Merry Christmas from Bishop Webb

This December, as we celebrate Advent, we also say goodbye to Bishop Mark J. Webb as the Area Resident bishop of the Upper New York (UNY) Conference. Bishop Webb retires from the UNY Conference on Dec. 31.

In his final annual Christmas video, Bishop Webb thanks laity and clergy across the Conference for what he calls the “privilege” of being able to partner in mission with them.

And as he has done each year, Bishop Webb offers an inspiring message, asking you to allow God to give you new eyes to see the amazing grace offered through the person of Jesus Christ.

Bishop Hector Welcomes You

Get excited for Upper New York’s new bishop, Bishop Héctor Burgos who will begin on Jan. 1, 2023. He wants to be on a first-name basis with you, so he asks that you call him Bishop Héctor.

Bishop Héctor is thrilled with the strong missional foundation we have in Upper New York!



He has five priorities when working among the clergy and laity of our Conference.

A Little Child Will Lead Us Christmas Event

A Little Child Will Lead Us Whoville Community Dinner

Wednesday, December 21, 2022, at 5:00 pm.

Please join our Little Child Will Lead Us families and our congregation at the First UMCW, for a delightful night of learning the true meaning of Christmas. The Children will be presenting "The Grinch Stole Christmas."

The play will conclude by inviting family and quests to a "Whoville Dinner."

Later in the evening, the Grinch will be passing out gifts to our A Little Child Will Lead Us Children and children who are visitors. Please RSVP if your child will be attending.

We invite our Ft. DRUM Families and Watertown Area Families with young children to be our special quests.

Everyone is welcome!

Please contact Pastor Anne at annebcanfield@gmail.com if you and your child(ren), can attend.

A North Country Christmas

Holiday Music Tour Featuring Organ and Piano

Performed by Josh Barkley

Local Church Financial Training

Offered via Zoom

Rev. Susan Ranous, Director of Christian Stewardship and Deacon specializing in Stewardship, Church Finances and Clergy Tax is offering a t raining from 10:00 a.m. to Noon on Saturday, Jan. 7th. via zoom.

If you're interested in participating, please contact Carrie Boyer in the Adirondack District Office, here, or call her at (518) 608-1246. The Zoom link will be sent as the date nears.

Workshop description:

• Are you new to the financial areas of the local church?
• Maybe you’ve been a treasurer or financial secretary or finance chair?
• Do you need some help to understand what you have to do and how to do it?

This workshop will give you the basic knowledge needed to understand what is needed and how to do the various financial tasks. 

Adirondack District Offering Lay Servant Courses via Zoom

Breast Cancer & Beyond Support Group (BCBSG)

Group Leader: Linda Fredenburg

Group Purpose is to:

• Create an accepting and compassionate environment
• Exchange information and emotional support between group participants
• Build group cohesiveness, and enable members to meaningfully connect with one another

Benefits of Support Groups:

• A sense of community
• Attending the group addresses unwanted aloneness, irrespective of what is discussed.
• The group functions to reduce social isolation and to provide real social support.

1) Regaining control

2) Hope

3) Stress Reduction

4) Normalizing personal responses

When: Group Meeting Dates Mondays 6;30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Place: First United Methodist Church

236 Mullin Street

Watertown NY 13601

For more information please feel free to call Linda by email at Lindafredenburg@gmail.com or phone at 315-778-7290

Linda's Story:

My name is Linda Fredenburg and I am a breast cancer survivor. I have a human services degree and was a licensed alcohol and drug counselor. I was diagnosed with breast cancer and am now Cancer free! I found lack of support in the Watertown area so I decided a support group was needed. So I leapt in and I am starting this group. I pray you will come and join us in a safe and loving environment. I will be working with the Walker Cancer Center and the doctor's and nurses there.

ANNUAL CAMPAIGNS #3

Stewardship with Rev. Susan Ranous

December 7, 2022

I’ve talked about three important factors for donors, two important ideas about money, and talking about money throughout the year.



It seems really difficult to talk about money, doesn’t it? Especially because church leaders asking for money seems closely related to the church leader’s income!

While we are, of course, asking folks to pay the costs of the ministry and mission of the church, which often includes cost of staff and building, etc., making a fund-raising speech needs to be very different from preaching about generosity.  A fund-raising speech is aimed to boost contributions by convincing people to give money for a purpose, and while that sounds like what we do in church, it actually has to go much deeper than that.

Preaching about generosity is “relating to others about God’s presence, purpose, and power in one’s life and in the life of the all of humanity!”[1] Giving shouldn’t be a response to whether someone likes the pastor or not, or whether the sermon is a “good one”, but needs to a liturgical response to God, not an up or down vote for the leader.

The invitation is focused on the donor’s own generosity and the impact of what the contribution does. Giving and generosity is a spiritual practice, just like prayer and Scripture reading and worship.

I’ve said it before; I’m going to say it again; and I’m sure I’ll say it again multiple times, but giving and generosity HAS to be focused on the need of the givers to give, not on the need of the church to receive!

So, I’m going to repeat what I said last week: let’s talk about generosity, not money! Generosity is part of being a disciple, and if we ignore it, so our folks ignore it, then our disciples aren’t maturing in their discipleship!

Giving and generosity is intertwined into our mission and who we are as Christians!

Next week, I’ll share some additional thoughts on this same topic.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please feel free to contact me at (315) 427-3668 or susanranous@unyumc.org if you’d like to talk about mission and money in your local church. I have some great ideas to help you understand where you are and were you’re going!

Grant Announcement

The Upper New York Mission Central HUB is excited to announce the “Everyday Disaster Grant” to benefit local churches in the Upper New York Conference that are working in their community to fight everyday (socio-economic) disasters. These disasters might include, but are not limited to, food insecurity, addiction, racial injustice, violence, or lack of affordable housing.

This funding opportunity is intended to connect, build relationships, and celebrate the impactful outreaches that are happening throughout the Upper New York Conference and are playing a vital role in creating disciples that transform the world. We can't wait to hear the difference you are making in your community!



The grant application will be open from 11/1/22 – 12/31/22. Grant recipients will be announced in February 2023. Please send all questions to Kristina Clark, Director of Upper New York Mission Central HUB, at kristinaclark@unyumc.org

The grant application is now open and can be viewed here: https://www.unyumc.org/mission/mission-funding-opportunities

Charge Conference Forms Due Dates

Due November 1st.: NOW PAST DUE

Pastor's Appointment Advisory Form (https://uny.umcprofile.org)

S/PPRC Appointment Advisory Form (https://uny.umcprofile.org)

Pastor-S/PPRC Covenant Forms (https://uny.umcprofile.org)

*These need to be printed and mailed to the district office*

Due December 1st.: UPDATE ONLINE - DO NOT PRINT A COPY

Church Profile (https://uny.umcprofile.org) 

Pastor's Profile (https://uny.umcprofile.org)

Due February 15th. 2023

Report of Trustees

Report of Finance Committee

2022 Year End Financial Report

2023 Church Budget - Your church format

2022 Statistical Reports (http://ezra.gcfa.org)

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.

2022 Holiday Schedule

The District Office Will Be closed on the Following Dates

December 23rd Christmas Eve (Observed)

December 26th Christmas (Observed)

Northern Flow District

District Superintendent

Rev. Michael Weeden

mikeweeden@unyumc.org

Administrative Assistant

Tammy McAdam

northernflowdistrict@unyumc.org

Regional Associate

Rev. Rich Weihing

richweihing@unyumc.org

District Associate

Rebekah Solar

Northern Flow District

93 East Main Street - Physical Address - Second Floor

PO Box 208 - Mailing Address

Gouverneur, NY 13642

Phone: (315) 535-5149 FAX: (315) 535-5151

Upper New York Annual Conference

7481 Henry Clay Blvd,

Liverpool, NY 13088

Phone: (315) 898-2000 Fax: (315) 898-2027



Bishop's Office

7481 Henry Clay Blvd,

Liverpool, NY 13088

Phone: (315) 898-2020 Fax: (315) 898-2150 

The Media Resource Center of UNYAC

Visit the website at

 http://www.unyumc.org/resources/media-resource-center

Our mission is to “make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world."