A weekly news update from The Alaska United Methodist Conference
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Conference Journal
We want to give you a heads up that the 2021 Journal has been sent to the printer. The journals will be mailed directly from the printer if you are on the distribution list. Please be on the lookout in the next week or two for them to arrive in your mailbox!
As a FYI, this will be the last year we will be printing them in the same way we have for years. Starting next year, we will move to a print on demand option for those that would like a hard copy of the journal. There will be a small cost to this feature for those wanting to utilize it. Otherwise, you can continue to download the journal for free from our website.
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Anchor Park UMW Holiday Auction
For the second year Anchor Park’s UMW Holiday Auction is being held online, opening this Saturday, November 13th at noon and closing the following Saturday, November 20th at noon.
A homemade soup, bread, dessert lunch can also be ordered through the same site if submitted by Wednesday, November 17th.
Perfectly timed for gift giving over the holidays, be sure to check out the site often as additional items are added. Register to bid and you will be notified when someone else outbids you so that you can up your own bid as desired.
Full information is on the auction site with money raised supporting mission with women, children and youth locally, nationally, and internationally.
Encourage your family and friends to check it out and enjoy the fun while supporting important mission work!
Online at
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Partnering to feed our neighbors
Did you know that at least two UMC churches in Anchorage provide a monthly meal to support Clare House? Clare House houses mothers and children who without their support may not have a place to live. This article introduces another outreach mission of feeding those in need that is in need of support!
Brother Francis Shelter has changed their outreach focus during this time of Covid and they need support from groups who are willing and able to help feed our neighbors who are currently experiencing homelessness. They are asking for churches or groups of people who are willing to prepare 75 sack lunches and/or breakfasts with shelf stable food.
If you would like to be involved in a Meals Team, let them know! Theyare looking for monthly volunteers to prepare meals for the guests at Brother Francis Shelter and would love to get you connected. To find out more, email Katie at kgordon@cssalaska.org.
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Moving for the Movement Virtual 5K
On November 13, 2021, Deaconesses, Home Missioners and Home Missionaries and those that love and support deaconesses, home missioners, and home missionaries throughout the connection will join together for a virtual 5K (or however far you can go).
Participants are invited to walk, run, ride or roll to support and raise awareness to the vital work of United Methodist Deaconesses, Home Missioners and Home Missionaries in ministries of love, justice and service.
Not available on the 13th - you can still participate! Share your photo when you can!!
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Birchwood Camp auction scheduled
You are invited to Birchwood Camp's 2021 Online Silent Auction! Bidding started yesterday and ends November 14, 6pm AKST.
Bid on handcrafted items, collectibles, vacation rentals, fun family packages, and more! Your donation will help replace the bunk beds in Caribou cabin, protect the mattresses throughout camp with wipe-able sanitary mattress covers, and complete the flooring project in the Lodge. You may also choose to send kids to future camps by donating to the Scholarship Fund.
You will need to create an account or sign in to bid but you do not need an account to view the items. Click this link or the button at the bottom to view and explore the auction site. Don't forget to share this link to your friends and families!
Some items may be added later so please check out the auction site often.
Thank you for your continued support of Birchwood Camp!
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Greater Northwest Area News
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BOTH/AND: To Be Continued
After over 18 months of doing our best to live into BOTH/AND, many churches are feeling a mixture of exhilaration and exhaustion when thinking about the continuation of hybrid worship. While many have seen their reach extended, some have begun to lose their passion and resolve for creating truly hybrid worship experiences. As in-person numbers have increased, more and more churches are asking, “can we stop doing online now?” If that’s you, don’t give up! Now is the time to re-new and re-energize your passion for BOTH/AND. It’s making a difference.
Join Jason Moore on Saturday, November 20 at 1 PM AKT, for a follow up to the popular BOTH/AND webinar. BOTH/AND: To Be Continued will focus on why hybrid should carry on, how to continue to iterate and will provide tangible handles on how to do it well. This brand new 90-minute training brings all new content focused on the why, how and what we can do to run the next leg of this very important race. We are living in an incredible “Great Commission” moment in the church. Let’s lean in and continue to iterate forward.
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Resources for Disaster Response Sunday ready
Churches across the Greater Northwest Area are encouraged to honor Nov. 14 (or any other Sunday) as Disaster Response and Preparedness Awareness Sunday as disaster response and preparedness is a missional priority of the GNW Area. A new webpage on the Greater Northwest Area website has been launched to provide resources, specifically bulletin inserts (en Español también), social media graphics, links to helpful resources and a video which can be used in your local church at any time.
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Bishops agree on narrative for the continuing UMC
The Council of Bishops ended its Fall meeting on Friday having spent time in worship, plenary and covenant groups as they seek God’s guidance to lead The United Methodist Church.
The bishops, from Africa, Asia, Europe and North America, overwhelmingly approved a narrative that provides a framework and begins to paint a picture for the continuing United Methodist Church.
The document reminds United Methodists of Christ’s prayer for unity and the commandment to gather all to the table, to make space for one another, appreciate one another, and look for Christ in each other.
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Group seeks bishops' grace in church exits
A group of United Methodists is urging bishops and conference leaders to allow churches to leave the denomination with property now rather than wait for General Conference. The group released its open letter, titled "A Call to Grace," as the Council of Bishops began its fall meeting.
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Asbury celebration wraps up in Philadelphia
The celebration of a 250-year-old journey reached its summit with weekend events commemorating Francis Asbury's 1771 voyage from his native England to America, where he spearheaded the organization and early growth of Methodism in the New World. The festivities were held at St. George's United Methodist Church — the oldest Methodist church in continuous use in the U.S. — where Asbury first preached upon his arrival.
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Conference undertakes anti-racism training
The consulting firm Fearless Dialogues will lead anti-racism training in the Greater New Jersey Conference. The first session is Nov. 13. Heather Mistretta talked to three conference members who are hopeful about the effort. "We're on the right track. We need to get the training and get the message out to our churches," said Ingres Simpson, lay leader at First United Methodist Church in Glassboro, N.J.
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Creating a narrative budget: The story behind the numbers
Discipleship Ministries has announced the launch of a new course for local church leaders: Creating a Narrative Budget – The Story Behind the Numbers. This self-paced course will help church leaders build – in a step-by step approach –an impactful, narrative budget from your church’s line-item budget.
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Diverse congregations are stronger congregations
One hopeful trend in Faith Communities Today’s 2020 survey findings is that the percentage of multiracial congregations in the U.S. has doubled over the past two decades, from 12% to 25% of all faith communities. The 2020 FACT Survey Report also reveals that congregational diversity correlates to increased growth, spiritual vitality, and a clearer sense of mission and purpose.
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'Give Love' campaign launched
United Methodist Global Ministries and the United Methodist Committee on Relief's year-end giving campaign — Give Love, Joy, Hope, Peace — launched Nov. 1. Donations to the campaign help connect the church in mission through the work of evangelism and church revitalization, missionaries, global health and humanitarian relief and recovery.
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Association of Annual Conference Lay Leaders offers free online learning event November 13
Open to lay leaders, clergy and laity, the Association of Annual Conference Lay Leaders is hosting "Returning to the Beloved Community: Compassion Fatigue, Lay Leadership and the 'PTSD' of the Pandemic" on Saturday, Nov. 13 starting at 11 a.m. central time (8 a.m. Alaska Time, 9 a.m. Pacific Time, 10 a.m. Mountain Time). Registration is free. The two-hour learning event will feature presenters Micheal Pope and Rev. Schuyler Rhodes.
Disrupted routines have created new challenges for church communities and their leadership. Research has shown that individuals across the planet are experiencing compassion fatigue and PTSD from 18 months of constant change and uncertainty. Both laity and clergy are struggling from a lack of routine and normal social experiences.
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Imagining the future
The Connectional Table invites those who are committed to staying in The United Methodist Church to share their hopes and expectations for the future of the church. Throughout the U.S., Africa, the Philippines, and Europe, leaders are hosting conversations so that diverse United Methodists can discuss the denomination’s identity, vision, connectionalism and mission.
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Who may hold office in a local church?
Does one have to be a member of the church to hold an office? It depends on the office, writes Ask The UMC. Where professing membership is required, it is because the duties of the office or committee require the commitment to the local church that professing membership involves.
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Last #StilInMission episode
You are invited to join us for the final #StillInMission episode this year! In addition to the meetings with missionaries, there will be a joint devotion/centering experience led by the missionary presenters in the episode. You will not want to miss this!
#StillInMission Episode 37
November 11, 2021 | 12:00 PM EST
Featuring…
Gaston Ntambo serves as the Pilot and Mechanic with the Wings of the Morning Aviation Ministry in the North Kantanga Conference in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Jeanne Ntambo serves as the Radio Operator for the Wings of the Morning Aviation Ministry in the North Katanga Conference in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Grace Choi serves as a Missionary in Residence at Global Ministries in the United States.
Magdeline Russo serves as the Community & Church Engagement Intern with McCabe Memorial United Methodist Church in the United States.
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9: Charge Conference - Seward & Moose Pass UMC
10: Charge Conference - First Ketchikan UMC
11: Veterans Day
15: Charge Conference - St. John UMC
16-18: GNW Cabinet meetings - Carlo and Lisa attending
16: Charge Conference - Nome Community UMC
17: Charge Conference - St. Peter the Fisherman UMC
18: Charge Conference - Girdwood Chapel UMC
19: Charge Conference - Anchorage Korean UMC
20: Leadership Team meeting
22: Charge Conference - Aldersgate UMC
23: Charge Conference - Douglas Community UMC
25: Thanksgiving - Office Closed
26: Office Closed
29: Charge Conference - UMC of Sitka
30: Charge Conference - First Anchorage UMC
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5: Charge Conference - Turnagain UMC
6: Charge Conference - First UMC Fairbanks
7: Charge Conference - Ola Toe Fuataina UM Samoan Fellowship
8: Charge Conference - Willow UMC
9: Charge Conference - Anchor Park UMC
13-15: GNW Cabinet meetings - Carlo and Lisa attending virtually
20-30: Carlo on vacation
24: Christmas Eve - Office Closed
25: Christmas Day
31: New Year's Eve - Office Closed
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Upcoming Clergy Birthdays
November 9 -
Murray Crookes
December 23 -
Christina DowlingSoka
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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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