Anna United Methodist Church Opening Guidelines
Resuming Live Services
July brought us back to being able to have services in our sanctuary. This brought about the need of meetings and plans to safely do so.
I want to thank the Church Council for their time and thoughtful ideas on how to proceed with this good news.
Our services are different than before this virus time but I feel they have been well received by ones attending.
After thorough cleaning by our janitor a volunteer team comes in every week and sanitizes the pews
and altar areas for services. I thank them very much for this. We have been averaging just fewer than 30 in
attendance so far. Temperatures are checked as you enter the building. Masks are being worn, and distancing
in pews is being followed. I feel your church is safe for you to attend the services.
Our new pastor, Tim Gossett, is giving us fresh fruit from God to guide us through the week ahead.
Carla is furnishing us with joyful music to lift our spirits and our praise to God.
God is with us, shielding, protecting, lifting us up, and moving us onward.
Again, thank you to all for your special work in this endeavor.
Your Council Chair,
Sue Ann Zimmerman
For services starting July 5th at 10:45 am.
1. Please enter through the parking lot door. All other doors stay locked.
2. Keep the 6 foot social distance
3. Please wear a mask.
4. Temperature will be taken upon entry by Barbara House.
5. Check list--Terry Riley will check off everyone who enters
6. No Children’s church, kids stay with families at all times.
7. Ushers will seat you, front to back and
Ushers will dismiss you, from back to front.
8. No coffee hour (no gathering in the Family Life Center)
9. Water fountains will be covered.
10. Restrooms used only as necessary and must be sanitized after each use. (Supplies in bathroom)
Parents please accompany small children.
11. Offering plate will be available in narthex.
Leave offerings in the plate after service or mail to the church.
12. No singing, only humming.
13. No oral litany, our pastor should be the only one speaking.
14. Use only one acolyte, if available.
15. No communion at this time.
16. No Sunday school at this time.
17. Lord’s Prayer will be said silently.
18. All announcements and the order of worship will be on screen.
19. Please limit activity to the sanctuary and to and from bathrooms.
If you have any questions please contact Sue Ann Zimmerman at 833-1931.
Annual Conference meets virtually
8/15/2020
By Paul Black
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference gathered online for its first ever virtual annual conference session on Aug. 15. The theme of the single-day gathering was Let’s Get Fired Up: On Holy Ground.
Despite the limitations brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, conferees were able to worship and gather for Christian conferencing. IGRC Communications collaborated to produce a hybrid, part-live, part-recorded Annual Conference. Worship leader Cynthia Wilson provided music for both the opening and closing worship. Music was also provided by several music groups of Pekin Grace UMC. Attendees gathered virtually via Zoom with slightly more than 1,022 attending annual conference from home and another 166 attending through one of the remote sites.
Leading up to the single-day conference, services were aired recognizing 31 retirees with a combined 868 years of service; the Cabinet; a Memorial Service remembering clergy, clergy spouses and lay members to annual conference that had passed away in the previous year and remembrance of 10 congregations with a combined 1,561 years of ministry that have completed their mission; and Bishop Frank J. Beard’s Episcopal Address.
The Annual Conference approved a 2021 budget of $11,206,875 – a reduction of 7.38 percent. While budgets have been relatively flat over the past 10 years, the total returns the spending level to 2014 levels. The $893,033 reduction comes on the heels of apportionment collections of 88 percent in 2019, down from 95 percent in 2018. The Conference ended 2019 with a $276,000 deficit which was addressed by using reserves of previous years’ surpluses.
This year, the Conference provided 312 congregations a forgivable loan during the pandemic at a cost of just over $1 million. The amounts were based upon apportionments paid in the three previous years and the percentage of apportionments paid in 2020 will determine the percentage of forgiveness to the loans. The conference also provided funds for 150 food ministries at a cost of $75,000 and 72 micro-grants to enhance technology in congregations.
Legislatively, the conference announced that the health insurance allowance paid to full-time pastors will remain at $17,500 for 2020. The conference also approved a 2.1 percent increase to its minimum salaries. In 2021, the salaries will go to $45,290 for clergy in full connection, associate members and provisional elders; and $41,560 for full-time local pastors.
Retirees under the pre-1982 pension plan will see a 2 percent increase to $810 per active service year in 2021.
The Conference approved a transportation procedure and language regarding cyber bullying recommended by the Bishop’s Task Force on Relational Ethics as an addition to the conference’s Abuse Prevention Policy for Children and Vulnerable Adults.
The Conference also remembered the Ministry of MacMurray College which closed its doors in May after 174 years as a college affiliated with The United Methodist Church.
The Clergy Session approved the election of one associate member, nine elders in full connection, one deacon in full connection. They also approved the commissioning of four provisional elders, one provisional deacon; and celebrated the graduation of four local pastors from Course of Study.
Membership stands at 115,959 in 2019, down 2,722 (2.3 percent) from 2018. Average worship attendance is 49,270, down 2,426 (4.7 percent). Church school attendance stands at 16,206, down 840.
The 2021 Annual Conference will be held June 10-12, 2021, at the Peoria Civic Center in Peoria, Ill.
