A weekly news update from The Alaska United Methodist Conference |
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Annual Conference information
Registration for the 2022 Annual Conference Session is now open. If you are a Lay Member voted by your church to attend, are clergy, or hold another roll that allows you voice and or vote, then please register by May 31.
Dates to save on your calendar:
- Alaska Clergy Sessions – June 2, 10:00-12:00 p.m. AKT
- GNW Laity Info Session - June 7, 5:30 p.m. AKT
- Alaska Pre-Conference Informational Meeting - to be determined
- GNW Laity session – June 14, 5:30 p.m. AKT
- GNW Opening Session – June 19, evening
- Alaska Conference Plenary Session – June 20, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. AKT
- PNW Service of Commissioning & Ordination, June 22, daytime
- Oregon-Idaho Service of Commissioning & Ordination, June 24, daytime
- GNW Closing Session – June 25, daytime
AWARDS NOMINATIONS DEADLINE EXTENDED UNTIL SATURDAY, MAY 21. You have one last chance to nominate someone for either the Outstanding Lay Person of the Year Award or the Harry Denman Award for either Clergy, Lay, or Youth! Find the nominating forms here.
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Lay Servant Ministry offerings this Fall
Pastors, do you have members of your congregation you’d like to invite to go deeper in their discipleship and develop as leaders in the church? If you are looking to develop worship leaders, liturgists, committee chairpersons, or even a lay preacher for your Sundays off, both the BASIC and PREACHING Lay Servant Ministry classes will be offered in the Alaska Conference this fall on Wednesday evenings from 6pm-8pm both in-person in Anchorage and on-line via ZOOM. Upon completion of both classes, lay persons will be eligible to be certified as Lay Servants. These classes have a capacity limit, so be sure to invite folks to register now.
Certified Lay Ministry BASIC Class:
Certified Lay Ministry Preaching Advanced Class (note: the BASIC class is a pre-requisite to Preaching):
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Beware of fake email account
Friends, we have heard that email messages have been received from someone pretending to be our Superintendent. Please IGNORE THE EMAIL and DO NOT RESPOND. Please share this message to others in our Alaska network and if you are able, please report it to Google as a phishing email. Thanks!
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Kristina Gonzalez to serve as GNW Executive Director for Innovation and Vitality
Bishop Elaine JW Stanovsky has named Kristina Gonzalez Executive Director for Innovation and Vitality for the Greater Northwest Area. Gonzalez will continue to work with Rev. Dr. Leroy Barber, Director of Innovation for an engaged church. The Innovation Vitality (IV) Team supports local churches, innovation projects and boards and agencies to continue to embrace inclusion, innovation and multiplication as practices of Christian discipleship that are core to vital ministry in the region.
Gonzalez will step into this leadership role following Dr. William Gibson’s resignation as the IV Team Lead, effective March 31.
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Inspiring Generosity: Can churches be like Disneyland?
Inspired by a recent dream, stewardship consultant Cesie Delve Scheuermann revisited an old training she listened to on "Donor Relations the Disney Way" and how it can apply to churches, namely, because Disney sparks creativity. "To spark creativity, everything at Disneyland tells a story. And as a result, people have fun."
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Western Jurisdiction Episcopacy Committee welcomes input from those discerning call to leadership
For those who may feel called to become an episcopal leader – or those who may know someone who feels called to leadership – the Western Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church’s Committee on Episcopacy is ready to engage with those discerning individuals now. They anticipate that four new bishops may be elected when the WJ Conference is hopefully convened in November.
This is a new discernment process that the episcopacy committee has endorsed with support from first-elected delegates from the Western Jurisdiction and the WJ Leadership Team.
Please read the letter of invitation submitted by the Committee on Episcopacy on the Western Jurisdiction website and share it with those you know who might be interested in participating in the discernment process. As more details emerge on the next Western Jurisdiction Conference, information will be shared on this web page.
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GNW Webinar: Exploring and understanding changes afoot in The UMC
Join leadership from across the Greater Northwest Area on Tuesday, May 24 at 5 p.m. AK, 6 p.m. PT and 7 p.m. MT for a discussion on changes unfolding in the United Methodist Church. With a delayed General Conference until 2024, people from across the spectrum forming new denominations and leaving The UMC, work within the existing United Methodist Church to create positive change and build connections, and more, change is afoot. All of these changes could have an impact on local churches and clergy. That’s why leaders from across the Greater Northwest Area want to begin a dialogue with clergy and laity about what these changes might mean for all of us here who are committed to being Christ’s disciples for a transformative world. Join us for the first of what will hopefully be continued conversations on the changes ahead for the church.
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Churches condemn hate, urge action after shootings
After what officials quickly identified as a racist attack, United Methodists are responding with prayers, counseling and condemnations of hate. Many church members in Buffalo are also grieving after the mass shooting at a grocery store claimed the lives of friends and loved ones. United Methodists also are responding after a gunman opened fire at a Presbyterian church in Laguna Woods, California.
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Highlighting Asian American innovations
In a video featuring snail and lamb puppets, JB Brayfindley highlights two inventions and a scientific discovery made by Asian Americans. Those innovations are the USB drive, the OLED screen used by most smartphones and the discovery of microscopic organisms living in extremely harsh conditions. The United Methodist Church joins in celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
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Anonymous donor pays tab for graduates
Wiley College's 2022 graduates received their degrees and a surprise with the announcement that an anonymous donor had paid off their student debt. Wiley is one of the 11 historically Black colleges and universities supported by The United Methodist Church's Black College Fund. The gift will cover the estimated $300,000 owed to the college by the graduating class.
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Learn about history of church splits
Heritage Sunday is this Sunday, May 22, and United Methodist Archives and History has released a resource around the theme of “Splits, Separations and Reconciliations.” The materials look at church splits over the last 250 years, beginning with the original split from the Church of England in 1784. The cost varies from $20 for an individual to $100 to receive continuing education credits.
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Federal report details US Indian boarding schools
The United States operated 408 boarding schools for Indigenous children across 37 states or then-territories between 1819 and 1969 — half of them most likely supported by religious institutions including United Methodist predecessors. Emily McFarlan Miller reports on the first volume of an investigative report by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
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Webinar examines migration and racism
United Methodists will discuss the topics of migration, immigration and racism as part of the “Raise Up Your Voice Against Racism” webinar at 8 p.m. U.S. Eastern time May 24. The webinar is part of a series that seeks to dispel the notion that racism just affects Black people. Organizers include the Asian American Language Ministry, the National Federation of Asian American United Methodists and the United Methodist Board of Church and Society.
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Bishops seek clarification from church court
The United Methodist Council of Bishops is requesting a declaratory decision from the Judicial Council on the meaning and application of Paragraph 2548.2 in the Book of Discipline. The paragraph deals with the deeding of church property to another denomination. Council of Bishops President Thomas Bickerton describes the paragraph as ambiguous.
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Celebrating Rev. Zenro Hirota's life and legacy
The Rev. Zenro Hirota was a pioneer among Japanese American Methodists, serving for 45 years in the California Conference in a variety of settings. He persevered in spreading the Gospel despite many obstacles, including the destruction of his church, discrimination and spending several years in a detention camp during World War II.
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Webinar explores racial justice landscape
A World Council of Churches webinar, which will be held on the two-year anniversary of the killing of George Floyd, will explore how the racial justice landscape has evolved, particularly in the United States and the United Nations. The webinar is set for 8:30 a.m. U.S. Central time May 25. The Rev. Chebon Kernell of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference is moderator. Bishop Elizabeth Eaton of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Rev. Leah Gunning Francis, a seminary dean and United Methodist, are among the speakers.
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Association of Korean Churches discerns its future
In the first in-person annual gathering of the Association of Korean Churches in The United Methodist Church, several panelists questioned whether the church's membership decline could be attributed to a lack of spiritual renewal and its long-standing conflict over homosexuality.
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Charles Yrigoyen remembered as pastor and scholar
The Rev. Charles Yrigoyen Jr., a leading United Methodist historian, oversaw the denomination's Commission on Archives and History for nearly 24 years. Friends and fellow scholars remember him for making Methodism's story accessible from the academy to the pews. He died May 9 at age 84.
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Shift in relief efforts for Ukraine
A move from emergency aid to long-term support sums up the current phase of United Methodist efforts for Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced persons. But United Methodist faith communities in Romania, Poland and Hungary continue to send supplies into Ukraine as the Russian invasion continues.
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13-23: Lisa taking Professional Development Leave
17-19: GNW Cabinet meeting
26: Leadership Team meeting (6 pm)
30: Memorial Day - Office Closed
31: Memorial information due for Annual Conference
31: Registration closes for Annual Conference
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2: Alaska Clergy Session
7: GNW Laity Information Session
14: GNW Laity Session
19: Father's Day
19: Juneteenth
19-25: Annual Conference (virtual)
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Upcoming Clergy Birthdays
June 8 - Jim Doepken
June 10 - Carlo Rapanut
June 15 - Matt Reinders
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Conference Office
907-333-5050
Superintendent - Carlo Rapanut
Director of Connectional Ministries - Lisa Talbott
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Submissions - If you have an article or event that you would like to share with the rest of the conference, submit it to the conference office by Tuesday at 9:00 am for consideration.
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The mission of the United Methodist Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Held and supported by the transforming relationship with God through Christ, we of the Alaska United Methodist Conference seek to be a community that creates a home for all peoples, finds our hope through grace and journeys together in God's preferred future. |
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