Bye-bye GCI email

I have heard through a few people that GCI will be getting rid of their email service next year. As people who use GCI email begin to change their email addresses, please make sure you notify your church office as well as the conference office. We want to make sure we are sending emails to active accounts. Thanks!

Back to School

As we begin a new school year, please remember that this is an important time to prepare for our Fall children and youth ministries.  Let's keep our children safe by making sure background checks and sexual awareness trainings are up to date. It would also be a good time to take a fresh look at your church's safe church policies and revise them as needed. Annual trainings are required of volunteers.  Ministry Safe, the company that does background checks has wonderful training resources to help us all meet our annual training requirements. What about having a watch party with your children's and youth leaders to review important safety material? Some of the video options include Sexual Abuse Awareness Training, Child Safety Workshop, Policies and Procedures, Reporting Child Sexual Abuse, and Third-Party Use of Facilities.  Policy-wise, a reminder to our churches that the conference updated our AK safe church policies to make our work even safer and to comply with the requirements of the General Board of Global Ministries. Here is a link to the policy adopted at conference.   Blessings on the start of this new school year.  

New GCAH academic journal available for reference

The newest edition of the academic journal from the General Commission on Archives and History is available for checkout from the conference library.

Stories include:

• Wesleyan "Vile-tality"
• Emma Stone Poteet Pilley and Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Missions to Asia
• Joseph Hugo Wenberg, Missionary to the Aymara, Ponca, and Oneida
• Another Look at the Altar: Catholic Meditational Practices and the Language of Phoebe Palmer
• The Transgressions of Gerasimos Avlonites

Draw the Circle Wide

Alaska United Women in Faith will be holding their Annual Gathering at Anchor Park UMC September 29 - October 1, 2023.

The scripture focus for the weekend is Romans 15:7, "So reach out and welcome one another to God's glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! (The Message)"

The keynote speaker will be the United Women in Faith National Board President 'Ainise 'Isama'u and the worship leader will be Rev. Bennie Grace Nabua of UMC of Sitka.

Register now!

Learn more about the schedule here.

Multiple save the dates

Fall Pastoral Leader Retreat

We want to share that the Fall Pastoral Leader Retreat will be held September 21-24, 2023 at Alaska Pacific University. More details and a registration will come in a few weeks. This is a required event for those under appointment/assignment.

Winter Learning Event

The Winter Learning Event will be open to anyone interested, clergy and lay. Pastors are required to attend. The dates will be February 2-6. The location is still being determined.

Annual Conference 2024

Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth did announce during the summer's Annual Conference Session that the 2024 AC will be June 27-30 in Anchorage.

Charge Conference paperwork is out!

We will mostly be using an online reporting system for church charge conference paperwork this year. Most of the forms will have the identical questions as in past years but you will not be filling out a PDF or Word document anymore, you will be answering the questions online.

You will have access to these forms through your People Portal. Clergy should have accessed their People Portal at lease once already and some church leadership may have as well. Here is a link with a step by step process on how to login.

I am here to help! If you have a question or are having trouble logging in, please contact Crystal in the conference office so I can assist you. This is what I am here for!

Gearing up to help Lahaina recover

The California-Pacific Conference has mobilized its Disaster Response Task Force, which is developing plans to help the people of Lahaina, a historic Hawaiian town largely destroyed by wildfires. The fires have killed at least 55 people. People are asked not to send goods to the disaster area. The conference has set up the Lahaina Relief Fund to take financial donations for the long recovery ahead.

Read the update

To donate to Lahaina Relief Fund

Read bishop's pastoral letter

Jan Love to step down as Candler dean in 2024

Jan Love, the Mary Lee Hardin Willard Dean of Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, will step down as dean in summer 2024, when her current term ends. She will remain on the Emory faculty as a professor of Christianity and world politics and plans to take a sabbatical during the 2024-25 academic year before retiring in summer 2025. Candler is one of 13 United Methodist seminaries in the U.S.

Read the press release

Rethinking mission work

The second of three gatherings to reconsider how The United Methodist Church conducts missionary work was Aug. 1-3 at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. Panels and small groups conversed on topics such as the historical and contemporary role of mission-sending agencies and the intercultural and incarnational nature of missionary work.

Read the story

#30DaysAntiRacism begins September 1

Join Religion and Race this September for 30 days of antiracism. Each day they will engage in an activity that helps us to become more antiracist in the ways we think and act. Share your progress with a picture or a reflection using #30DaysAntiRacism.

Read more

Study shows shift in disaffiliations

Disaffiliations from The United Methodist Church have grown considerably and shifted geographically, according to a new study from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership. The Southeastern and South Central jurisdictions together still account for 70% of church departures — down from 84% in an earlier Lewis Center study.

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Ministry puts doctor's office on wheels

People who volunteer with Middletown United Methodist Church’s Mobile Medical Ministry are immediately hooked, organizers say. The ministry, which originated in a Sunday school class, brings medical care to hurting neighborhoods.

Read the story

Scouts continue molding leaders

After a challenging few years, when sexual abuse dominated the news and COVID-19 made it hard to meet, the Boy Scouts are keeping themselves busy shaping leaders and getting kids unplugged and outdoors. The organization at its best can mold a shy boy into a confident leader, one scoutmaster says.

Read the story

UM News: New era for church and Boy Scouts of America

Resources for caregivers online

A Duke Divinity School professor is offering blessings, videos and podcasts to help people who are caring for seriously ill relatives and friends. The resources on the Caregiving Happens website are designed “to be a comfort to you as you carry so many thankless burdens that you can’t put down,” says Kate Bowler, who launched the site. 

See the resources

Church responds to homelessness epidemic

For 25-member St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church in downtown Memphis, a calling to provide an emergency housing ministry may have seemed beyond its means. However, the congregation connected with church and community partners to fill the gaps. The collaborative ministry has grown and is bringing together a variety of talents and gifts that are all vital as the effort gains momentum.

Read the story

More disaffiliation questions answered

Ask The UMC, a ministry of United Methodist Communications, continues to receive questions related to local church disaffiliations. In Part 12 of its "Is The United Methodist Church Really…?" series, the team tackles inquiries related to disaffiliation numbers and apportionments.

Read the story

Read previous installments