July 2008 Chugiak Crier Newsletter
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Lay Member’s Report - Annual Conference 2008
Annual Conference was held May 30 – June 1 at St. John’s UMC. The conference brought many leave-takings, through movement of clergy to new appointments and also through the departure of Rachel Lieder Simeon, Conference Superintendent, Bishop Ed Paup, and Brenda Wingfield, Conference Secretary. Bishop Paup will become General Secretary of the Board of Global Ministries (GBGM), which carries out mission and ministry programs worldwide. Rachel will become Associate Secretary of the United Methodist Committee on Relief ( UMCOR), working in international disaster relief. In this period of worldwide natural disasters and hunger crises, our friends and leaders Rachel Simeon and Ed Paup are moving to challenging global responsibilities.
Dennis Holway, retired pastor of Turnagain United Methodist, and a former Conference Superintendent, has agreed to become Superintendent again for one year. Debra Lindsay-Hudgins will become Conference Secretary, with Crystal Hayden serving as Administrative Assistant. Pastors were appointed to all twenty-eight churches in the Conference.
Attending the Conference were Craig Parrish, Conference Treasurer, and Tom Wilson, Executive Director of the Northwest Foundation, a Methodist foundation and lending organization. Tom presented a seminar on church endowment funds, which will help UMCC as we set up an endowment fund for investment and use of special financial gifts. Tom Wilson, Craig Parrish, Rachel Leader Simeon, and Bishop Ed Paup, also met at UMCC with committee chairs to discuss ways to improve our church’s financial situation. The meeting was helpful.
Betty Jo Worthington, of our congregation, was honored with the Lay Person of the Year Award, in recognition of her many years of volunteer work serving the church and community.
Numerous committee reports and proposed rule changes were presented. One of the highlights is that the Conference name was changed from Alaska Missionary Conference to the Alaska United Methodist Conference. This does not reflect a decrease in missionary work, but addresses perceived unfavorable reactions to the term, “missionary.”
We discussed cost-of-living allowances for pastors in remote sites. The problem is that allowances are paid by the local churches. Churches in areas with the highest cost of living are typically small and have a hard time paying COLA. A task force was set up to seek ways that Conference could help fund COLA. Native Ministries were discussed, with a goal to supply pastors to churches in native communities. The Conference, which is supported by apportionments from local churches, passed a 2008 budget of $703,196.00. Lay School of Theology will be September 19 – 20 at St. John’s UMC.
I will serve on the Administrative Unit (similar to Trustees) and the South-central Regional Program Council (which deals with program matters in our region of the state.) Thanks to Betty Burke for all her work as Lay Member during her term.
Abbe Dunning-Newbury
Lay Member