Northern Flow Weekly Newsletter September 8, 2022

The Current

September 8, 2022

Please take notice last day to register is September 16th and there is no late registration!

Registration for the 13th Session of Annual Conference Now Open

Annual Conference will be held remotely Oct. 6-8.

Who: All clergy and laity representatives to the Annual Conference Session

What: Thirteenth Session of the Upper New York Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church

When: Oct. 6-8

Where: Virtually

Theme: The theme will be It is Well – Keeping Hope Alive. We acknowledge all that we have faced in the last two years, and through it all, we are well, and God’s hope is alive.

Pastors: To be excused from Annual Conference, click here and submit this form.

Click here to read why the event was postponed and will now be held remotely Oct. 6-8, 2022.

Click here to register.

All eligible voting members must preregister to be able to participate and vote. Registrations cannot be accepted after Sept. 16 due to online voting.

This year, there is a small registration fee to help cover the cost of virtual meeting support and voting.

Several offerings will be collected this year, including the Clergy Care Fund, Helping Hands Fund, UNY Mission Central HUB, Mission of Peace, and New Faith Communities. To learn more about these offerings and to make a donation, click here.

If you have any questions, call (315) 898-2000

Registration deadline is September 16th

Farewell/Retirement Gathering for Bishop Webb

You are invited to Upper New York (UNY) Area Resident Bishop Mark J. Webb's farewell/retirement gathering on Saturday November 19th 2022 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Upper New York Conference Center, 7481 Henry Clay Boulevard in Liverpool. Join others throughout the Conference to celebrate Bishop Webb's 10 years of ministry as Bishop of the UNY Conference. More details will be released once they become available.

Equitable Compensation Applications

Available Now

The Commission on Equitable Compensation has issued guidelines and application forms for salary grants to local churches for the period January to June 2023. Salary grants are available only to churches with a pastor under full time appointment.

To apply for salary assistance from the Equitable Compensation Fund, applicants should review the policies and procedures in the application document for guidance, and then complete the application according to the directions provided. Completed applications should be submitted to your District Superintendent by the October 14, 2022 deadline.

Please read through the application thoroughly and provide all required documentation. Lack of required information could result in the denial of your application.

Click here for more information.

Application

Supplemental Application

Northern Flow Welcomes New District Associate

The Northern Flow District welcomed Rebekah Solar as the new District Associate for Younger Clergy and Clergy Families in July.

Bekah comes to Northern Flow, most recently, from the Adirondack District. She is currently service the Little White Church on Point Peninsula and the Three Mile Bay United Methodist Church. Bekah is deeply passionate about clergy wellbeing and clergy family advocacy. “I believe that pastors are people, too,” she says.

By support and encouraging spiritual wellness among the clergy and leaders of the Northern Flow District, the hope is to model spiritual health in our congregations and communities, thereby empowering and equipping our people to take up the call to serve. As we work towards cultivating a culture of call, our pastors are on the frontlines.

By designating resources and time to help intentionally connect our leaders with their own spiritual depths and with one another, we are highlighting the importance of soul-tending. Through honest and authentic relationship building, we are building here the kin-dom of God. In community we find the strength to continue living into the sacred call God has placed on our lives.

We look forward to seeing the blessing God is unfolding through this ministry.

Rev. John R Tyson, Ph.D. Offering a Teaching Event

Rev. John R Tyson will be hosting "Teaching Event" on Methodist history and theology over at Webster UMC, Oct. 21-23, 2022. The focus will be upon a socio-economic analysis of the beginnings of Methodism as a lens for making sense of the relevance of it today. These lectures will reflect (to some degree) the course of interpretation he has taken in his recent book Born in Crisis (the relevant history of Methodism). Tickets can be purchased at www.umcwebster.org, click on the Resources tab.

Brochure

Grants Available to Help Strengthen the Ethnic Local Church

Discipleship Ministries is pleased to offer the Racial Ethnic Local Church Concerns (RELCC) Grant, which provides funding to support the ethnic local church through leadership training, small groups, worship, stewardship, and spiritual formation as it engages in developing disciple-making systems inside the church walls and in the community.

Applications are due September 10, 2022.

Two grants per jurisdiction, of up to $10,000 each, are available. Please click the link below to see eligibility criteria and apply.

Priority will be given to new programs/ministries that move churches to places where disciples are formed, grow, and make new disciples of Jesus Christ who will transform the world.

Apply Here

Get Inspired Workshop Offered!

You get to choose. Do you want to remain stuck in an old paradigm or do you want to engage in some new approaches to doing ministry?

We are approaching that time of the year when the Committee on Nominations and Leadership Development (formerly nominations committee) will be looking to discern who God may be calling to serve on the various committees or teams of your congregation.

For some of you it’s something you dread as you are faced with empty slots and fewer and fewer members willing or able to serve. So, what do you do? Re-cycle the names. Yes, you heard right. The year of the term is changed but the names are the same. In fact, this has been the trend for years. For others, you have the same individuals serving on most if not all the committees. For some, you try to complete the list by saying things like… "I’m only asking you to serve for a year", or "this committee doesn’t meet often" or even bargaining with members to get them to say yes or make some sort of commitment.

The result? You get what you ask for. A half-hearted commitment, the meetings are not inspirational and some members are tired and burned out. If we are honest, we admit that sometimes we dread attending some meetings.

Then there are the Charge Conference and Statistical reports. The usual response we get about these are…do we really have to do this? I am willing to serve a church, but those reports, I’m not sure about that, it’s just too much paper work.

Then after all this, for some you feel depleted and there is no real desire or passion to serve Christ and to make Him known. Month after month, year after year and we haven’t gone very far. If any of this resonates with you, join Rev. Susan Ranous and DS Nola Anderson on Saturday, September 10^th at the Conference Center from 10am to noon. Let’s look at some new strategies, for leading your congregation, which provides you with more time to fulfill the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Contact Crossroadsdistrict@unyumc.org to reserve your spot.

UNY Conference UM Historical Society and the Commission on Archives and History

Annual Meeting

OPEN MEETING ON ZOOM

(This meeting is open to the public as well as members)

September 15, 2022

7:00 p.m. on ZOOM

The evening will start with a presentation by Nancy Rutenber, Secretary of UNYUMHS. Nancy has been discovering information on the oldest continuous Methodist church buildings. Do you know your church’s history – when the congregation started, when the building was built, any additions or moves? It is important to know your church history and to preserve it for others to learn it. And there may be help to preserve the buildings. Join us for an evening of history and information. You may just learn something about preserving your church’s history.

Business meetings (UNY CAH/UNY-UMHS) will follow the presentation.

For more information, contact Melanie Keith at 518-779-6004 or email melakeith@icloud.com

Zoom Link

https://unyumc.zoom.us/j/87544637662?pwd=QVI2eU1VRGwrZC9FRFVUU1N3VVU5dz09

Meeting ID: 875 4463 7662

Passcode: 443894

One tap mobile

+16465588656,,87544637662# US (New York)

+16469313860,,87544637662# US

Meeting ID: 875 4463 7662

Find your local number: https://unyumc.zoom.us/u/kdhpFL6qm0

Dekalb UMC Completes Renovations

The Dekalb United Methodist Church is please to announce the recent completion of a renovation/historical restoration of our beloved church. The church dates back to the 1880's and the work, done in two phases, added modern conveniences while restoring the church to it's original look. We want to thank God for granting us the ability to fund these projects to beautify his house.

In the 1970's the church had been modernized to the decorative tastes of the time with paneling and drop ceilings. The recent projects have expose original, beautiful decorative metal ceilings and the walls were returned to the look of the 1880's. While there are no know photos available of the church as it was built, members of the church took great effort to plan the work as original as possible.

The work on the interior of the church was completed in two phases. Phase one included adding a restroom and storage room at the front of the church. These items were badly needed. The work on phase one was completed by local contractor Matthew Constance.

Phase two work included removal of the suspended ceiling, painting the metal ceiling, and sheet-rocking and painting interior walls. Phase two work was completed by Painting Etc., Inc., a Colton based company owned by Les Baker. Mr. Baker generously donated a portion of his companies time and cost to make the project affordable for our congregation. We especially thank him for his generosity and for supporting our church.

Both contractors on phases one and two were a pleasure to work with and made great effort to understand and complete the renovations to our expectations and to the historical look we were going for.

Further work on the church continues as church members complete work on an aging electrical system and renovating the basement of the church. Future projects will be planned as we are able to afford them.

The Dekalb United Methodist Church is open to all and would invite all to stop in for a Sunday Service and view the work that has been done.

Church service begins at 9:45 Sunday mornings.

The 2022-2023 Church/Charge Conference and Annual Forms are now available to download.

All information can be found by clicking here.

On this page, you will find links to various reports, including Report of Pastor, the Safe Sanctuary Compliance Report, and more.

DS Rev. Weeden is working on the schedule for churches in our District, as soon as those dates are confirmed we will be letting the churches know.

** Please note that the 2023 comp form has been pulled off the website. This form is not available yet. you will be notified when it becomes available. **

The Upper New York Conference is launching our #BeUMC campaign, highlighting clergy and laity in the Conference describing why they love being United Methodist. In a world that desperately needs positive stories, we hope this campaign will uplift you, reminding all of us of the mission of the United Methodist Church.

We are looking for positive stories to share about what it means to #BeUMC. If you can take a video of yourself explaining why you are proud to be a United Methodist, we’d love to share your story.

Email us at news@unyumc.org

Belleville UMC

Looking for a Keyboardist

^{Belleville UMC is looking for a part time - paid keyboardist. Interested persons please contact}^{Dwight Greene at 315-232-2607}

Wesley Heritage Tour 2024

Join Pastor Brett Johnson on the trip of a lifetime to visit John and Charles Wesley’s homeland of England. We will be visiting sites of great importance to United Methodists, including the Wesleys’ hometown of Epworth, Oxford, Bristol, and worship in the Wesley Chapel in London.

We will also be stopping at Stonehenge and Stratford-on-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, and St Paul’s Cathedral. Tour dates are July 13-22, 2024. Please use the following link to register: https://portal.myfaithjourneys.com/ and use group code 24002.

Contact Rev. Brett Johnson, pastor.brett.johnson@gmail.com, with any questions.

Bishop Webb Announces Clergy Appointments

Upper New York Area Resident Bishop Mark J. Webb and the Upper New York Conference announce appointments and retirements pending approval of clergy session. View the full list of changes here.

Wondering how clergy appointments are made?

Click here to read about the process.