A weekly news update from The Alaska United Methodist Conference | |
Annual Conference Related News | |
Annual Conference REGISTRATION is OPEN!
You are warmly invited to attend the 52nd session of the Alaska Annual Conference, June 4-6, 2023 at Fairbanks First United Methodist Church.
There is a MEMBER registration for any Lay Members to Annual Conference, Alternate Members attending, Clergy, and a few more. Even if you are participating via ZOOM, we ask that you register so that you will be able to receive the proper links when it is time.
The IN PERSON GUEST registration is for guests and anyone else that wants to attend that has no voting privilege.
If you are a guest that wants to watch online, please keep an eye out for the live stream link the week prior to Annual Conference.
If your child(ren) will be attending with you, please register them on the CHILD CARE registration form.
As always, if you have any questions, please contact the conference office.
Registration ends May 9.
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Hotel Information
The Conference has secured blocks of rooms at 6 various hotels in the Fairbanks area. You are not required to stay at any of these locations. We just wanted to provide you with some options.
The Treasurer and CFA have approved reimbursement for double occupancy at a hotel during Annual Conference for members. So, if you share a room with another delegate, then both of your costs are reimbursable. If you choose to have your own room, you would only be reimbursed for half the cost.
Hotel booking information
Remaining blocks of rooms will be released on specified dates. Most of which are the beginning of May. Please check the information sheet for specifics on each hotel.
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Memorial Roll information needed
Churches, please fill out the Memorial Roll list of the members and constituents that have died this past year from your church.
The last Annual Conference was held June 20, 2022 so any deaths since then can and should be included.
We ask for a picture as well for each of them so we can include it in the PowerPoint.
Names and pictures are due May 16.
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Ministry Display Requests
If your United Methodist related organization would like to have display space during this year's Annual Conference, please submit your request to the Conference Office for consideration.
Display requests are due May 7, 2023
Display Request
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Bishop Cedrick D. Bridgeforth installation service scheduled for May 20, livestreamed from Juneau, AK
The Episcopacy Committees and other leaders of the Alaska, Oregon-Idaho and Pacific Northwest Conferences invite you to the Service of Installation for Bishop Cedrick D. Bridgeforth on Sat., May 20 at 2 p.m. AKT/3 p.m. PT/4 p.m. MT. The service livestreamed here will also open the Greater Northwest Area’s month of conferencing. An invited group of leaders from across the area will participate in the event as hosted in Juneau, Alaska, by Aldersgate United Methodist Church.
Learn more and bookmark this page for May 20!
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Dates & Information
We want to keep the preliminary dates announced for clergy sessions, annual conference sessions and special-called sessions to consider church disaffiliations in front of you. More details on each session will be forthcoming.
Alaska Specific information is:
- Alaska Special Called Session, May 6 at 4 p.m., online only
- Service of Installation for Bishop Bridgeforth & GNW Opening Session, May 20, livestream only from Aldersgate UMC in Juneau Watch at www.greaternw.org/installation
- Alaska Clergy gathering, May 25, online only
- Alaska Conference Session, June 4-6, hybrid from First UMC Fairbanks in Fairbanks
- GNW Closing Session, June 15, livestream only
Read more of this story on the GNW News site.
FORMS ARE POSTED ON THE CONFERENCE WEBSITE FOR ANNUAL CONFERENCE!
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Memorial service for JoAnn Shore
JoAnne Shore, wife of retired Rev. Walt Hays, passed away from complications with dementia on December 28, 2022. A Celebration of Life will be held at St. John UMC in Anchorage on May 25, 2023 at 4 p.m. A pre-service concert with a Dixieland band will precede the memorial service. The concert and memorial service will be available via live stream.
Her obituary will be published in the May 14 Anchorage Daily News.
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Youth Fundraiser
Anchor Park youth plan to participate in the SLAM program through the PNW conference. They are fundraising to go down to the Yakima Reservation in Washington State this summer and need your help.
Live music by Toonie Loons. Live auction. Youth speakers. It should be a fun night.
May 20th from 6-9 p.m. $5 Entry
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Job opportunity at First UMC Anchorage
First UMC is hiring! They are looking for a building maintenance technician. Must have building repair and maintenance skills and ability to coordinate work teams. 10 hours a week with option to increase to 20 hours a week to include some custodial. $15-18 per hour. See position description. Contact FUMC office to apply.
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Greater Northwest Area News | |
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Higher education scholarship available for all in the GNW
Are you, or do you know a woman in the Greater Northwest Episcopal Area who is planning to pursue or is already pursuing post-graduate studies toward a career in the church, including, but not limited to ordained elder? The Dr. Gertrude Boyd Crane scholarship committee is now taking applications. Scholarship amounts vary but average about $2000 per year. The deadline to apply is July 5, 2023.
Learn more about this scholarship on the Oregon-Idaho United Women in Faith website.
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S.L.A.M. trips to offer GNW Area youth an opportunity to learn about native culture and perspectives
Youth (grades 7-12) and their leaders from across the Greater Northwest Area are invited to come together for a unique opportunity to get to know one another as they learn about and serve the Yakama community July 16-21 for a S.L.A.M. trip (Students Learning About Mission) on the Yakama Nation reservation in Wapato, Washington.
Learn more on the GNW website.
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Amid rupture, bishops called to renew church
Council of Bishops President Thomas J. Bickerton urged his episcopal colleagues to take time to grieve church disaffiliations but then get to work for renewal. He spoke to bishops gathering for their first in-person meeting in more than three years.
Read the story
Bishops hold in-person meeting
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Agency asks extra General Conference be revisited
The General Council on Finance and Administration’s board of directors has voted to ask the United Methodist Judicial Council to reconsider a decision that an additional General Conference must be held between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2027. The court had decided in a 5-4 vote in March that the additional assembly was needed to get the General Conference’s four-year schedule back on track after postponements due to the pandemic.
Read the press release
UM News: Court rules on General Conference questions
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Court rules on exiting clergy and churches
The United Methodist Church’s Judicial Council weighed in on whether withdrawing clergy must surrender their credentials and other questions related to church disaffiliations. The church court also released rulings stemming from last fall’s jurisdictional conferences, including one examining a resolution on LGBTQ inclusion adopted by all five jurisdictions.
Read the story
UM News: Rulings address LGBTQ resolution, Congo special session
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Agency, caucus urge bishop's suspension be lifted
The board of the United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race and the MARCHA caucus have issued requests for lifting the suspension of Bishop Minerva Carcaño. The commission sent an open letter to United Methodist leaders in the Western Jurisdiction, urging that the suspension be lifted and calling for greater transparency in the case. MARCHA, which advocates for Hispanic/Latinos in the denomination, sent its request to the Council of Bishops, asking that the bishops create a panel to ensure a fair and equitable process.
Read commission statement
Read MARCHA statement
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Church's theater troupe is film subject
A new film called “Into the Spotlight” follows a Highland Park United Methodist Church-based theater troupe composed of people with disabilities. The documentary, part of this year’s Dallas International Film Festival, captures how the group wrote, rehearsed and performed an original musical during 2021-22.
Read the story
View film’s website and trailer
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Poetry helps seminary professor 'stay awake in the gospel'
The Rev. Harold "Hal" Recinos, a longtime United Methodist elder and faculty member at Perkins School of Theology, started reading poetry while growing up in a New York City barrio and is a published poet himself. His verse addresses such themes as dispossession, faith and border crossing, and he credits poetry with helping him “stay awake in the gospel.” For a National Poetry Month feature, Recinos answered questions from UM News’ Vernon Jordan and Sam Hodges.
Read the interview
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4: Leadership Team meeting
5: Cinco de Mayo
6: Alaska Special Session at 4 p.m.
14: Mother's Day
20: Bishop Bridgeforth's Installation & Annual Conference Opening Session at 2 p.m.
25: Alaska District Task Force meeting
29: Memorial Day - Office Closed
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1: First Day of LGBTQ+ Pride Month
4-6: Alaska Annual Conference Session in Fairbanks
18: Father's Day
19: Juneteenth
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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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