To:  Members of the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference
From:  Bishop Elaine JW Stanovsky
RE:  Call to the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference - June 20-23, 2021
Date:  March 24, 2021

United Methodist Followers of Christ in the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference,

With this letter, I call the regular 2021 session of the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference to meet online at the following times*: OR-ID Clergy Session – June 8, 1 p.m. PT/2 p.m. MT GNW Laity session – June 9, 6:30 p.m. PT/6:30 p.m. MT OR-ID Lay Leader Election Session (laity session) – June 14, 6:30 p.m. PT/7:30 p.m. MT GNW Opening Session – June 20, 6:30-8 p.m. PT/7:30-9 p.m. MT OR-ID individual sessions – June 21, 1-3:30 p.m. PT/2-4:30 p.m. MT & 5:30-8 p.m. PT/6:30-9 p.m. MT GNW Closing Session – June 23, 6:30-8 p.m. PT/7:30-9 p.m. MT Please hold these dates on your calendar. You will receive registration information on or about April 6, 2021.

Over the past year, we have had our endurance tested on so many levels. Collectively, we grieve much loss – of loved ones, health and even spiritual community we once took for granted. We also have been responding to the call to dismantle the racism present in our churches and within our hearts. None of this has been easy, but we remain committed as ever to our call to Do No Harm. Do Good. Stay in Love with God.

God is with us in everything we do, and in every challenge we face, reminding us “Love Never Ends.” As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:12-13,

"Now we see a reflection in a mirror; then we will see face-to-face. Now I know partially, but    then I will know completely in the same way that I have been completely known. Now faith,       hope, and love remain—these three things—and the greatest of these is love."

May these words guide our work as we prepare legislation, reports and hold clergy and laity sessions ahead of our online Conference sessions.

As the Oregon-Idaho Conference prepares to meet, we will explore how this familiar piece of scripture calls us into new and unfamiliar places in our faith journeys.

And remember …

        When facing uncertainty and change, love never ends…
        As we wrestle with conflicting beliefs and passions, love never ends… 
        In anticipation of the pandemic’s end and some return to ‘normal,’ love never ends… 
        Until, by God’s good grace, institutional racism ends, love never ends… 
        As we seek to be the church our world needs today, love never ends

 

 

 

 Bishop Elaine JW Stanovsky

---

Oregon-Idaho pre-Conference deadlines and dates:

April 13: Deadline for submitting legislation
April 20: Deadline for submitting pre-Conference reports
April 23: 6-8 p.m. PT/7-9 p.m. MT Legislative Assembly, part I
April 24: 9-12p.m. PT/10-1 p.m. MT Legislative Assembly, part II
June 15: 6-8 p.m. PT/7-9 p.m. MT Legislative Assembly, part III

For more information visit www.umoi.org/ac

*Please note that we are not planning to commission or ordain clergy during the Conference sessions this June, but are monitoring COVID safety and considering options for celebrating these events before another year passes.

Note: If you are receiving this letter and you’re not currently a clergy or lay member to the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference, please email Conference Secretary Laura Jaquith Bartlett at laura@umoi.org.