‘Oh Mercy’ Film Screening

Worldwide Documentaries Presents

Seeing is Believing-
A National Screening Initiative

We are the Change We Seek 

On October 1st, Worldwide Documentaries launched Seeing is Believing, a month-long screening initiative featuring Oh Mercy – Searching for Hope in the Promised Land – https://bit.ly/3kfZcpk. The goal of this initiative is to share the film in as many homes and communities as possible, so as to humanize the immigration issue and move it from the current isolationist tone to one of compassion. To give a face and a voice to the victims of this cruelty.

A free access link to the film, as well as a toolkit featuring a discussion guide, screening flyer, resource center and more, is available on our website, https://www.ohmercyfilm.com.

If you have any questions, please contact heidi@worldwidedocumentaries.com.

Hands On Housing

The upcoming Raise the Roof event will stretch over 3 weeks, from October 11th to October 31st.  Team Leaders can now register a team of more than 10 people if they wish, or can choose to cap their team size at 10, as before. We will leave that decision up to the team leader and their team members. Volunteers registering as individuals will be paired with one of our teams according to their availability. Here is the link to register your team.

Foundation Communities

Tuesday, October 19 – Noon – 1 PM

Livestreamed on YouTube

See more at FoundCom.org.

Sid Hall Retirement Celebration

Please join us on Sunday, November 7, 2021 from 3:30-7:30pm to celebrate Sid Hall’s 33 years of ministry with Trinity Church of Austin!

[REGISTER TO ATTEND]

Sid retired as of July 1 of this year, but due to pandemic conditions, we delayed his retirement celebration until it was cool enough for us to gather outdoors. We encourage you to mask up and join us for live music, food, drinks, and fellowship at Ranch Austin with the Trinity community.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the ongoing ministries of Trinity Church of Austin. Your generous tax-deductible donations allow us to fund sliding scale admissions for those in our community who could not otherwise afford to attend.

Texas Impact

Texas Impact Joins Lawsuit Challenging Restrictive Voting Legislation

Read https://texasimpact.org/2021/09/sb1-lawsuit/Why We’re Suing

Courts & Ports Program

Courts & Ports is a 2-day immersion experience designed to build understanding of the many challenges facing migrants and public servants at the Texas-Mexico border. 

Find out more:  https://texasimpact.org/courts-ports/

A Conversation With Our Bishop

Rio Texas MFSA will have our next virtual meeting on Thursday, August 12, 2021

Our guest is Bishop Robert Schnase, who currently serves as bishop of the Río Texas Annual Conference. He was assigned to Río Texas in September 2016 after serving twelve years as the bishop of the Missouri Annual Conference.  Prior to his election as bishop in 2004, Schnase served for 15 years as senior pastor of First United Methodist Church, McAllen, Texas. 

We have invited Bishop Schnase to be with us on Thursday, August 12th from 7:00 to 8:00 on Zoom to give us his perspective on the state of  the United Methodist Church, locally and in the world. 

As you join this zoom call, we ask each caller to MUTE themselves, unless the caller is part of the program.

If you have questions for Bishop Schnase, you may type them on the “chat” link.

To Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87823580342?pwd=YzI4czAyTzN1RHdlbkdweStRQ3RQZz09 Feel free to share this notice with your congregations and classes

Welcome Cindy Andrade Johnson at our next Chapter Meeting!

We will have our next virtual meeting on
Thursday, November 12, 2020   7pm

Our guest speaker is Cindy Andrade Johnson, a deaconess with the Rio Texas Conference.  She has worked tirelessly and made personal contact with the asylum seekers on the Rio Grande border.  Even in the middle of this election period she has been present for the people who are in the most need. The migrant camp in Mexico is causing harm to our migrant siblings because of inhumane US policies. 

Please join us as we discuss what we can do even if we cannot be present, and how we can support this issue.

Follow and support Cindy on her Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/cindy.johnson.94695 We’ll also spend some time catching up with each other!

Join Zoom Meeting

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video an…

Meeting ID: 878 2358 0342

Passcode: 123659 Meeting Time:  7:00pm CST

September 10 – Let’s have a (virtual) meeting!

We will have a virtual chapter meeting via Zoom on September 10 from 7 to 8 pm CDT.  We want to use this time to catch up with our members and find out what our congregations are doing on social justice issues during the pandemic.

In addition, we will discuss efforts to Get Out the Vote for the November General Elections.

 

Topic: MFSA Meeting

 

Time: Sep 10, 2020 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

 

Join Zoom Meeting

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting

 

Meeting ID: 848 8452 5425Passcode: 916666

 

Thanks to Kenneth and Deana Henry for setting this call up!

Get Out the Vote!

 

General Election:  November 3

Last Day to Register:  October 5

Early Voting Begins:  October 13

Early Voting Ends:  October 30

Texas Voter Information  https://www.votetexas.gov/

League of Women Voters  https://my.lwv.org/texas/voting-elections

Vote Forward  https://votefwd.org/

Anti-Racism Workshop by Rio Texas MFSA in Austin

Anti-Racism Workshop in Austin

Saturday, February 29th, 9:00 am – 3:30 pm

Rev. Neal Christie will host the workshop, “Shaping Beloved Community: From Dignity, Recognition and Inclusivity to Advocacy and Equity” at Saint John’s UMC on Saturday, February 29th, 9:00am – 3:30pm. The event is cosponsored by the Rio Texas MFSA (Methodist Federation for Social Action) and the Saint John’s Risk-Taking Mission & Service Committee. Cost for the workshop is $10. A light lunch will be provided.

This workshop will examine the concepts of diversity, inclusivity, equity, cultural humility, and intersectionality; how both external and internalized racism and ethnocentrism create and perpetuate racist systems.  We’ll explore what it means to live in a race-dominant culture and how white privilege perpetuates that culture; what does a race-equitable culture look like?  We will look at specific public policies in the U.S. and how they perpetuate exclusion, marginalization, and oppression.

Join us as we learn more about ourselves as persons created in the image of God, and to affirm Christ’s grace in our church and society.

Rev. Christie, who serves as Assistant General Secretary for Education and Leadership Formation on the UMC General Board of Church and Society, directs the agency’s educational opportunities, including world-wide trainings, workshops, seminars, and internships. He also coordinates curriculum related to the UM Social Principles. Rev. Christie has authored a number of publications and produced several educational videos on social justice for the church. He is an elder in the Greater New Jersey Conference of the United Methodist Church. Neal has been devoted to the ministry with Church and Society for 20 years.

Register at https://2020anti-racism_workshop.eventbrite.com. If you have questions, please contact Anne Mund at ennadnum@hotmail.com. To pay by check, please follow the instructions at the bottom of event flyer: Anti-racism_Flyer2020

From ACLU Texas

From Michael Seifert, ACLU Brownsville:

https://resourcesfortheborder.blogspot.com/2020/01/support-asylum-seekers.html

Friends, it’s been one year since the Trump administration began the policy “Remain in Mexico” (or MPP). Today, over 60,000 asylum seekers have been forcefully returned to Mexico to wait there for their U.S. immigration hearings.

Many migrant families are living for months in shelters or tent camps facing endless hurdles, and struggling to get basic necessities.

We can’t accept this as the norm. Since people are pushed out of the country and are “out of sight”, it is easier to forget we are complicit in the violence they experience.

Continue to demand an end to this policy and support those people who are stuck in Mexico waiting.

These wish lists are full of needed items that will be going directly to the shelters/ tent camps where these families are at.  It takes only a few minutes to buy an item!

*lists are only open for a week*

🔸Angry Tias and Abuelas in Matamoros: bit.ly/2RyMV2M

🔸Red de Albergues “Somos Uno X Juárez” in Cd. Juarez: bit.ly/37Bx1dz

🔸Kino Border Initiative in Nogales: bit.ly/2RCfMTC

 

Best,

Michael Seifert

Brownsville, Texas

Texas Interfaith Advocacy Conference

This conference brings Texans of faith together for three days of advocacy and legislative training on February 16-18, 2020.

Register here.

Speakers and sessions will cover immigration, health equity, and climate – with an opportunity for participants to meet with their state elected officials.

Information about hotels to come soon.

Download and print the flyer here.

Discussions Ramp Up in Preparation for GC 2020

In February 2019 the United Methodist Church, assembled in St. Louis at a special General Conference, adopted the Traditionalist Plan which strengthened the anti-LGBTQ stance of the denomination.  In the months since, there has been intense discussion about the future of the church.  Several groups have drafted plans dealing with changes to the denomination’s laws, the Book of Discipline.  In May 2020, the global UMC will have a General Conference in Minneapolis where it will consider further changes.

If you are interested in the discussions about the future of our denomination, stay alert!

If your congregation is not having conversations about this, they should be!

Progressive Resources:

United Methodist News Service:  https://www.umnews.org/en/

Mainstream UMC:  https://mainstreamumc.com/

UMC Next:  https://umcnext.com/

Hacking Christianity:  http://hackingchristianity.net/

UM Insight:  https://um-insight.net/

UM Forward:  https://um-forward.org/

iACT – The Red Bench

Join us for the next Red Bench on February 25 at Triumphant Love Lutheran Church (9508 Great Hills Trail, Austin, TX 78759) at 6:30pm on the topic: Who Counts & Who Matters? 

If you plant to attend, please be sure to RSVP.

RMN Convocation – Connection2020

REGISTER FOR CONNECTION2020

Even as The UMC wrestles with its future, RMN’s mission remains unchanged. We are steadfast in our commitment to LGBTQ justice, not only where The UMC currently exists, but across the expanse of any future expressions of Methodism or denominations birthed out of the Wesleyan movement. Given that commitment, we invite you to join us in Nashville this February to bless one another’s liberative work and to accomplish the following:

  1. Mobilize Reconciling individuals who want to resist, reform, and build something new
  2. Resource and train Reconciling Churches and Communities to resist the Traditionalist Plan and affirm LGBTQ people in their local context
  3. Gather General Conference delegates to strategize toward GC2020

Register Here