You can find Annual Conference 2017 information and links on two pages of this website. Visit our  AC 2017 News Articles Page for access to recent Annual conference-related news and feature articles. Visit our   AC 2017 Information Page for basic information, links to articles and resource documents.

Also, on this  Annual Conference 2017 information page, beginning June 15 at the opening session, you will also find our  video livestream of Annual Conference sessions as they occur in real time. B e sure to visit our social media pages-- Facebook  and  Twitter  and  Instagram-- to read and respond to key actions, special moments and important comments. Use the hashtag  #EPAUMC17  to post your own thoughts throughout the conference. Learn more...

Bishop Peggy Johnson's new Bishop's Blog essay (promoted by UM News Daily Digest, June 6 issue) reminds us that June is gun-violence awareness month. "I believe it is important for our churches to teach about this epidemic and promote healthy ways of preventing senseless harm," writes the bishop, who leads the Eastern Pennsylvania and Peninsula-Delaware conferences. Learn more...

Six lay members of the Eastern Pa Conference became Certified Lay Ministers (CLM) May 7 in a service of recognition at Montgomery Square UMC. They are the seventh class to complete the CLM process. The Conference now has 51 active Certified Lay Ministers. Learn more...

When your pastor leaves and another arrives, the transition process is the work of the entire congregation. Whether you dread losing your beloved pastor or welcome a change in leadership, it feels like everything in your church is about to change. While that is not completely true, your congregation will be going through a significant time of pastoral transition. Joe Iovino's article, which UMC.org first published in 2015, is still relevant today for any church or pastor going through an appointment transition. The Rev. Robert Kaylor, a UMC pastor, podcast guest and author of a book on transitions for the local church, points out that there are three phases of transition: the ending or leaving, the neutral zone, and the new beginning. Each member can participate in every stage. Learn more... and see more articles there on pastoral appointment transitions.

If you are a pastor changing to a new church appointment, be sure to attend the next Transitioning Pastors workshop on Saturday, June 10, from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM, at West Lawn UMC, 15 Woodside Avenue, Reading. For information, please contact Felicia Anderson at [email protected] or 484-762-8248.

Your giving makes possible the proclamation of Christ's Peace. Will you continue to support Peace with Justice Sunday?  Will you empower local Christians-from Pennsylvania to Arizona to Liberia and Russia-to build the kingdom of peace that Jesus ushered in? Here are more stories of how our giving is changing lives. While many individuals and churches across the connection work for peace and justice every day, once a year United Methodists get to celebrate and commit to the work of these important values around the world.  Peace with Justice Sunday is a Special  Sunday of The United Methodist Church that signifies our strong commitment to peace, justice and the ministry of reconciliation. Download an  engaging infographic showing 15 ways our offering on this special day makes a difference. 

Also, the Eastern PA Conference Board of Church & Society has funds available for Peace with Justice grants for eligible ministries. The conference retains a portion of every Peace with Justice Sunday offering to support local ministries that promote goals of peace and justice. Apply now to gain support for your ministry. Visit our Funding for Ministry webpage.

Quakertown UMC will host  Unite Quakertown on Saturday June 10, 11 AM to 8 PM, (rain date: July 8), an interfaith public event to foster awareness and action in response to the "growing heroin and opioid addiction epidemic plaguing our communities." The gathering will happen at Quakertown's new "Park at 4,th" offering worship, music with Christian bands, storytelling and education about this deadly epidemic and efforts to combat it through an interfaith alliance. Bishop Peggy Johnson plans to attend at 11 AM to support this emphasis on a growing sickness in our region. For more information contact Patrick McGovern, event coordinator, at [email protected] or 267-373-8834.  Download and share the flyer.

What is your church or mission connexion doing to learn about and address the heroin and opioid addiction epidemic that is damaging many lives, families and communities? Please tell us so we can report on your efforts. 

1st Offering: Eastern PA Conference Scholarship Fund
Received during the opening worship service on Thursday evening. Raised $7,000 in 2016, an increase over previous years. "I hope we can raise $10,000 this year," says Scholarship Fund Chairperson Lenora Thompson.

 

2nd Offering: Board of Ordained Ministry Seminary Scholarships

Received during the Service of Ordination and Commissioning on Friday evening. Scholarships are distributed to candidates pursuing a call to Ordained Ministry in our conference.

 

3rd Offering: Methodist Services (formerly Methodist Home for Children)

Received on Saturday morning following the Memorial Service. Methodist Services is located in Philadelphia next door to Simpson House. Agency President and CEO Ann Rice Burgess will bring us greetings from that historic, multifaceted agency that now serves children, families and women in transition.

Less than one week remains to register for two online training courses offered by UM Communications to help your congregation more effectively share its story outside the church and welcome its community inside. Registration for these two current online courses ends June 11.

On the heels of our Building Effective Church Websites workshops, May 5-6, UMCom training specialist  Craig Catlett will return to our Annual Conference,  June 14-17, to address the session body and host a UMCom display in our exhibits area.  (Be sure to drop by and meet him.) 

But even better, he will arrive early and teach a  Workshop on Church Marketing on the eve of our Annual Conference,  Wednesday, June 14, from 6 to 8:30 PM, at the Conference Office. It's open to all. So come join us, bring your church marketing team, and gain some useful wisdom on promoting your church's ministry and message to your community and to the world. We'll even feed you. 

You'll learn some basics on: 

• Understanding and marketing to your target community's needs and interests; 
• Building and launching a good church marketing plan with goals, strategies and action steps; 
• How to develop, use and protect your church's brand; and more.  

Please  register for free on our website today, so we can get an accurate count. Attendance may be limited to under 30, due to space considerations. 

Also, you can learn much of what Craig will teach and more in  UMCom's helpful online course "Church Marketing: How to Effectively Reach Your Community." The cost is only $29.99. Register for it at anytime.

The Rev. Deborah Tanksley-Brown, director of the Eastern PA Conference-affiliated H.U.B. of Hope HIV/AIDS ministry, reminds us that June is AIDS Education Month. Contact her at [email protected]  or at UM Church of the Open Door (610-444-2400) to arrange for HIV education events.

"AIDS Is Not Over" is the stark reminder atop the UM Global AIDS Fund's newsletter (May-June 2017 issue). Find the newsletter here.  It includes thanks from UMGAF chair Bishop Julius Trimble for those conferences who are featuring the Fund's work during their upcoming sessions. It also features news of the UMGAF Advance Special that supports projects and persons helping to eradicate HIV-AIDS. View the Abundant Health initiative video about the ongoing global challenge of AIDS and UMC-supported efforts to defeat the still-lethal disease.

Finally, the newsletter links to a list of retreat ministries affiliated with UMC conferences that provide education and support to People Living with AIDS and/or Affected by AIDS. Closest to Eastern PA is Quality of Life Retreats (QLR), a 30-year ministry of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference. For information, contact Raymond Shattuck at [email protected] or call 410-972-1498. There are upcoming QLR retreats in August and December. Visit their website for more information. 

The Conference  Commission on Religious & Race will offer a second opportunity for leaders who have taken the required Changing Racism course to share and extend their learning, as they continue the conversation on race and racism. The optional, informal gathering will happen on Saturday,  June 24, from 9 AM to 3 PM, at Grove UMC, 490 West Boot Road, West Chester PA.

 

Come, delve more deeply into the history, dynamics and ramifications of racism in the USA. Learn and practice behaviors and strategies for dismantling the damaging effects of racism and seeking equity.  Registration is online,  just extended to June 19, with a fee of $15. Lunch is provided. 

NOTE: This workshop is open to all who have completed the Changing Racism Workshops or the Healing the Wounds of Racism Workshops at any time. For more information contact the Rev. Susan Worrell at [email protected] or the Rev. Alicia Julia-Stanley at [email protected] 

Hopewell UMC's newest mission effort was featured this weekin the Daily Local News." Local church establishes 'The Well' in Downingtown" reports on the Downingtown congregation's new mission enterprise that's close to home. Members spent the entire Memorial Day weekend "painting, plastering, ripping up carpet and cleaning to prepare for the opening of The Well," a spacious former funeral home they are converting into a community center to provide gathering spaces and services for all ages, including support groups, job training, after-school activities and tutoring. Learn more...

"Children turn to God with their questions." Looking for a video resource to help children share their thoughts and questions about God and about church? Find out what  questions young United Methodists have for God as part of the denomination's current RethinkChurch national advertising campaign. Are their questions different from our own?  Imagine what life would be like if we all saw the world with the hope, wonder and acceptance of a child.

 

In addition, learn what children have to say about what it means to live with "open hearts, open minds, and open doors" at RETHINKCHURCH.org. Both video series may be useful for your Sunday school or Vacation Bible School.

At our 2017 Annual Conference in June, we will focus on the spiritual discipline and gift of prayer, as we benefit from teaching by the Rev. Tom Albin, Dean of the Upper Room Chapel. What prayer ministries are you and your members engaged in, whether innovative or traditional, indoor or outdoor, involving small groups or the entire congregation?

In some of the church newsletters, bulletins and websites we come across, we see announcements of prayer services and vigils, community prayer walks, prayer chains and prayer shawl groups, healing services, Taize worship, and other experiences. Clearly, we have some strong praying churches in this conference, and many of them no doubt have testimonies of answered prayers.

Discipleship Ministries has published a new June-to-December schedule of upcoming webinars for church leaders, offered by its Leadership Ministries unit.  The day and night webinars cover topics important to preachers, lay leaders, finance and stewardship committee chairs, leaders of children's ministries, older adults and other areas. Topics cover: preparing for charge conference, starting ministries with Baby Boomers and Advanced Boomers, transforming your community during neighborhood gentrification, and practicing spiritual leadership. Register at http://www.umcdiscipleship.org/webinars. 

 

The favorite hymn "Blessed Assurance" is one of more than 8,000 penned by a blind, musical visionary. Fanny Crosby's songs are favorites in the United Methodist Hymnal. In a new video by United Methodist Communications, the Rev. Alfred Day of the General Commission on Archives and History tells us why the life-story of this 19th century poet is as inspiring as the words we sing today. Learn more...

 

Church of the Open Door was blessed with the donation of Conference Room furniture when we moved into our fixed site. We are in the process of transforming our spaces and would like to pass on our furniture blessing. Available for pick up: 

If interested, contact the Rev. (Deacon) Deborah Tanksley-Brown at 484-995-2407 or [email protected].

The 2017 Academy for Laity happens August 4 - 6 at Cedarville UMC, 1092 Laurelwood Road, Pottstown, PA. We have a new date, a new location and new courses.   Registration is open now until July 15. This is the perfect opportunity for you to start or refresh your Christ Servant Ministry journey.  Learn more.

Course Descriptions:  2017 Laity Academy Course Description Handout [PDF]

Register Online: www.etouches.com/2017laity

Register By Mail:

2017 Laity Academy Mail-in Registration Form [PDF]

2017 Laity Academy Scholarship Application [PDF]

Downingtown UMC has 24 used choir robes that they would like to donate to a sister congregation that can use them.  Sized to fit men and women of various sizes, they are a cream color with a burgundy collar piece and an embroidered UMC logo. Contact the church office at 610-269-1496 or e-mail them at  [email protected].

 

Remember Lucy Chelton, the 9-year-old chef from Sellersville, Pa., we  wrote about last August, who won first place on Food Network's children's television cooking show "Chopped Jr" and who shared part of her $10,000 prize with a local program that serves low-income families? Well she's back! Lucy, whose parents are on the ministry staff of Christ UMC in Lansdale, Pa., was invited to compete in a  Chopped Jr tournament with 15 other champions. Her episode will air on  Tuesday, June 13, at  8 PM, and during rebroadcasts.

What if we stopped "fixing" our churches and started seeing the people Christ calls us to reach? Discipleship Ministries has just launched a grassroots initiative called   SeeAllThePeople , designed to inspire an outreaching disciple-making movement across the denomination. What if United Methodist congregations stopped looking for quick fixes to revitalize their churches," asks the Rev. Junius Dotson, General Secretary, "and started seeing the people right outside our doors that Christ called us to reach? What if churches recommitted themselves to focus on being in relationship with those around them and created an intentional system to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world?

 

"We cannot disciple people that we are not in relationship with. Discipleship begins with relationship." Discipleship Ministries has produced a discussion starter video and a free study booklet for congregations. Dotson urges church members to download, use and share the free resource at SeeAllThePeople.org and to start a conversation using the hashtag #SeeAllThePeople. 

When Bustleton UMC in Philadelphia closed in 2010, a church member rescued the Communion table and Baptismal font, hoping to offer them to a nearby congregation that would be happy to receive them. So far, that search has not been easy. Now Cheryl Kaz wants to spread the word farther across the conference to interest any church in adopting and using these cherished items looking for a new home at no cost. The church that wants them must be able to come get them. E-mail Cheryl at  [email protected]  or call 267-253-0390.  

The annual School of Congregational Development (SCD) is "a premier event for equipping United Methodist church leaders, clergy and laity, to lead vital, dynamic, life-changing congregations." Sponsored by Discipleship Ministries, Global Ministries, and Path 1, this year's event, August 17-20 , will happen at Peachtree UMC in Atlanta, Ga. , and be hosted by the North Georgia Conference, Candler School of Theology and Gammon Seminary. The 2017 theme is "At the Lord's Table."  DOWNLOAD the SCD "Quick Look" brochure  [PDF]

Of the three types of scholarships available to participants of SCD 2017, two are relevant to Eastern PA Conference church leaders.  Applicants can only apply for one of these two choices.

Click Here for Scholarship Application.  To Register for the Full School go to  REGISTER.

"Knowledge is power." Take control of your financial future. Sign up now for your chance to meet with Robert Christophel of Wespath for a half-hour at Annual Conference to review your pension projection and begin to make informed decisions about your retirement. Time slots are limited and fill up quickly!  Be sure to choose a time slot between June 15 and June 17.  Register Now

Bob Christophel is a benefits educator who provides financial, retirement and other benefits education for clergy and lay employees. He previously worked in benefits communications and participant education in New York and was a licensed investment representative in a corporate retirement services division, where he focused primarily on participant education for national corporate 401(k) plans.

Eastern Pa members can join members of other, neighboring conferences for fun and fellowship at United Methodist Days at Dorney Park, June 23-25. Pick any day you want and come enjoy a full day of rides and shows, sunshine and snacks, laughter and glorious fun. Purchase your tickets now for only $31.50 on any of three days in June: Friday, Saturday or Sunday, June 23, 24 or 25. $3.00 from each purchased ticket will go to support United Methodist Men's and Young People's ministries.