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September/October 2008 Mileage rate increase The Internal Revenue Service announced June 23 an increase in the optional standard mileage rates for the final six months of 2008. The rate will increase to 58.5 cents a mile for all business miles driven July 1, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2008.
This is an increase of eight cents from the 50.5 cent rate in effect for the first six months of 2008. In recognition of recent gasoline price increases, the IRS made this special adjustment for the final months of 2008. The IRS normally updates the mileage rates once a year in the fall for the next calendar year.
While gasoline is a significant factor in the mileage figure, other items enter into the calculation of mileage rates, such as depreciation and insurance and other fixed and variable costs. The optional business standard mileage rate is used to compute the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business use in lieu of tracking actual costs.
This rate is also used as a benchmark by the federal government and many businesses to reimburse their employees for mileage. back to top | |
| Mission Sunday materials have arrived!
Mission Sunday is Nov. 9, 2008. We encourage each Mennonite Church USA congregation to set aside a Sunday worship service at some point during the year to focus on God’s call to be missional. If you are unable to do this Nov. 9, please choose another date to celebrate your commitment to being a missional church.
Included in this packet are resources designed to assist you in planning for worship on Mission Sunday. Within the materials you will find suggestions for the call to worship, invocation, hymns and songs, children’s story, sermon starters, benediction and additional resources.
If you have any questions about these materials or would like to order additional resources to use on Mission Sunday, contact Mennonite Mission Network at Resources@MennoniteMission.net or 866-866-2872. back to top | |
| Urban Leaders Network Meeting, Oct. 24 to 25, 2008, in Manhattan, N.Y. Register online and view the schedule at www.MennoniteMission.net.
Deadline for lodging and registration is Sept. 23. Limited lodging is available; first-come, first-served.
“Breaking through urban concrete: How agents of good news can infiltrate hierarchies of power” is the theme for the ULN meeting. Invited by the New York City Council of Mennonite Churches, the meeting will be in Manhattan, N.Y., at the Manhattan Country School. Urban leaders, pastors and others with an urban interest are welcome to participate in the meeting.
New York City Mennonites will provide a taste of their urban context with opportunities for mutual support, networking and skills building, enabling all urban ministry practitioners to become agents of change in their ministries and communities.
Ruth Yoder Wenger, administrator of the NYC Council of Mennonite Churches and pastor of North Bronx Mennonite Church, will use live sculpture to address the hierarchy of power that relates to serving the disenfranchised in the city. James R. Krabill, senior executive for Global Ministries at Mennonite Mission Network, will speak on the power of God’s mission through engagement. Workshops will be led by people from the local NYC area, and each will be offered two times:
- Employment as economic empowerment, Michael Banks, King of Glory Tabernacle
- Groundswell, a peacemaking program in NYC public schools, Addie Banks, King of Glory Tabernacle
- Immigration—migration and globalization, Sandra Perez, Mennonite Central Committee East Coast
- Imbalance of power—violence and abuse, Linda Gehman Peachy, Mennonite Central Committee
The meeting begins with registration at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 24, and continues Oct. 25 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Two optional events include networking in small groups while dining together Saturday evening, and worship with a local congregation Sunday morning.
Contact: Becky Tyson at BeckyT@MennoniteMission.net, 574-523-3076 (direct line), or 866-866-2872 (toll-free). back to top | |
| Pastors Week at AMBS
Diana Butler Bass, author of Christianity for the Rest of Us, will share findings about how mainline churches are experiencing renewal as they respond to cultural change. Join Dr. Bass and participants Jan. 26 to 29, 2009, at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. See more in the enclosed brochure and at www.ambs.edu/pastorsweek. back to top | |
| Continuing education opportunities
Upcoming events at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary include Advent and Lent worship planners, and two in the Extreme Situations Pastoral Care series. For information, visit www.ambs.edu/workshops.
A new event has been added to the calendar: Take our moments and our days. This Jan. 26 workshop introduces the Anabaptist prayer book and explores ways to use it in congregational life. See more at www.ambs.edu/leadershipclinics. back to top | |
| Pastoral Studies Distance Education
Undergraduate ministry training is available with the Pastoral Studies Distance Education program. The curriculum, Leading God’s People, has recently been revised to better reflect how the Mennonite church looks today—urban with racial and ethnic diversity. Read the enclosure to learn more about this on-site ministry program for pastors and/or lay leaders.
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| January offerings at AMBS
Jan. 5 to 23, 2009 courses at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary are listed in the enclosed brochure. Note especially the two off-site courses:
- Peace and justice issues from a Latin American perspective at SEMILLA in Guatemala; registration needed by Oct. 1.
- Jerusalem Seminar with Patricia Shelly and Douglas Miller
See the enclosed brochure and www.ambs.edu/academics/courses/interterm, or contact registrar@ambs.edu. back to top | |
| Paraguay study tour coordinated with Mennonite World Conference
A study tour to Paraguay, connected with Mennonite World Conference in July 2009, is planned by Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. Graduate credit is available for “Missional Church in Global Context,” with several options for the focus of study. Registration is due by Oct. 1. See more at www.ambs.edu/academics/courses/summer/paraguay-course. back to top | |
| School for Leadership Training 2009
Christians Engaging Cultural Change
Twenty-first century Christians find themselves in a sweeping cultural change that includes rapidly developing technologies and disillusionment with the ability of scientific advances to bring meaning and wholeness to life. How do we live in this environment as a faithful priesthood of all believers?
School for Leadership Training 2009 encourages engagement with specific cultural changes in areas such as communication media, relationships between races and genders, and scientific and societal discoveries about how humans function in the world. Daily worship times, keynote addresses, workshops and interest groups will offer many lenses through which to relate to American culture as Christians.
Participants will find a new understanding of this era and their proactive place in it. Keynote speakers are: Shane Hipps, pastor of Trinity Mennonite Church in Phoenix, Ariz. and author of The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture: How Media Shapes Faith, the Gospel, and Church, and Regina Shands Stoltzfus, adjunct professor at Goshen (Ind.) College. For more information see the brochure in this packet or visit www.emu.edu/seminary/slt. Online registration begins Aug. 15.
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