- Clergy Virtual Session of Annual Conference Saturday, October 24, 9:00 a.m.
- We will gather online as eligible clergy to consider the “Business of the Annual Conference” report from the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry. Work is being done to abbreviate this report so that our meeting will be confined to a two-hour block.Formal votes on retirements, status changes, and approval of those recommended for commissioning and ordination will take place at this session.
- Virtual Annual Conference Session
Saturday, October 24, 1:00 p.m.
All delegates to the 2020 New York Annual Conference session will be invited to this gathering.This too will be a greatly abbreviated session to only deal with essential business, including remembering those who have died since our last session, limited elections that will be required due to vacancies, reports that must be given (according to the Book of Discipline), and approval of our budget for the next year. Since we are limited by our own rules, the Book of Discipline, and the reality of limited connectivity/stability in some regions, there will be no legislative sections that can be organized and conducted for this meeting. Business will be limited to the items listed above.
Links to both sessions will be sent to credentialed members of Annual Conference, in a "Call to Conference" from our Annual Conference Secretary. Please make sure that your church's representative information is current. You may contact Margaret Howe at confsecy@nyac.com with questions and/or updates.
| PP Equipment and UMCOR Supplies |
PPE Equipment – distribution sites needed
As part of the Bishop’s initiative on church re-opening we have purchased additional supplies to assist local churches. A process for requesting supplies will soon be provided. As part of this, we are looking for one or two locations within each district which would serve as collection and distribution sites. From these, local churches will be able to request and pick up supplies. It is recommended that these sites have easy access and avoid a significant number of steps. Since the distribution process is expected to go through the winter, supplies will need to be stored where they will not freeze. If you can provide this service please contact the Missions office (tvencuss@nyac.com).
UMCOR supplies – buckets and kits
With the hurricane season upon us, requests for clean-up and health kits are starting to come in. In the past our collection was made during Annual Conference. Kits were then sent to Mission Central in Mechanicsburg, PA. Given the re-scheduling of Conference this past June we have started to collect outstanding buckets and kits and hope to send them to Mission Central in September. If you have assembled kits please contact Trudy Creary (receptionist@nyac.com) and we will arrange either a pick-up or drop off location and time.
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In this issue of the CM E-Newsletter, we highlight two more new ministries that will be "hatched" in our Conference during the coming 12-18 months, under the guidance of Ministry Incubators. We ask you to pray for these NYAC ministry initiatives and the teams who will be turning them into reality.
Cornerstone Community Church, Norwalk, CT - Liz Abel, Team Leader
Cornerstone, the product of four merged congregations, is a 250-member church with a weekly attendance of around 70. This new faith community is entering into a season of re-imagining what its ministry to young people can look like, especially through an increase in outreach and recruitment and a diversification of the church’s leadership team.
Pastor Liz imagines exploring new paradigms of church, such as a gathering space that tends to the spiritual and general needs of the community, perhaps functioning like a pop-up or “messy” church that remains on the move and ready when and where it becomes needed. In addition, Pastor Liz is interested in identifying where Norwalk’s young people are developmentally, spiritually, and physically (where do they live?
where do they hang out? etc.). She would like to test multiple ideas through a series of quick, experimental launches to identify key learnings about what best addresses young people in their neighborhood in a short period of time.
Current challenges include diversifying the leadership team, particularly in the realm of engaging more youth who identify as Latinx, and in developing leadership for church camp programs.
Simsbury UMC - Gene Ott, Team Leader
Simsbury UMC is a well-funded, traditional church of roughly 500 members located a few miles northwest of the state capital of Hartford. The congregation’s stated missional ethos is “SUM = It All Adds Up to Love,” which is said to mean that “Whoever you are - Whatever you believe - wherever you are from, you are loved.”
The DNA of Simsbury’s surrounding community positions the congregation well for outreach and Christian service. With a high proportion of young people, an abundance of families with children, and a reputation for having good schools, the community brings endless opportunities for being blessed by a church like Simsbury UMC. One such opportunity is a partnership with a local nonprofit called For All Ages which has provided space for cross-generational dialogue.
The congregation has adapted well to the COVID-19 reality of contactless worship and programming. Pastor Gene sees their thriving online presence and virtual community-building capability as an opportunity to create a ministry focused on thriving older adults. From recently retired to homebound, this is a key constituency who is often overlooked amidst churches' efforts toward growing younger.
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| Disaster Response Support |
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Tom Vencuss, NYAC Director of Missions and Disaster Response, was recently on a call with UMCOR regarding current domestic disaster response efforts. The discussion included Hurricane Laura, the mid-west “Derecho,” Isaias, Hannah, and the California wildfires. Given the challenges of travel and volunteer housing due to the pandemic, at this point the most effective way for persons to support these recovery efforts is to make a donation to UMCOR. Checks may be sent to the New York Conference finance office made out to UMCOR with “Advance #901670” in the memo line. Donations may also be made online through the UMCOR.org website. More information will be provided as it becomes available.
| Meet Missionary John Nday |
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Due to an uncooperative internet connection during the last attempt to meet with Missionary John Nday, the NYAC Missions office is pleased to be able to sponsor a "make-up" conversation. John is a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church serving as agricultural coordinator at Cambine Mission in the South Mozambique Annual Conference. This rescheduled virtual conversation will take place Monday, September 14 at 1PM EDT.
To register for this event, please click here. Participation is limited to 100, and is on a first-register basis. For more information contact Tom Vencuss at tvencuss@nyac.com or Jill Wilson at jillmwilson@comcast.net.
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