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Dear Friends,
We invite you to the 182nd Annual Meeting of the United Methodist City Society. It will be a VIRTUAL MEETING ON Sunday, November 8th, 2020 at 3:30pm.
Under our charter, your congregation is a member of the City Society along with all congregations from the Long Island East, Long Island West, Metropolitan and the New York-Connecticut districts. Each church is entitled to be present and to vote during the meeting. We are accountable to you as members.
The election of the Board of Directors for the coming year will require your vote. The Registration Form and Link is below. You should register on-line through the link. If not, you are welcome to send in the form to our address. However, we will need your email so that you can receive the meeting link as well as the program booklet.
The theme of this year’s meeting is “TRANSFORMATION — NEW BEGINNINGS!” Romans 12:2 is our scriptural foundation:
Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
We will celebrate and highlight how the City Society, through its many programs, transforms the lives of children, youth, and adults. In case you are not aware, the Society manages Camp Olmsted and the Children’s Program which coordinates afterschool and summer camp programs in churches (done virtually since March.)
In addition, we will report on the transformational ministry of Anchor House, the United Methodist Center of Far Rockaway, and the progress of our new affordable senior housing project, The Trinity-James building in the Bronx. We will share with you the many ways we have supported churches this past year and our hope to support many more churches in the coming year.
The City Society is in the process of transformation as well. We are partnering with the New York Annual Conference in “Pressing on … to Freedom, A Pathway to Creating an Anti-Racist Annual Conference.” Our new task force named, “Communication and Transformation”, will report at this meeting.
Our featured speaker is the Rev. Frederick A. Davie. He is in his tenth year as Executive Vice President of Union Theological Seminary. In this role he works with the President of the seminary on management and administration, strategic planning, new program development, resource development, community life, and faith and policy in the public square.
Prior to coming to Union, Rev. Davie was the Interim Executive Director of the Arcus Foundation; President and CEO of Public/Private Ventures; a Program Officer at The Ford Foundation; Deputy Borough President of Manhattan; a chief of staff in the Dinkins mayoral administration; and Deputy Executive Director of the NYC Mission Society.
Rev. Davie also holds several public positions. He is Chairman of the NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), the nation’s largest independent police oversight agency; a Commissioner of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bi-partisan federal entity that advises the President, Congress and Secretary of State on issues of global religious freedom; and a founder and Chairman of Faith 2020, a broad coalition of people of faith promoting hope over fear in politics and public policy.
Rev. Davie serves on the board of directors of several organizations, including his alma mater, Greensboro College, the Interfaith Youth Core, the Interfaith Center of New York, the Stax Museum and Soulsville Foundation in Memphis. He is also on the advisory board of the Interfaith Assembly for Homelessness and Housing and served on the inaugural White House Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, appointed by President Barack Obama.
Rev. Davie is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church USA and a graduate of Yale Divinity School.
I am so grateful for his willingness to share with us at our annual meeting.
Please register so that we can send you the link to the virtual meeting. To register click here: 2020 Annual Meeting Registration. Deadline for registration is Friday, November 6, 2020 Noon. If you encounter technical difficulties or cannot register using the link above please email: Daffnie Marinez at dmarinez@umcitysociety.org.
I look forward to seeing YOU, PASTORS AND LAITY FROM YOUR CHURCH WHO CAN ATTEND online Sunday, November 8th at 3:30 PM.
Feel free to contact me with any questions.
Blessings,
Bill Shillady