Hampshire's Zion UMC to celebrate anniversary with local bishop
HAMPSHIRE - To help celebrate its 130-year-old sanctuary and its 170 years of ministry, Bishop Sally Dyck will preach at 10:15 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, at the historic Zion United Methodist Church, 157 W. Jefferson Ave. in Hampshire. The public is invited.
Zion United Methodist Church began as the German Evangelical Church in nearby Pigeon Woods when it was founded in 1845. The congregation built a new sanctuary at its present location and was dedicated by Bishop Dubbs on Oct. 18, 1885.
Bishop Dyck, ordained in 1981, was consecrated a bishop in 2004 and assigned to lead the Minnesota Area of the Church beginning in September of that year. She was reassigned to the Northern Illinois Conference beginning Sept. 1, 2012.
Her leadership priorities are based on the Great Commandment and the Great Commission: to guide people to love God with their whole selves and daily practice spiritual disciplines and to share God's love with those who do not know God. She has devised a "spiritual pyramid," based on the FDA food pyramid, which illustrates the spiritual practices that build healthy people of faith. Believing that God wants people to experience wholeness in all parts of their lives, she also encourages the faithful to take up disciplines of nutrition and exercise that support physical health. She enjoys daily runs for exercise and meditation.
Before entering the episcopacy, Bishop Dyck served as an elder in the East Ohio Conference, where she was a pastor and a district superintendent. She has served on the board of directors for the General Board of Global Ministries, was elected to the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches in 2006 and became president of the United Methodist Commission on Communications in 2008. She received theological training from Boston University School of Theology (M. Div., 1978), University of Geneva/World Council of Churches (graduate certificate, 1978), and United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio (D. Min., Black Church Studies, 1989). Her upbringing in a Mennonite home instilled in her the understanding that personal piety is inextricably woven to peace and justice advocacy.
"Wherever I am in ministry, I envision a community of people studying scripture, exercising the disciplines of our faith, and discovering the joy of sharing faith with others through word and deed," says Bishop Sally Dyck, episcopal leader of the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church. "As a result, my vision is that the United Methodist Church and its membership will become a spiritually vital and energized body of believers who make a difference in every community as well as the world."
She has been married to the Rev. Kenneth Ehrman, a United Methodist elder, since 1976. The two have traveled the globe together by plane, bicycle, and on foot.
After the service, there will be a community bell ringing at noon, during which every church in Hampshire has been invited to ring their bells 170 times in gratitude for God's blessing upon Hampshire and its churches. For more information, call the church at (847) 683-2430 or visit www.zionunitedmethodistchurchofhampshire.com.