Amazon $18.99 paperback; $13.49 Kindle)
Questions? Contact Belinda Alkula at belinda.alkula@gmail.com or Kathryn Witte at kathrynwitte75@yahoo.com
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– Our summertime virtual Mission u will run consecutive Tuesday evenings in July.
Please SAVE THE DATE for this virtual event.
2024 Summer – Free Virtual Adult Mission u Study: “Welcome Home.”
Dates: July 9, 16, 23, 30 (Four Consecutive Tuesdays) – 7:00 to 9:30 p.m.
Study Leader: Janeen Hill
Study Book: “Welcome Home”
Study Description: This study explores how we can know God as an intimate friend who welcomes us. Abiding in God’s safety and dwelling in God’s provision allows us to open our hearts to a full embrace of the power and presence of God so that we may find our home in God. The study leads participants outward so that what starts with our personal homes, expands to welcoming others to join us in our work as co-creators to establish God’s kin-dom on earth.
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Winter 2024
“Finding and Building Peace in an Anxious World” is a four-week study led by the Rev. Su DeBree. Using the book “Finding Peace in an Anxious World” by Erin James-Brown as a springboard.
The class will run four consecutive Sundays, via Zoom, from 2-4:30 p.m., beginning on February 4, 2024 and ending on February 25, 2024.
“Finding Peace in an Anxious World,” first presented in winter 2021, offered ways to identify and overcome anxiety within ourselves. Building on that, this study will present new material and will offer an updated interpretation, exploring how to build and sustain peace beginning within our immediate families and on into the world around us. The 2024 presidential campaign season, other political candidate contests, world dynamics, the ongoing Ukraine/Russia war, drug abuse, economics, gun control, family issues and mental health topics are all in the forefront of news, social media, and more. We plan to offer tools to help participants calm their anxieties, but more importantly, we will focus on how we can use our faith to build and sustain a non-anxious way of spiritually navigating our lives.
The virtual study addresses anxieties in a solid, down-to-earth manner. We will explore ways to discover peace through spiritual disciplines and the use of caring, creative ways to face conflict, as we strive to be instruments of God’s peace. A time for informal conversation will be offered from 1:30 to 2:00 p.m., just prior to each study session. There is no registration fee.
If you did not participate in the first study, you are encouraged to purchase the book “Finding Peace in an Anxious World” and read it prior to the event. It is available on Kindle. The class is ecumenical and is open to all men and women. The link to the online registration form is at: Register here
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Summer 2023
Mission u Study –
Exploring the Lord’s Prayer as a Spiritual Practice 
for Social Transformation
Tuesdays in July/August – July 11, 18 25 and August 1 from 7:00-9:30 p.m. via Zoom
This study by Riva Tabelisma gives fresh eyes to the Lord’s Prayer. Often learned by rote, the Lord’s Prayer is a rich guide for how we can live out God’s kin-dom in our lives. Tabelisma invites participants in this study to step away from the automatic recitation of the prayer and dive deep into the meaning of each line over the course of four two-hour sessions. Each of the sessions examines sections of the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6:9–13, as it is recorded in the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.
Living the Kin-dom can be adapted to a variety of settings outside of the Mission u format, including Sunday school and other church school settings.
Study Leaders:
Sandy Barton is a member of Hope United Methodist Church in Greenwood Village, Colorado, where she is a member of United Women in Faith, the hospitality team, the handbell choir; and she is a Certified Lay Servant. Sandy moved to Colorado in July 2020, from Florida, and is living in southeast Denver with her cat, Henry.
For more than 40 years, Sandy taught high school. She taught in Pennsylvania, Morocco (as a Peace Corps Volunteer), the U.S. Virgin Islands, Denver, and IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
Sandy is a long-time member of United Women in Faith. She was a district spiritual growth coordinator in the Florida Conference and has done many Spiritual Day Apart programs. Her experience includes teaching several Mission u spiritual growth studies. She now serves as the Spiritual Growth Coordinator on the Metro Mile High District team. “I am looking forward to meeting many of you in the months to come,” says Barton.
Denise Logan is a member of the First United Methodist Church of Rocky Ford, Colorado, where she and her husband have lived for 45 years. Denise is a Certified Lay Servant and teaches Sunday school. During her 40+ year membership at the church, she has taught several different age groups of Sunday school and vacation Bible school; directed children’s choir, helped with the youth group, and she is a member of the adult choir. Denise has been a member of United Women in Faith (formerly United Methodist Women) since her early days with the church. She is the treasurer of her local unit and the spiritual growth coordinator of the Trinity District. Denise said, “I am really excited to lead a Mission u study.”
Mary Cousins is a member of First United Methodist Church — Prairie Campus, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Prairie Campus is a new church plant that meets in a school.
She serves as a greeter at the hospitality table, communion server, and enjoys bible studies, and being a Prairie Gal.
Mary is a long time member of United Women in Faith. Before retirement in 2010 she served in Kansas as a district Vice President and district secretary for the Great Plains Conference. She has also served various offices in local units across Kansas. Mary’s unofficial title was ‘Preacher’s Wife’ !
Mary lives in Colorado Springs with her daughter and grandchildren. Trained as a teacher one of her life long dreams has been to teach at Mission U!
Register here
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Mission u Study – Who Can We Be Together: A Biblical Exploration of Luke 13 was held on Sundays, February 5, 12, 19, and 26, 2023; from 2pm – 4:30pm MST via Zoom
Study Leader: Rev. Char Elliott – attended Iliff School of Theology in Denver, CO, graduating with a Master’s of Arts in Religion in 1998. She was ordained as a Deacon in Full Connection in the UMC in 2004. During her ministry, she served as Christian Education Minister at Sunrise UMC in CS for a total of 16 years. After ordination, she went on to serve in the area of Christian Education at Highlands UMC and Washington Park UMC in Denver. Char retired in 2015 and lives in Colorado Springs with husband Fred Schneider.
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Mountain Sky Conference YouTube Channel Link (with recordings of past Mission u virtual study) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpwDuT4-UslC6Q4EREWYPlA
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Mission u Study – “Climate Justice: A Call to Hope and Action,” Sunday Afternoons – Feb. 6, 13, 20, 27, 2022, 2:00-4:30 p.m. via Zoom
Study Leader: The Rev. Waveland King, the United Methodist pastor serving the Mineral County United Methodist Parish in western Montana.
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Mission u - Ft Collins - July 13-14, 2018
Mission u is a cooperative school in the Rocky Mountain Conference between the United Methodist Women and Global Ministries