A weekly news update from The Alaska United Methodist Conference |
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Would you like to send a work team to Nome?
The United Methodist Church of Chugiak took a 7-person work team to Nome Community UMC from July 10-16 to install flooring. Pastor Jim Doepken and four members of the Chugiak church were joined by one from Fairbanks First UMC and Pastor April Hall of Kenai and North Star UMCs. They worked hard, laying flooring over a portion of the Nome church. This meant cleaning and repairing the old floor, stapling underlayment/subfloor, and applying vinyl flooring with glue. It is a lengthy process. You can read more about their work and see pictures at the UMCC website HERE.
However the work is only approximately 1/3 done. To assist the Nome church this year, The UMC of Chugiak and Nome Community UMC are hoping to get two more teams to Nome to install flooring... one in August and one in September. While a few members of the Chugiak crew are looking to get back in September, we are hoping there are others who would like to get to Nome and do some good work for that community. Dates are unclear at this time, but if a "construction foreman" or a couple of really skilled workers have a week that works, the trip could be planned around them.
If you would like to lead or be a member of a team, please reach out to Pastor Jim Doepken. If a church would like to mobilize a crew for August, that would be awesome. The Chugiak team learned a lot about what to do (and what not to do) when working on the flooring.
Please note, the best size for a team is no more than 8 people. That's how many will fit in the Nome UMC van.
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GNW launches new information portal for clergy and ministry leaders
Clergy under appointment and lay persons assigned across the Greater Northwest Area were recently contacted by their district offices and invited to review and update their contact information in our database by accessing that information through their People Portal. The People Portal is accessed by a link on the bottom of any page of the conference websites by using a username and password unique to each person. Individual log-in information was contained in the email from the district offices.
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One (or two) Day(s) and Done project
In August in Willow we are helping to coordinate the rebuilding of a wood shed for a local woman in great need. She lives in a bus and heats by wood. Each summer we help her get a supply of wood, but she has never had a very dependable wood shed. Her current shed collapsed last winter. She has collected several wood pallets for this construction, but she can not build it alone.
Our only VIM team for this summer had to cancel due to flight cost. Brian Anderson, APU Chaplain, is planning to bring a small team of students up in early August to assist with this project but we may need extra hands before or after, to share a few hours or two depending on how far along they get to complete the project. We also need volunteers to come and help move her existing wood stores. If you could help in this project please contact Pastor Christina at dwlngsk@yahoo.com or 423 202-5143. The work team would need battery operated drills and screw guns since she as no electricity. We are working on getting materials gathered.
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Annual Conference Survey
Dear Annual Conference Members,
Thank you so much for your participation in Greater Northwest Area Annual Conference sessions this past month! As clergy and lay members of the Alaska Conference, your feedback is essential to analyzing our annual conference sessions this year to prepare for 2023 and beyond.
Please complete this short survey no later than Friday, July 22, 2022!
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Latest History journal available
This latest academic journal is now available for checkout from your conference library/archives. This issue focuses on the general conference, with the following chapter titles:
- Restoring "Mr. Wesley's Rule": The General Conference of 1840 and Its Context;
- 1980 General Conference and the Evangelicals;
- Covenant Broken: The Legacy of the 1980 General Conference;
- Methodism's History of Rejection of General Conference Actions on Issues Other than Homosexuality;
- Identifying the Collective Wisdom of the Teaching Office of General Conference;
- Off the Rails: The Evolution of the General Conference's Assertion of Unconstitutional Authority to Make Binding Declarations of Church Doctrine;
- "Father" Samuel Snowden (c. 1770-1850): Preacher, Minister to Mariners, and Anti-Slavery Activist;
along with 5 book reviews and minutes of the September 2019 meeting of the Historical Society.
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New 2022 annual conference reports posted
United Methodist News is posting 2022 annual conference reports. New this week are the Alaska, Desert Southwest, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, Pacific Northwest and Western North Carolina conferences.
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Certified Lay Servant classes offered
Rev. Andy Bartel will be offering the Certified Lay Ministry BASIC and PREACHING courses again this fall on Wednesday evenings from 6-8 p.m., both in-person in Anchorage and via Zoom.
The Basic class will run Sept 14, 21, 28, Oct 5, and 12. The Preaching class will run Oct 19, 26, Nov 2, 9, 16. Space is limited, and is open to all Alaska United Methodists.
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Conferences diverge in handling church exits
With no formal separation plan, United Methodist annual conferences have a lot of leeway in administering church disaffiliations. Amid varied conference policies, the number of church departures is climbing.
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Is The United Methodist Church really ... ? (part 2)
Ask The UMC, a ministry of United Methodist Communications, has received many questions from congregations wondering about the future of the denomination. These have included recurrent questions that reflect misperceptions or misinformation that congregations are receiving as they discern their next steps. In the second of a series of articles, the Ask The UMC team addresses matters relating to human sexuality.
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Indiana clergy get $275 for 'fun'
Indiana clergy used a surprise $275 grant for skydiving, a puppy, a New Kids on the Block concert and hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Those are just a few of the results of the grants from Indiana University Health and the Indiana Conference to active and appointed clergy to "invest in fun for yourself." Tim Burchill, pastor of Carmel United Methodist Church, called the grants "one of the most innovative and supportive actions I've benefitted from in my 30-plus years of ministry."
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Mt. Bethel completes payment to leave denomination
Mt. Bethel Church has paid $13.1 million as part of a settlement agreement that ended a legal battle between Mt. Bethel and the North Georgia Conference. More than half of the funding came from donations, with the rest from a loan. With the payment complete, Mt. Bethel is now fully independent from The United Methodist Church.
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Credit union named ministry partner
The General Council on Finance and Administration has named Interfaith Federal Credit Union as a vetted ministry partner. Interfaith Federal Credit Union has more than 70 years of working with United Methodists and their predecessor churches.
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97-year-old pays forward with bird sanctuary
Betty Hinshaw recently gave 25 acres to the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust for the creation of a bird sanctuary. The 97-year-old United Methodist’s love of the land and concern for the environment prompted the gift.
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'Circuit Riders' cyclist team fights HIV/AIDS
A team of United Methodists calling themselves “Circuit Riders” completed the AIDS/LifeCycle, a 545-mile bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. In the process, the team raised more than $42,000 in a quest to help end the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Larry R. Hygh Jr., the team captain, has the story.
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Tonga native is president of UWF
‘Anise ‘Isama’u, national president of United Women in Faith, once repeatedly declined invitations to join the organization. “I said, ‘That’s cool, but no thanks,’” said ‘Isama’u. “She kept inviting me anyway. I told her, ‘Nah. They are too b-o-r-i-n-g.’” Paul Jeffrey explains her change of heart and subsequent rise in UWF.
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24-28: Christina at DS/DCM Training out of state |
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4: AUMC Professional Church Workers Check-in
4-5: Crystal out of the office
16-19: GNW Cabinet Retreat - Christina & Lisa attending
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Upcoming Clergy Birthdays
July 21 - Lisa Talbott
August 13 - Bennie Grace Nabua
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Conference Office
907-333-5050
Superintendent - Christina DowlingSoka
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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We acknowledge that the Methodist Church is complicit with and rooted in the colonization of Alaska and recognize that we live in that ongoing legacy. We lament the harm and trauma that our faith community causes. John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Movement, summarized God’s directives with three Rules: do no harm, do good, and attend to the ordinances of God. We also celebrate the grace, the love, and the good that our church does that calls us to re-imagine mission through intentional discipleship with one another.
We will live into the transition to a Mission District committed to:
Alaska Conference Values
- The love of God, neighbor, and self, demonstrated by the deliberate embracing and valuing of differences, the leveling of imbalances between people and systems, and the intentional dismantling of inequities in whatever forms they present themselves.
- Healing, grace-filled mission with communities and churches that prioritizes local experiences and shares resources across time and distance through equitable relationships.
- Living into connectionalism by belonging to and trusting in one another to nurture relationships that celebrate the gifts each of our communities bring, allowing us to move forward in a decolonized way.
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