April 1, 2004

Dear Florida Conference Family,

The 2004 Florida Annual Conference Event, June 3-6 in Daytona Beach, promises to be an exciting and memorable time together. We are dealing with issues of structure and ministry that will have far-reaching effects on how we live our common life as United Methodists in the Florida Conference.

In the midst of addressing our needs here at home, I urge you to remember our global mission, especially the needs of our brothers and sisters in the East Angola Conference of The United Methodist Church. We have a special relationship through the Council of Bishops’ Initiative on Children & Poverty and "Hope for the Children of Africa" initiative. As a sign of our commitment to East Angola, I have designated the special offering being received at the 2004 Florida Annual Conference Event.

To help us in that focus, East Angola Area Bishop Jose Quipungo will be our guest preacher on both Thursday and Friday evening. I am looking forward, as I am sure you are, to hearing about the progress that has been made in rebuilding the sanctuary at Quéssua United Methodist Church, for which you raised nearly $97,000 at last year’s annual conference event.

This year’s offering will go first toward completing the work we have started on the Quéssua sanctuary. We need a little more than $50,000 to enable the Angolans to complete the rebuilding of this very important structure. The remainder of the offering will be used to support our brothers and sisters in Angola in their efforts to care for children and develop educational ministries. Our Florida Conference task force on the Bishops’ Initiative on Children and Poverty is working on some exciting plans for ministry in these areas that it will be sharing with you soon.

The people of Angola are responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Christian community is growing. The United Methodist Church is an important part of this Christian community. The partnership between the United Methodist Christians in East Angola and Florida is a great source of encouragement and hope to the church in East Angola.

I ask your church to set a date between now and the 2004 Annual Conference Event to raise this offering. Join the 745 churches and missions in the Florida Conference as we share what we have at the 2004 Annual Conference Event. Bulletin inserts are available in three languages on the Florida Conference website at http://www.flumc.org.

Pray how we are constrained by Christ as we join Him to embrace the world in His name. Thank you for your generosity in the past and for your prayerful consideration of your offering this year.