E-News from the Valley! February 23, 2021

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This is sent on Tuesday - Items you would like to see in the E-News should be submitted to the district office by the Friday before

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Click here to go to the Genesee Valley District website.

Please click on the following links:

UNY Notes - these include notices From the Desk of Bishop Webb; Alerts; Announcements; Prayer requests; Death Notices;

Camp & Retreat info

Weekly Digest - this will be sent every Wednesday. It will include a listing of all of the new information available.

This will help reduce the amount of e-news announcements coming to your computers.

District Office is open by appt only.

Call Betsy at 585-340-9525

Please click here for guidelines to come into the office

Where Genesee Valley District Churches

Are At With EZRA

COMPLETED- 100%

Thank You to everyone for getting these reports submitted!

Safe Sanctuaries ZOOM training to be held Saturday, March 27, 2021 9:00 am - 12:30 pm

The Upper New York Annual Conference Team will be hosting our standard Basic Safe Sanctuaries training via ZOOM from 9 AM to 12:30 PM Saturday, March 27.

This training is brought to you and paid for by your Upper New York Ministry Shares. This basic training is required for anyone working with children, youth and vulnerable adults as stated by the Minimum Standards. This training is a must no matter if you are meeting in-person or online.

UNY_SafeSanctuaries_Minimum_Standards_updated_2016.pdf (unyumc.org)

If you have already taken this training you DO NOT need to take it again.

The training will follow the reformatted ZOOM curriculum developed by the Upper New York Annual Conference Safe Sanctuaries Team, educating those involved in ministries who work with children, youth and vulnerable adults on risks and prevention strategies related to abuse.

There will be a link to the handout that should be printed and available to you for the training.

You must REGISTER for the training. If you register and are no longer able to attend we ask that you let us know as soon as possible so we can fill your spot with someone else who is waiting to take the training.

The training will be facilitated by Safe Sanctuaries Conference Committee Co-Chairs Arlene Schmidt and Pastor Christine Mitchell.

Click on the link to register: https://uny-ss-basic.eventbrite.com

If there are any questions please contact one of the co-chairs of the committee at safesanctuaries@unyumc.org

For more information on Safe Sanctuaries, and on background checks, click here.

ASBURY FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

(www.asburyfirst.org),

a large, vibrant, outreach-oriented, progressive, mainline church located in the heart of Rochester, NY, is seeking a three-fourths (32 hours per week) Financial Administrator.

The Financial Administrator will be responsible for managing and performing all aspects of accounting for the church's revenue streams that include contributions, grants, reimbursements, and property usage fees. He/she will work closely with and back-up the Financial Administrator responsible for expense and payroll functions. Both administrators will be responsible for assisting in the generation of monthly and annual financial reports, including an analysis of the data that can be presented to church leadership.

The successful candidate will have a Bachelor's or Associate's degree in Accounting (or a similar field that includes advanced accounting courses), or two years' work experience doing accounting. The candidate should also possess advanced skills with Microsoft Excel (i.e., Pivot Tables) and full competence with MS Word and Power Point, good written and oral communications skills, and 1 year experience with a computerized

accounting system making journal entries and generating reports.

Knowledge and experience with accounting in a non-profit organization is preferred.

Interested candidates please send cover letters and resumes to: search@asburyfirst.org.

Complete your Boundaries Training by March 1

All clergy and those leading congregations are reminded that the required Boundaries Training for 2020 needs to be completed by March 1, 2021. This deadline was extended from the original Feb. 15th deadline. This Boundaries Training is through the Lewis Center for Pastoral Excellence and is entitled “Understanding Clergy Sexual Ethics.” It is entirely online.

Click here for the information letter from the Lewis Center to register. Thank you for your faithfulness in completing this training!

Annual Conference 2021 to be held remotely

New Dates Set

After consultation with the Upper New York (UNY) Committee on Sessions, Conference Leadership Team, Board of Ordained Ministry Executive Committee, and the Upper New York Board of Trustees, Resident Bishop, Mark J. Webb and the Upper New York Cabinet are announcing that the UNY 2021 Annual Conference (AC2021) session will be held remotely.

The Rev. Bill Gottschalk-Fielding, Executive Assistant to the Bishop and Director of Connectional Ministries, who also serves as the Annual Conference Agenda Chair said, “Given the uncertainty about if we will be able to legally and safely gather 1,400 people in person for Annual Conference, Conference leaders have decided to hold Annual Conference by remote means.”

The dates for this year’s Annual Conference will be June 17-19.

Rev. Gottschalk-Fielding said, “The dates needed to be changed from our original ones because of our desire to utilize the services of GNTV, a resource that many Annual Conferences used in 2020 and will be using in 2021 to conduct their sessions. Their dates were limited, and we needed to go with what GNTV had available.”

The Committee on Agenda and the Committee on Sessions will continue to create the framework of our time together during these three days.

Rev. Gottschalk-Fielding said, “It is our intention to create an environment as similar to being in person as possible, with debate, amendments, and action being allowed on all the necessary and vital work that is before us. At this time, we envision clergy and laity sessions, opening worship, ordination, and a memorial service being a part of these three days. We are also aware that June 19 is the Juneteenth holiday as well as the 11^th anniversary of the formation of The Upper New York Conference and we plan to recognize both in a form of worship.”

Submissions (reports, petitions, team recommendations) are due on March 15 to be included in Vol. I of the UNY Journal. Submission guidelines will be issued by the Petitions and Resolutions Committee in early February.

Continue to follow all UNY communication platforms for more details.