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July 21, 2016
 
Dear Reader,

We have a new bishop. Beginning September 1, Bishop Elaine Stanovsky is assigned to the Greater Northwest Area, comprised of Oregon-Idaho, Pacific Northwest and Alaska Annual Conferences. A native of Vancouver, Washington, Bishop Stanovsky has served both as a local church pastor and as a Superintendent in the Seattle area. You can read more about her below and see her biography on umc.org.

Sally Blanchard, Communications Assistant
 


CONFERENCE NEWS

Elaine Stanovsky is new Greater Northwest Area Bishop

Upon the recommendation of the Committee on Episcopacy, the Western Jurisdiction has assigned Bishop Elaine Stanovsky to Greater Northwest area for the 2016-2020 quadrennium.

Elected in the episcopacy in 2008 by the Western Jurisdiction, she has served for eight years in the Mountain Sky Area of The United Methodist Church. While leading the church there she has made significant connections with the Native American community of the area and been a champion inside and outside the church for reconciliation with Native People and providing an honest telling of the history of the atrocities done in the name of the church.

Jan Nelson, Oregon-Idaho Conference Lay Leader and a member of the Episcopacy Committee, shared these thoughts on the assignment, “I wish Bishop Hagiya the best in his new assignment, and I am excited to welcome Bishop Stanovsky to ministry with us in Oregon-Idaho and in the episcopal area. It will be a pleasure to help her get to know our conference and to help our members get acquainted with her. I am confident we all will do exciting ministry together. Read the rest of the story on the Conference website.

Other Assignments: 
California-Nevada: Bishop Minerva Carcaño
Desert Southwest: Bishop Robert Hoshibata
Mountain Sky Area (Rocky Mountain and Yellowstone Conferences): Bishop Karen Oliveto

Employment

Program Director, Western Compass Campus Ministry (WOU - Monmouth)

Praise Team Director, Gresham UMC

Director, Camp Magruder

See details on these and other job postings in umoi.org/classifieds.


AROUND THE JURISDICTION

Oliveto voted bishop in historic election

On the 17th ballot of the Western Jurisdictional Conference episcopal elections, following the withdrawal of two of the remaining three candidates, Rev. Karen Oliveto was elected to the Episcopacy of The United Methodist Church. Oliveto was the Senior Pastor of Glide United Methodist Church in San Francisco before election. She is the first openly gay bishop elected to the United Methodist Church. Read her pastoral letter below.

Crossing The Threshold Together

"Dear sisters and brothers of the Western Jurisdiction Conference,

“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” Isaiah 43:19

I stand amazed at this new thing God has done, and give thanks to you, my dear sisters and brothers, at the careful and prayerful way we responded to the Holy Spirit and allowed our fears to fall away so we could joyously cross the threshold of this new thing together. I am overwhelmed by the outpouring of love I have received from around the world—it is more than my heart can hold."  Read the rest of her letter on the Western Jurisdiction site.

Read more about the Western Jurisdiction election.


AROUND THE GLOBE

U.S. bishops begin new assignments on Sept. 1

NEW YORK (UMNS) -- Most of the 15 United Methodist clergy elected as new U.S. bishops last week will be packing their bags to move to a new home within their region.

After the elections, the denomination’s five U.S. jurisdictional conferences announced assignments for bishops in all 46 episcopal areas, effective Sept. 1. Fifteen bishops are retiring and another 22 are remaining in their current assignment areas for another four years.

The 2016 elections of new U.S. bishops sparked both interest and controversy. Read the story on umc.org.

Bishop Harvey: ‘Let us be a voice for peace’

BATON ROUGE, La. (UMNS) — Louisiana Episcopal Area Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey called on United Methodists to be ‘a voice for peace’ in the midst of violence around the world, including the killing of three police officers in Baton Rouge. The city has been in turmoil since the police fatally shot an African-American man while he was pinned to the ground.  “Let us be a voice for peace, a voice for love, remembering that love casts out all fear,” she wrote.
Read the story from the Louisiana Conference
 

New ways to reach the “nones”

DES MOINES, Wash. (UMNS) — From Pokémon Go to the Create Commons efforts in Tacoma, Washington, church planters and pastors in the Pacific Northwest Conference are finding new and creative ways to reach the unchurched or “nones.”
Read the story from the PNW Conference

UMCOR assisting in West Virginia floods areas

Severe weather with heavy rains rolled through West Virginia June 23 and 24, creating floods that left thousands of people in the dark, damaged hundreds of homes and killed 23 people.

Cathy Earl, UMCOR U.S. Disaster Response program manager, noted that at least nine United Methodist churches also were damaged in the floods. “But that didn’t stop the people of The United Methodist Church from responding to their neighbors! Food, water, and relief supplies were offered with a compassion I can only describe as ‘easy,’” she said.

UMCOR sets aside as much as 10 percent of its total granting in response to a disaster to assist local communities rebuild or repair their houses of worship.

Earl was there to support the conference’s planning for their recovery ministries. Ahead of the storm, UMCOR had assisted the conference with disaster-preparedness training and in establishing its own New Vision Depot for relief supplies. Afterward, it provided an emergency grant to help with relief work in the affected communities, as well as cleaning buckets.

Your gift to U.S. Disaster Response, Advance #901670, helps UMCOR respond in a timely way to disasters and crises across the United States.


RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Boise Church to offer Safe Church Summit  

First United Methodist Church in Boise aka Cathedral of the Rockies, will host a two day summit on church safety October 4 and 5. The Safe Church Summit is designed to provide training, instruction, direction and development to church servants, volunteers, leaders, staff and clergy so they may provide a safer, secure, trained, and proactive safety and security ministry for their place of worship, services, and events. The two-day event is open to other denominations and will include speakers, breakout sessions, and workshops. See more information on the Cathedral of the Rockies website, and register.


CAMP & RETREAT MINISTRY

NEEDED: Person to haul wheelchairs to Suttle Lake

We have great news! A generous volunteer has offered his time and trailer to haul two campers' 200 lb motorized wheel chairs FROM Suttle Lake Camp back to Portland after the conclusion of Strength for the Journey, an event for people who have HIV/AIDS.
Just one problem remains: that only works if we can find a way to get the wheel chairs TO the camp!
Do you have the time and a large pickup or a trailer to make that trip? They will need to be picked up at Portland First United Methodist Church on August 18 at 10AM.
Contact Eric Conklin at 503-802-9212 or eric@umoi.org for more details about this opportunity to contribute!


COMMENTARY

Five evangelical inclusive ways to resist schism in The United Methodist Church

By Trey Hall

Since the election of Karen Oliveto as a Bishop in The United Methodist Church, there has been an understandably intensified experience of conflict throughout the Church...

 
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This week in the
Annual Conference

Wednesday, July 27

Methodist Federation for Social Action, Conference Center 10:30-2:30
 


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