|
|
March 29, 2023
|
|
To submit news items, stories, or corrections, email the conference Communications Office at [email protected].
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Virginia News
|
|
Videos share resources for 2023 AC members
Working in tandem, the Conference Lay Leader Martha Stokes and the conference Communications Office are creating video resources for Annual Conference members prior to the 2023 Annual Conference session. Four videos have know been released. Conference Secretary Rev. Joshua King shares information about motions and more in his video. In her videos, Martha share responsibilities for lay members and reporting back to local churches. Watch the videos...
|
|
Also available is an AC 2023 welcome from Bishop Sue and a chance to meet the band at AC 2023. Watch videos...
|
|
|
Opt-in for physical copy of 2023 Book of Reports; learn more about AC 2023
The 241st Session of the Virginia Annual Conference will be held in-person from Thursday, June 15 – Saturday, June 17, 2023, at the Berglund Center in Roanoke, Va. Hotel registration opened on Monday, March 6, 2023.
|
The Book of Reports will be available online in early May. You can request a physical copy until April 28 to be delivered by mid-May. Fill out this form to get a physical copy. Limited printed copies will be available at the June AC in Roanoke for purchase.
|
|
|
Learn how you can support local church is providing transitional housing
|
Members of the conference center in Glen Allen took part in a work day at Journey Community Center today in Amelia. Journey is currently preparing to provide transitional housing for the temporarily homeless. The conference center is sponsoring a room with the recent memorial funds collected for late Carol Dommisse and Bishop Sharma D. Lewis’ ministry. Learn more about the project and how you can help Journey!
|
|
|
Join #Stillinmission series highlighting Cambodia
|
The VAUMC Partnership of Hope Cambodia Team would like to invite all to be part of the #Stillinmission series highlighting Cambodia. Missionary Helen de Leon will be at the 2023 Virginia Annual Conference in June. Register for the #stillinmission event and learn more about the ministry in Cambodia.
|
|
|
Join long-serving VUMAC employee gets retirement party
|
Courier Record--Carol Sanger never got the retirement party she deserved when the former Virginia United Methodist Assembly Center (VUMAC) closed in May 2016, just a few months after fire destroyed the facility $1.1 million boiler room.
|
|
That changed Saturday when her two daughters, Kate Senger Harris and Emily Senger Camden, along with husband Fred, threw her a surprise party. Attendees included former staffer Cyndi VanZant, who came all the way from Germany; Rev. Jay Carey, Living Waters District Superintendent; family, friends, former VUMAC event attendees, UMC clergy, United Methodist Women, Emmaus, AA’s, and Boy Scouts. Read more...
|
|
|
Share your photos for conference center art gallery
Several years ago, the conference Connectional Ministries office staff printed and hung photos throughout their workspaces to show mission and ministry around the Virginia Conference. As staff prepared to update these photos, a new idea surfaced.
Virginia Conference, we want your photos! Our hope is to turn the halls into a "photography art gallery" to highlight mission and ministry through some of the creative eyes in the Virginia Conference. Please note that these photos need to be semi-professional/professional and be high-resolution. No iPhone photos please.
Submission ideas can include photos of mission trips, church beauty shots, ministries in action, etc.
Not everyone's photos can be selected because of limited wall space, but photos will be rotated every other year, for more opportunities to showcase photos around the conference.
If you have a keen eye for photography and want to see your ministry/church featured on the walls at the conference office, fill out this form. Thank you for sharing your mission and ministries with us!
|
|
|
2023 Mission Opportunities on conference website
|
Mission Opportunities provided throughout the Annual Conference allow the churches to maximize the impact in transforming the world through the connectional system. Each year, Virginia Conference offers Mission Opportunities for the over 1,000 churches to ‘Unite in Mission’ as we serve our Lord together. Below you will find information on how we, serving together, can become a ‘blessing to this world’ (Gen 12:3). Learn more...
|
|
|
Submit nominations for Francis Asbury Award
|
Nominations for the Francis Asbury Award, presented annually during the June session of the annual conference, are due April 10. This award recognizes a lay or clergy person who has supported and encouraged United Methodist collegiate ministry. Nominations go to the General Board of Higher Education, and the conference Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry reviews nominations and determines the recipient. For more information, or to submit a nomination, use this link. If you have questions, please contact Rev. Ryan LaRock, chair of the conference Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry at [email protected].
|
|
|
Submit nominations for Green Church Award
|
The Virginia Board of Church and Society are accepting nominations for the 2023 Virginia Annual Conference Green Church Award and Sustaining Green Church Award. Applications should be completed by May 14.
|
In 2009, the Virginia Annual Conference established the Green Church Initiative and called churches to "green" their ministries. To recognize the continuing work of creation care in the Virginia Annual Conference, the board is asking for nominations to receive the Green Church and Sustaining Green Church Award during the Virginia Annual Conference during June 15-17, 2023 session.
Recipients of these awards strive to affirm the importance of healing and defending God's creation in their mission as local congregations. They are engaged in this ministry in worship, learning and teaching, individual and congregational lifestyle and community, national, and global advocacy/involvement.
Send any questions to Brian Christoffersen at [email protected].
VAUMC Board of Church and Society Green Church Award Application
VAUMC Board of Church and Society Sustaining Green Church Award Application
|
|
|
More disaffiliation questions answered
|
Ask The UMC, a ministry of United Methodist Communications, continues to receive questions related to local church disaffiliations and the future of the church. In Part 10 of its “Is The United Methodist Church Really…?” series, the team addresses whether a re-vote on disaffiliation is allowed, whether United Methodist seminaries teach doctrines contrary to those of The United Methodist Church, whether local churches will be compelled to host same-sex weddings and whether the church endorses critical race theory. Learn more...
|
|
|
Sermons wanted for conference podcast
|
The VAUMC Connection is launching a new podcast! The Wednesday Wisdom: Sermons from Last Week! Did you give a sermon and want to give it a second life? VAUMC is looking for your sermons to post as podcasts each week. It will be a chance to bring the Word to the mid-week slump between Sundays, but also give a spotlight to the hard work VAUMC pastors put in for Sunday mornings! You can submit your sermons by filling out the form here or on the Digital Hub page on the VAUMC website!
|
|
|
Extension Clergy gathering to be held with Bishop Sue
|
Clergy in Extension Ministry appointments are invited May 10 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at St Mark's UMC (Midlothian) for a time of worship, Q&A with Bishop Sue, ministry spotlights, conversation and connection with extension clergy colleagues, plenty of coffee, and a catered lunch. Contact Rev. Deborah Lewis with questions: [email protected] RSVP by April 17: https://forms.gle/eCy1rXQ38y9J5mQ79
|
|
|
New webpage highlights VAUMC clergy books
|
A new webpage on the conference website shares books written by VAUMC clergy (books focusing on faith, UM mission, ministry, and polity) as a way to share with conference clergy and laity potential resources for individual and group study. Clergy can share their information by emailing [email protected]. Books listed on the webpage are not endorsed by the conference. New books are being added every week. Take a look at the following link! Learn more...
|
|
|
|
|
General Church News
|
|
Learn about traditional Mexican recipe for Lent, Good Friday
|
UM NEWS— You don’t hear of many recipes for Lent. Capirotada is a bread pudding eaten in Mexico throughout Lent and especially on Good Friday. Each of the main ingredients is a symbolic reference to the Passion of Christ. See video...
|
|
|
Support Mississippi following tornadoes
|
UM NEWS— Recently communities in Mississippi were devastated by the tornadoes, leaving 23 dead, dozens injured, and four missing at the time of writing. Let us all come together in prayer for the victims, their families, and first responders working tirelessly to help those affected. UMCOR is communicating with the conference and processing a solidarity grant for emergency relief. All are reminded NOT to self-deploy as conditions may be dangerous. Instead, contact your CDRC for information on any response your conference will participate in. To offer support for this and other disasters throughout the U.S., donate to UMCOR's U.S. Disaster Response and Recovery Advance here...
|
|
|
Church responds after cyclone batters southeastern Africa
|
UM NEWS— According to the World Health Organization, Cyclone Freddy has killed more than 600 people in Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar. United Methodist News reports how United Methodists are reaching out to survivors as recovery continues -- and how you can help.
|
|
|
One Last Word
|
|
|
|
"O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to #console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."
|
|
|
- A prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
|
|
|
|
|
|
Please send any issues or concerns to [email protected]. If you have issues with the formatting trying to forward (especially in Outlook), you can use the following link. More...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
