HAPPY NEW YEAR 2023



Next Week is Back to Every Other Week

Save the Date for March Special Session



The Upper New York Conference’s March 2023 Special Session of Annual Conference to consider disaffiliation requests will take place remotely on March 25 from 9 a.m.-12 p.m.

Registration will open on Feb. 1, 2023, and close on March 10, 2023.

1/5/23

Regional Meeting with Bishop Hector

Starting January 1, 2023, Bishop Hector Burgos, who prefers to be addressed as Bishop Hector, will be the new bishop of the Upper New York Conference (UNY) Conference. Bishop Hector is eager to meet laity and clergy throughout the Conference and has scheduled dates for regional meetings.

The meetings will be as follows:

Feb. 9, 2023-Lakes Region-Leroy UMC

Feb. 16, 2023-Northeast Region-New Hartford

Mar. 1, 2023-Lakes Region-Auburn UMC

Mar. 15, 2023-Southern Tier Region-Olean: Christ

Mar. 16, 2023-Southern Tier Region-Central Endicott

The clergy meetings will be from 1-3 pm.

The laity meetings (and clergy unable to attend the earlier time) will be from 7-8:30 pm

BSA Affiliation Agreement

Troops and local congregations seeking to continue or start a relationship will need to complete a new “BSA Affiliation Agreement” and “Facilities Use & Indemnity Agreement.” Click here to download the BSA Affiliation Agreement. Click here to download the Facilities Use & Indemnity Agreement.  

All UNY local congregations seeking to be in relationship with a local troop should use these and only these forms. 

In most areas, the affiliation agreements and facility use agreements are being implemented and the implementation is going well. There are BSA Councils that are not cooperating in a few Conferences and as the BSA learns of these, they reach out to those Councils to address issues.

If you are encountering such issues, please contact Jeffrey Hunt jeff.hunt@scouting.org of BSA, who oversees the BSA Councils across the United States.

Report Your Church Statistics on AC Stats: This Replaces the Ezra System

Annual Church Statistics (ACStats) is the one-stop location for United Methodist data that tracks membership, expenses, and income. It's designed to help churches submit year-end statistics to the Upper New York (UNY) Conference digitally in a way that's cost-effective.

This user-friendly platform replaces Ezra as the method of reporting your church statistics.

March 17, 2023, is the deadline to complete the 2022 statistical report for your church; however, you cannot enter any data to the 2022 statistics tables until Jan. 3, 2023.

In the meantime, you may familiarize yourselves with the new ACStats platform by reviewing the user's guide for local churches. Translated reports are available in Spanish and Korean.

PLEASE take the time to read the user's guide before entering your data. Please make sure you write down your login and password somewhere as the Administrative Assistants no longer have access to help you with that. So, if you have issues logging in you will need to contact Autumn Wells at the conference office. You may contact Autumn at 315-898-2004 or email her at autumnwells@unyumc.org

Click here to learn more.

2022 Ministry Shares

The deadline for payments of 2022 Ministry Shares to be received and credited toward 2022 ministry shares is for them to be in the Conference office by 3pm on Jan. 9th, 2023. Ministry Shared received after that date and time will be credited to 2023 Ministry Shares.

Jan. 14 Gestalt Pastoral Care webinar and in-person event

Co-director of the Mountain View District Lay Servant Ministry and Gestalt Pastoral Care Minister, Deaconess Susan Sihan, RN, is offering a Zoom webinar on an Introduction to Gestalt Pastoral Care on Jan. 14 from 10 a.m.- 12 p.m. She is offering the same workshop in-person at Odessa UMC from 2- 4 p.m. on Jan. 14.

Gestalt Pastoral Care is a model of healing ministry that integrates our spiritual practices of prayer and meditation with awareness of our body to explore the root experiences causing physical and emotional dis-ease.

Click here to learn more about Gestalt Pastoral Care.

Call Susan at 607-703-0010 for registration and more information.

2023 Safe Sanctuary Training Schedule

The UNY Safe Sanctuaries Team has scheduled four, 3.5 hour Zoom basic trainings in 2023. There will also be Training of Trainers sessions.

The Basic trainings take place 9 AM to 12:30 PM, Saturdays: Feb. 4, May 6, Aug. 5 and Nov. 4. The Training of Trainers will be 9 AM to Noon, Saturdays, Mar. 4 and Oct. 7.

The Basic training is for all clergy and anyone working with children or vulnerable adults. The Training of Trainers is for anyone who would like to become a church or District Safe Sanctuaries trainer in the UNY Conference. You need to have taken the Basic Training first.

If you need training between these dates, or would like to host an in-person training, please contact the District Office or send an email to the Safe Sanctuaries team, safesanctuaries@unyumc.org.

Registration for the February training will open Jan. 4. Look for the link in upcoming announcements.

For more information regarding Safe Sanctuaries, visit the Conference website: Click here. To view the poster, click here.