Latest Updates
News and updates about Annual Conference.
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Ice Cream Social: Celebrating the Lumbee People
On Thursday night, Annual Conference attendees enjoyed fun and fellowship at an ice cream social that has become a beloved, much-anticipated event. Ice cream flavors ranged from the traditional (chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry) to the more adventurous (butter pecan, chocolate chip cookie dough, and salted caramel). Laughter and friendly conversation filled the hallway all the…
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Thursday Evening Plenary Session
Statistician for the North Carolina Conference, Rev. Dennis Peay, shared the story behind the numbers during his presentation. He shared a membership snapshot of 136,130 based on 438 reporting churches. Rev. Peay celebrated 749 Baptisms with 518 children and 231 ages 13 and above. In Mission Giving: In Mission Service: Rev. Peay noted these were…
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Celebration of Lumbee People
The NC Annual Conference celebrated the official federal recognition of the Lumbee Nation, the 575th tribe to be recognized. The journey to this recognition has been a long one, 137 years in the making, but Godās faithfulness and the perseverance of the Lumbee Nation has borne great fruit. John Oxendine greeted the Conference with the…
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Thursday Afternoon Reports
New Faith Communities Rev. Dr. Tim Catlett, Executive Director of New Faith Communities, shared an inspiring update on the Office of New Faith Communities (NFC). The team’s steadfast mission is to help co-create new places for new people to gather in communion with Jesus Christ. Rev. Dr. Catlett offered a resounding “yes” to whether new…
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Thursday Plenary Session Begins
The opening plenary session for Annual Conference 2026 included a number of informational and educational segments. Bishop Connie Mitchell Shelton called the session to order and thanked everyone for attending. The tradition of singing āAnd Are We Yet Aliveā was continued, and the body was asked to recite our denominational and NC Conference mission and…
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Opening Worship and Communion
Opening worship for the North Carolina Annual Conference 2026 centered around the yearās theme, Serve Joyfully, with music led by the Haymount UMC praise band. Bishop Connie Mitchell Shelton opened with a breath prayer ā āCreator God, Redeemer Christ, Sustainer Spiritā ā before preaching on Galatians 5 and the fruit of the Spirit. She invited…