This document provides updates and announcements for local churches in the Southwest District, including: - An urgent need for socks and volunteers for Christmas bags for those in need. - An reminder about open enrollment for health insurance ending the next day. - Details on upcoming trainings, celebrations, and district events in January regarding safe sanctuaries, conversations on race relations, and more. - A request from the Bishop for churches to pay their conference remittances and apportionments to support connectional ministries. - Various calendar items and reminders for local churches.

1. Click here for our Calendar of Events and the Fine Print about this publication.
This e-alert and recent e-alert are available on the SW District page of the Conference website.
“Tell me what is right and I will fight for it.” – Woodrow Wilson, 28th
president, 1856-1924.
Update on Christmas Bag of Cheer.... We need white socks, brown bags, Christmas cards, and volunteers!!! We
have all items pledged for 1000 bags (yes, prayers were answered) EXCEPT white crew
socks. Please email, call Sue Grimm Mattox (sgrimm1028@gmail.com or 717-575-6414) if
you can help out. Currently we need over 1800 pairs of socks! Please continue to pray
for this project. Volunteer needs to hand out bags at Anchorage Breakfast Program on
Wednesday-Friday, December 21, 22, 23 from 8:45 am until 9:30 am at First UMC,
Lancaster. New Year Bags will be handed out Wednesday-Friday, December 28, 29, 30.
This would be a great opportunity for YOUTH Groups! Cards are also still needed – 300
Christmas cards and 300 New Year’s type cards. If every church provided 9 cards – this
would be more than covered. We can do it!
Open Enrollment ends tomorrow!!! Participants in the plan for 2017 MUST participate in open enrollment in
order to have coverage in 2017. No current elections will continue next year unless participants choose them
by enrolling online. For more information, please visit the conference website. To enroll, visit BSwift (user id:
first initial late name, as in John Doe = jdoe; password = date of birth, as mmddyyyy or a custom password that
was created at the initial log in).
Pastor and Spouse Celebration Friday, December 16, 2016 at 6:30pm at Bethel AME, Cultural Center, East
Strawberry Street, Lancaster. Please RSVP by Friday, December 9 to the church office 717-393-8379.
Prayer Vigil Eastern PA Conference is helping to launch UMC prayer vigil in 2017. January 8-14, 2017, is Eastern
PA’s week to participate in the Council of Bishops’ Praying Our Way Forward Initiative. We are asked to pray
for “the church’s effectiveness in fulfilling our mission of making disciples and for the outcome of the work of
the Commission on a Way Forward.” To read more about this, please visit the conference website.
Safe Sanctuary Training Due to the success of the this training in October, Mount Joy: Glossbrenner would like
to offer this training again on Sunday, January 8, 2017 from 12:30pm – 2:30pm with a light lunch included. The
training is FREE and open to all. Trainers for this event include Rev. Eddie Cameron and Lisa White Cameron.
There will be childcare services available. Registration information coming soon!
Walking with: The African American Experience – Sponsored by the East District
What: East District Conversation on Race Relations
When: Friday, January 20 – Saturday, January 21, 2017
Time: 6pm (Friday evening with dinner; recess at 9pm) 8am (Saturday morning; adjourn at 3pm)
Where: Washington Crossing UMC, 1895 Wrightstown Rd, Washington Crossing, PA 18977
Who: Clergy and laity
Theme: Walking with: The African American Experience
Cost: $35.00 per person (includes, dinner, breakfast and lunch)
Registration Deadline: December 21, 2016 (the earlier the better)
To register: Send your name, mailing address, email address, and the name of your church with a check
payable to East District Superintendency Clergy Fund and mail to: East District Office c/o Clarita Krall,
EPAUMC, 3470 Huntingdon Pike, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006. The memo line should read
“Conversations on Race Relations.”

2. Statistical Reports Keep your charge conference reports handy! 2016 Statistical Reports are due January 31,
2017. They will NOT be available to work on until January 6th
, but you can start to collect your information
now!
Faithful Partners in Ministry – Message from Bishop Johnson
Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus the Christ!
I am writing to you during this season of giving with an important reminder about the paying of
conference remittances and apportionments.
The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference currently has 415 churches. We are a collection of Christian
communities which have partnered together to make a difference for Christ and the Kingdom in southeastern
Pennsylvania and beyond. The Connectional Ministries apportionment and the direct bills for property &
liability insurance, clergy pensions, and clergy health care benefits are a tangible expression of our unity in the
face of human need. It is also an expression of our commitment to the much larger Body of Christ. Much good
comes from our connectional ministry and the missions we support through this giving.
As we come to the end of this year I am urging every local church to keep their commitment to this
tangible expression of unity. Please find out if your church is behind on its payments. I am making this appeal
because there are certain financial realities that are impacting the life and ministry of the Conference.
At the adjourned session of Annual Conference, delegates elected to reduce the number of districts from six
to four in an effort to reduce the Conference budget and improve cash flow. This is just the first of several
steps to be taken toward becoming a financial secure Conference.
Informing you about our financial realities is another step:
† As of October 3, 2016 out of 415 churches in the EPA Conference
o 167 paid 100% of their Billed remittances in full.
o 233 churches paid a portion of their remittance bills.
o 15 churches have paid zero toward these bills.
† In the past, we have managed the Conference cash flow by using monies from reserves or other one-
time events such as building or property sales. With less and less of our churches paying in full or in
advance, we do not have the funds required to meet our current billing responsibilities.
† Regarding the Pre-82 Pension obligation: $1.2 million is due to the General Board of Pension and Health
Benefits in December 2016 to pay for our annual Pre-1982 Pension invoice.
o In 2015, the conference took an advance from the Board of Pension and Health Benefits to pay the
75% of the direct bill anticipating a reimbursement from the faithful remittance of local churches.
As of this letter, the conference has been unable to recoup those funds.
o If the Board of Pension and Health Care Benefits must do the same in 2016 and the responses of
the churches are similar to 2015; and this trend continues, then it would leave us without reserve
funds and creates the possibility of a pension shortfall in 2021 when the obligation should 100%
funded.
o This trend is also happening with other direct bills, including property and liability insurance and
clergy health care. The Conference continues to pay this obligation too from resources that are
nearly exhausted; and does so with the expectation that local congregations will do their part to
make every effort to pay.
As stated earlier, all of these financial realities impact our life and ministry as a Conference of local
churches called to be a witness for Jesus Christ in southeastern Pennsylvania.
I invite you to pray for clear steps forward. We also invite you to consider steps you can take as a
congregation to faithfully partner with the other churches of the EPA Conference in securing, and growing,
our life and ministry together. There are looming financial hurdles before us, but if each of us does our part,

3. the challenges will be easily met. If we give cheerfully, as II Corinthians 9:8 says: God is able to provide you with
every blessing in abundance.
Let’s be faithful partners in ministry for Christ and the transformation of the world.
Prayerfully,
Bishop Peggy Johnson
Local Church & ConneXion Events! Be sure to check out the SW District Website for up-to-date events
happening in our churches (fall fests, bbq’s, etc). https://www.epaumc.org/districts/southwest/sw-local-
church-and-connexion-events/ Lots of great local events have been added this week!
Planning a visit? If you’re planning on visiting the District Office for any reason, please call ahead of time to
make sure someone is there. The DS and DRA have frequent off-site things to attend to. You can also email
ahead of time as the DRA checks her email constantly. If your matter is urgent, please contact the DS directly.
Rev. Jacquie Sheely and her family.
Each and every one of you and your families during this Advent season.
For a schedule of Sexual Ethics Workshop, click here
For information about the Changing Racism training, click here
December 16, 2016 Pastor & Spouse Celebration
Bethel AME, Lancaster, PA
Dec. 23 – Jan 2, 2017 Christmas/New Year’s Break
District & Conference Offices are closed
January 6-8, 2017 Pen-Del Youth Rally
Ocean City, MD
January 8, 2017 Safe Sanctuary Training
Mount Joy: Glossbrenner
February 28, 2017 Lenten Day Apart
TBD
April 29, 2017 Tools for Ministry, 8:30am
TBD
July 21-22, 2017 Mission u 2017
The Inn at Reading

4. † 1861 – The CSS Sumter captures the whaler Eben Dodge in the Atlantic. The American Civil War is now
affecting the northern whaling industry.
† 1863 – Union General William Averell’s cavalry destroys railroads in the southwestern part of West
Virginia.
† 1914 – The German cruisers Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Nurnberg, and Leipzig are sunk by a British force in
the Battle of the Falkland Islands.
† 1920 – President Woodrow Wilson declines to send a representative to the League of Nations in
Geneva.
† 1943 – US carrier-based planes sink two cruisers and down 72 planes in the Marshall Islands.
† 1944 – The United States conducts the longest, most effective air raid on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima.
† 1948 – The UN approves the recognition of South Korea.
† 1980 – John Lennon is shot to death outside his Manhattan apartment building.
† 2010 – SpaceX becomes the first privately held company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a
spacecraft.
† 2010 – The Japanese solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS passes the planet Venus.
Name / Title Phone Email
Rev. Bumkoo Chung, District
Superintendent
O: 717-569-9673 / C: 201-787-9373 bkepaumc@gmail.com
Mrs. Kristin E. Reifsnyder, District
Resource Assistant
O: 717-569-9673 / C: 717-940-4736 kreifsnyder@epaumc.org
Mrs. Sue Grimm Mattox, District
Lay Leader
C: 717-575-6414 sgrimm1028@gmail.com
Rev. Elaine Bortman, Chair of
Committee on the District
Superintendency
elainebortman@yahoo.com
Mr. Craig Lenhard, Chair of Board
of Church Location & Building
rvrguyd@yahoo.com
Rev. Timothy Smith, Chair of
District Committee on Ordained
Ministry
ts3707@gmail.com
Rev. Rob Stippich, Chair of District
Resource Team
rstippich@msn.com
Conference Office 610-666-9090 / 800-828-9093
The Fine Print
Editorial Policy of the Southwest District E-Alert: The Southwest District E-alert is published on an as-needed basis on
Wednesdays. Articles will appear once as new information; thereafter, they will be Reminders or Calendar Items.
Spaghetti dinners, fundraisers, concerts, VBSs, bazaars, etc. are included only on the Local Church and ConneXion Events
page. Job postings can be found in the Classifieds section of the website. The E-Alert is sent to Pastors and Church
Offices on the Southwest District and to lay people who have requested having their names added to the distribution list.
Please feel free to copy any article for your church’s bulletin or newsletter. To unsubscribe, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
Appointed clergy may not unsubscribe. All articles and announcements should be sent to the District Resource Assistant
at swdistrict@comcast.net by 3:00 Tuesday afternoon for consideration. Articles should be in the body of an email or an
attached Word document (please no PDFs). Submissions made by telephone will not be accepted. Articles may be edited
for clarity and space. All decisions regarding publication are made by the District Office.