e~Aurora | October 13, 2026 | | A weekly news update from The Alaska United Methodist Conference | |
Leadership Team report
The Leadership Team met Monday, October 5. Work is continuing on the Unalaska parsonage with its completion date anticipated during early November. Pastor Mary Ann Dumalang-Vallente and her family will be arriving in Unalaska around that time.
The Leadership Team discussed best ways to pass to local churches the Gen2Gen grant that the Conference was recently awarded by the General Board of Global Ministries. Its goal is to “multiply intergenerational ministries addressing hunger across the Alaska Conference by expanding seven established rural and urban food pantries and feeding ministries that respond to food insecurity by bringing generations together around Christ's table to build relationships, form disciples, and nourish communities.” There was an article in the E-Aurora recently about it. A team is preparing a grant application form for local churches to prepare and submit. The Leadership Team expects to award grants by mid-November.
In other business the Team authorized some very specific spending from the Legacy Fund during 2027. It will continue to authorize spending in its future meetings. It intends to form a task force hoping to find reductions in the Conference Center budget. Team members were encouraged to attend the Fall Learning event.
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Anchor Park's United Women in Faith Annual Holiday Auction
November 14, 2026
10:45am to 2:15pm
Lunch Cost $22
Menu:
Appetizer, Soup, Salad, Baked Ziti, Seasonal vegetable, Fresh Baked Rolls, Assorted Desserts, Coffee and Tea
Anchor Park's Annual Holiday Auction organized by the United Women in Faith is scheduled for Saturday, November 14th, mark your calendars! Invite your friends to join this fun event. Please sign up with the number of people that will be attending.
We welcome donations of home crafted/baked items and want to encourage receipt of all donations by November 11th.
We need volunteers to help with the auction on Friday November 13th & Saturday November 14th. Volunteer tasks include cooking, set up, clean up, check-out table, and the famous other duties that arise. Any questions about the event can be directed to Jo Anne Hayden 907-903-5025 or Susan Williams 907-317-0406.
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Charge Conference paperwork
Need help with the paperwork? Come work with us!
Crystal and Kristi will hold three working sessions to help with Charge Conference paperwork:
- October 20 at 11:00 a.m.
- October 20 at 6:00 p.m.
Topic: Charge Conference Q&A
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 965 2610 2062
The next due dates for paperwork are November 1 and December 1. Learn more here.
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Fall Learning Event registration open
Our Fall Learning Event continues the Loving Boldly theme introduced at Annual Conference. This year, we will explore what it means to love boldly by beginning with how we care for ourselves, how we relate to one another, how we communicate our ministries, and how we strengthen our shared work across the Alaska Conference.
The event will combine wellness and wholeness, covenant and holy conferencing, communication and storytelling, technology, ministry collaboration, and practical work around our conference priorities of housing and hunger and young people's ministry.
It will be November 5-7 at the Dimond Center Hotel in Anchorage.
All clergy are expected to attend. Laity, especially lay members to AC, are encouraged to attend.
Registration deadline is October 22.
Register here
View the working agenda
Additionally, if you are a member of AAA or AARP, you can get an additional discount at the Dimond Center hotel if you are staying there.
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Celebrate Laity Sunday, October 18
Your response to God’s call is essential to the mission of the church. Be encouraged by this empowering message.
A Call to Laity
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Directories, scammers, and gift cards, oh my! An article from PNW Dir. of Communications, Patrick Scriven
Many of us can recall a time when we received a message that felt a little off. An email from "the pastor" or “the bishop” asking for a favor, a text about a gift card, a request that seemed urgent but didn't quite sound like the person it claimed to be. Online fraud is a real and growing concern, and the church is not exempt from it.
Churches and other nonprofits are common targets. We are open, welcoming, and generous by nature, and we tend to assume the best of people. Those are good things, yet they are exactly the qualities fraudsters hope to exploit. Many of the most common schemes rely on relationships. A message that appears to come from a trusted pastor, a fellow member, or a conference staff person is meant to make us drop our guard. When we feel we know the sender, we stop asking questions.
Church directories and email lists are especially attractive. Even a simple list of names, addresses, and email accounts can give a bad actor what they need to make a fraudulent request sound convincing. Some churches in the conference have recently reported that people who appear to be fraudsters are contacting church offices to request a directory. The requests often sound polite and ordinary — “I visited last Sunday” —which is part of why they work.
Continue reading for three practices to build resiliency in your congregation.
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Bishops condemn plan for livestreamed execution
The United Methodist Church has long opposed the death penalty. In light of these teachings, the Council of Bishops also opposes the plan to livestream the execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 at Fort Hood, a U.S. Army base in Texas, in 2009. “Turning the death of a human being into a public broadcast does not honor the victims,” writes Bishop Rubén Saenz Jr., the council’s president. “It coarsens the conscience of a people and contradicts the gospel we proclaim.”
Read the statement
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Help needed after Hurricane Isaias
In the aftermath of Hurricane Isaias, several United Methodist churches and properties throughout the Alabama-West Florida Conference have experienced significant damage. Volunteers are needed to remove debris, operate heavy equipment and chainsaws and install temporary roof coverings. “Now is the time … to put our faith into action. Whether you can give a day, bring equipment or organize a team from your church, your willingness to serve can make an incredible difference,” the conference said in an update.
Read update
Donate to UMCOR’s U.S. Disaster Response
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Sand Creek healing work moves forward
Repentance must become action. Healing must involve relationships. Those two messages were among the key takeaways when members of the Sand Creek Massacre Interagency Task Force met Sept. 28-29 for its third annual gathering. The group brings together descendants of the Sand Creek Massacre with United Methodist leaders and agency representatives to advance the denomination’s ongoing commitment to education and accountability.
Read the story
UM News: Church forges ties with Sand Creek Massacre descendants
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Court date set in Highland Park case
The civil lawsuit filed by the Horizon Texas Conference over changes to Highland Park United Methodist Church’s governing documents now has a trial date. According to court records, Judge Bridgett Whitmore of the 193rd Civil District Court in Dallas has set Oct. 12, 2027, for a non-jury trial. In the meantime, Highland Park United Methodist held scheduled a town hall Sunday, Oct. 11.
See court records
UM News: Court cases test United Methodist governance
Highland Park proposes leaving denominations
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Do No Harm, virtual conference, FREE
This November, GCSRW invites the whole connection to Do No Harm — a virtual conference equipping individuals and the Church to prevent sexual harm and foster trauma-informed care. For the first time since its inception in 2006, the gathering is fully online. Thursday and Friday offer professional development for those who lead prevention, response, and training; Saturday is a public witness for everyone, centered on truth-telling, healing, and solidarity, offered on a sliding scale. Ashley Judd and Rachael Denhollander headline. November 12–14, 2026. Register at https://gcsrw.org/do-no-harm/. Contact the Alaska Conference office on how to register for FREE
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New PBS series features United Methodists
“Christianity at a Crossroads,” a new four-part PBS documentary series that began airing Oct. 1, explores the changing landscape of Christianity in America — from declining participation to congregations finding new growth. Among examples of vitality, the series features Silver Spring United Methodist Church in Maryland in its second and fourth episodes, and Resurrection, a United Methodist church in Leawood, Kansas, in the second episode. Check local PBS listings. Journey Films, the producer, is also posting the episodes.
Watch episodes
Watch trailer
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Men's agency ends affiliation with association
The Rev. Rick Vance, top executive of the Commission on United Methodist Men, along with Bishop Jonathan Holston, United Methodist Men board president, has announced that United Methodist Men has ended its affiliate relationship with the National Association of Conference Presidents. Several sections of the association’s constitution and bylaws conflict with the denomination’s Book of Discipline, Vance said.
Read the press release
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New cooperative parish connects digital churches
Desert Southwest Conference is sponsoring a Digital Cooperative Parish with three unique United Methodist communities: The Clearing, Checkpoint Church and Zao Church Collective. The cooperative brings together three distinct faith communities that exist primarily in digital spaces and serve people across the U.S. and beyond. The conference calls this a new form of connectionalism.
Read the story and watch the video
Desert Southwest Conference: New opportunities for connection
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50 years of turning faith into action
From rebuilding communities after disasters to medical missions, construction projects and vocational training around the world, United Methodist Volunteers in Mission is celebrating a half-century of making a difference.
Watch the video
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In medical desert, pop-up clinics help Congolese
More than 600 people received free healthcare during United Methodist annual conferences meeting in the southeastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Funded by Bishop Nelson Kalombo Ngoy, the mobile medical clinics enabled the diagnosis of serious medical conditions and provided follow-up care in a region faced with extreme poverty and limited healthcare.
Read the story
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14: Charge Conference - Moose Pass
15: Charge Conference - Aldersgate
17: Charge Conference - First Ketchikan
20: Zoom assistance for Charge Conference paperwork @ 11 AM & 6 PM
21: Charge Conference - Nome Community
22: Charge Conference - Homer
24: Charge Conference - North Star & Kenai
25: Charge Conference - Anchor Park
28: Charge Conference - Ola Toe Fuataina
29: Charge Conference - Douglas Community
31: Halloween
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1: Daylight Saving Time ends
1: Charge Conference - First Anchorage
3: Election Day
4: Charge Conference - Sitka
5-7: Fall Learning Event @ Dimond Center Hotel
7-11: Crystal @ UMCOM Training
11: Veteran's Day - Office Closed
12: Charge Conference - Chugiak
15: Charge Conference - Turnagain & Christ First
18: Charge Conference - Seward
19: Charge Conference - Anchorage Korean
22: Charge Conference - Willow
26: Thanksgiving Day - Office Closed
27: Day after Thanksgiving - Office Closed
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Upcoming Birthdays
October 18 - Dan Wilcox
October 19 - Kristi McGuire
October 29 - Daniel Santos
October 30 - Kelly Marciales
November 5 - Kim Poole
November 9 - Murray Crookes
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Conference Office
alaskaumc@gmail.com
www.alaskaumc.org
907-333-5050
Superintendent & Director of Connectional Ministries - Kristi McGuire
akcs@alaskaumc.org
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Submissions - If you have an article or event that you would like to share with the rest of the conference, submit it to the conference office by Tuesday at 9:00 am for consideration.
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We acknowledge that the Methodist Church is complicit with and rooted in the colonization of Alaska and recognize that we live in that ongoing legacy. We lament the harm and trauma that our faith community causes. John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Movement, summarized God’s directives with three Rules: do no harm, do good, and attend to the ordinances of God. We also celebrate the grace, the love, and the good that our church does that calls us to re-imagine mission through intentional discipleship with one another.
Therefore we commit ourselves to:
Alaska Conference Values
- The love of God, neighbor, and self, demonstrated by the deliberate embracing and valuing of differences, the leveling of imbalances between people and systems, and the intentional dismantling of inequities in whatever forms they present themselves.
- Healing, grace-filled mission with communities and churches that prioritizes local experiences and shares resources across time and distance through equitable relationships.
- Living into connectionalism by belonging to and trusting in one another to nurture relationships that celebrate the gifts each of our communities bring, allowing us to move forward in a decolonized way.
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