November 7, 2023

Conference News

Quadrennial Self Nomination Form Now Available

Each quadrennium, the United Methodist Church seeks new leaders for open positions on conference boards and committees to serve for four years. The current quadrennium draws to a close in December 2024, and a new one launches on January 1, 2025. However, service on conference boards and committees for the new quadrennium begins at the conclusion of the 2024 AWF Annual Conference session. Our districts are also seeking nominees to fill vacancies to prepare for district conferences in early 2024. Therefore, we must begin this important work now. More here.

Registration Live for November Special Called Annual Conference Session: Deadline November 9

Registration closes for the November 12, 2023, Special Called Session of Annual Conference, to be held by Zoom Webinar, on Thursday, November 9. The purpose of the special session is to vote on any matters related to local church disaffiliations within the Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference. As a reminder, the called conference session will consider only matters pertaining to this call; no other business can be considered. The meeting will begin at 4:00pm and should last no longer than one hour. More here.

AWF Order of Elders Presents Halftime Huddles

Led by Dr. John Dew, these gatherings are for AWF Provisional and Full Connection Elders who are currently under appointment. These three-hour sessions will use Dr. Dew’s expertise on organizational leadership and how elders can work together to move the ball down the field in mission and ministry. More information here. Click here to register.

Around the Conference

3 Rivers UMC Reaching Community in Unique Ways

(Pastor Victoria Scofield) - 3 Rivers UMC is a new church designed to reach the generations not engaging in church. The design of 3 Rivers is to build community in a table fellowship environment. What will that look like? It will be very much like the early church. After Jesus left His followers behind, they were left in an environment unfriendly to the gospel's message. How did it grow? It was with the Holy Spirit leading, building a community of faith, holding each other accountable, living out their faith in every area of their lives, sharing the gospel story, and joining together in regular communion. 3 Rivers' mission will be to follow this example. The church began this summer with a core group of leaders; we met to develop a plan to start our community of faith. The first outreach was to get people to read and discuss the same book in small groups. We chose How to Pray by Peter Greig. The groups have produced about forty people already interested in joining the mission of 3 Rivers. More here.

St. Paul UMC Set to Open Thrift Store

(Amanda Leeser) - St. Paul UMC in Gulf Breeze, Florida, is opening a thrift store. It is aptly named New Hope Thrift Store because it is located on New Hope Road and because it will be a source of new hope for the area. “The community needs this,” Rev. Christina Shaver says, “We receive requests for clothes and school supplies from the community.” The idea for the New Hope Thrift Store came from looking for alternative sources of income to help serve a purpose in the community and as a way to make use of the old parsonage at St. Paul UMC. “We could fix up a property we already have. It wasn’t a huge investment, and it will be used for a really good purpose,” explains Pastor Christina. More here.

AWF New Mission Support Grant for Local Churches

The Alabama-West Florida Conference Board of Global Ministries is launching a new grant to distribute Mission Funds that promote life-impacting ministries. Our focus for 2024 is new church starts and new mission / ministry starts. This process of determining the allocation of funds includes thorough prayer and the leading of the Holy Spirit. We know that every mission of the church is important, yet the amount of funds that we have to distribute varies from year to year. The Board will be awarding multiple grants of at least $1,000. More here.

Resources

Clergy Coaching Grants

The Alabama-West Florida Conference has designated “Healthy Clergy Leading Healthy Congregations” as one of four priorities guiding our shared ministry. To better equip and serve our clergy, a limited number of $500 grants are available for clergy to engage an accredited clergy coach for 2023-2024. Complete guidelines and the application may be found here. Questions about this offering may be directed to Rev. Robin Wilson via email here.

6 Tips for Effective Preaching on Stewardship

(Lewis Center) - It takes more than one good sermon to undergird the stewardship ministry of your congregation. Church leaders can put a lot of weight on that sermon or sermon series, but stewardship preaching and teaching must take place in the context of the overall vision and direction of the congregation, as well as within any particular program you may implement. That said, preaching remains a critical part of any stewardship endeavor. In almost all churches, worship remains the time when you have the greatest number of members and friends. The sermon, even in more liturgical churches, is a central part of worship. Attending to the important task of preaching on the topic of giving is worth the effort. More here.