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The Latest Edition of E-News - AC21 videos available for download, Save the date for AC22, Celebrate Juneteenth with us, and more

June 16, 2021

E-News - June 16, 2021

E-News is an email newsletter sent out by the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. It contains important news, stories, and events from around our conference. Submit articles for the next e-news. Submit events.

NEWS 

Thank you to everyone who helped to make Annual Conference 2021 a success!
Save the date for our much-anticipated return to Lake Junaluska for next year's Annual Conference, June 17-19, 2022!

 

2021 Conference Award Winners

On June 10, the Conference gathered on Zoom to celebrate outstanding leaders in ministry across the Western North Carolina Conference. Learn more about this year's WNCC award recipients.
2021-2022 Local Church Appointment List

Bishop Leeland and the Western North Carolina Cabinet have set the local church appointments for the 2021-2022 year. 
Juneteenth Freedom Celebrations

Juneteenth Freedom Celebrations are happening across the Conference this Saturday, June 19th.

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. From its Galveston, Texas origin in 1865, the observance of June 19th as the African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States and beyond.

In churches across our Conference, people of all races are joining hands to truthfully acknowledge a period in our history that shaped, and continues to influence, our society to this day. Find a Juneteenth celebration near you and join with Americans across the nation as we tell the stories of our past and celebrate the hope that comes through freedom!
Means of Grace: Celebrating Juneteenth in Western North Carolina

Jesse Enniss and Kim Ingram talk with persons from two different communities who are celebrating Juneteenth for the first time. D’Andre Ash is helping to coordinate the Smoky Mountain District celebration at Lake Junaluska and Lakeysha Medlin and Bruce Handy share the plans for celebrating in Marshville. Learn more about Juneteenth and ways you can celebrate!
Both/And Learning Lab #1

BOTH current grant recipients AND potential grant recipients of the BOTH/AND grants are invited to join us for the first Hybrid Worship Learning Lab. Participants will worship, learn, experiment, share, ask questions, and discover best practices around hybrid worship experiences. Learn more and register today.
 
New WNCC Creation Care Ministry Webpage
The WNCC Creation Care Ministry Team, a sub-committee of the Justice and Reconciliation Team, has a new webpage where you can find information on starting a creation care team or green ministry at your church, ideas for how your congregation can be intentional about practicing creation care, and so much more! We invite you to explore this new website as we seek to be the best stewards of God's wonderful creation.

 
A Few Words on Innovation: Sacred Ale & Blue Ridge Hope
Check out this interview with Travis Smith of Salem UMC in Bostic about his innovative ministries to serve the community in the Blue Ridge District.     
ImagineHub Information Session

Information session for faith communities who want to learn more about ImagineHub and apply for the Fall 2021 Cohort.
First United Methodist Church of Hendersonville Receives Humanitarian Award

First UMC of Hendersonville partners with the Safelight shelter, counseling, and training services to bring hope to survivors of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and child abuse in Henderson County. Safelight recently recognized the First UMC contributions by selecting them as the 2021 Faith-Based Institution Humanitarian Award recipient.
 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

ReLaunch Playbook
This webinar, sponsored by the WNC Leadership Development Team, is for leaders thinking about what it means to be the local church and how to show up differently in the community as both a faith community and as a disciple. It is for those who serve in churches that have already opened their doors and are thinking toward fall and for those who are still figuring it all out.
 

NC Pastors Survey for UNC Research Project
UNC professors, Liesbet Hooghe, Gary Marks, and Stephanie Shady, are requesting pastors in the WNCC to participate in a short, confidential survey for research they are conducting regarding the moral underpinnings of political change in North Carolina. Please consider participating in this important study.

 
 
 
Launching a Non-Profit
There are unique aspects of beginning a non-profit as a ministry within a local church. This cohort will share challenges, lessons learned, and best practices. As needed, the cohort will bring in guest speakers to discuss technical skills/areas related to non-profit work such as 501(c)3 applications, accounting that tracks funding streams, bylaws, memorandums of understanding, board development, grant writing, and other topics as determined by the participants.
 

UPCOMING WEBINARS & EVENTS: 

Project Agape Virtual Mission Trip
Thursday, July 15, 6 p.m.
Whether you have traveled with us in the past or simply would like to know more about the work being done by North Carolina Methodists in Armenia, join us for a Virtual Mission Trip to Armenia.  We will learn about the history of Armenia and Project AGAPE, hear from past mission participants, have a live chat with Project AGAPE board and get an update from the Project AGAPE Country Director, Nara Melkonyan.  The event is FREE to everyone who registers. 

 
AntiRacism Ethics Training
Dates vary throughout August-November, 2021
This workshop is designed for clergy and laity together. It is essential for each pastor to identify a key lay person to attend it together with him/her as a partner in advancing the work of antiracism.
All who are under appointment or assignment in WNC are expected to participate in one of the training events over the next four years by June 2024. 

 
Director of Communications: Melissa McGill

Communications Ministry Assistant: Aimee Yeager