Announcements

As we are in appointment-making season, Bishop Shelton has encouraged all of us to pray for the Cabinet, clergy and their families, and congregations. We will be sharing prayers over the next few weeks and encourage you to share them with your church.

Read the next prayer in the series written by Rev. Laura Johnson.

God of grace, we pray for pastors in transition as they experience a variety of strong and disparate emotions in this season of change.

God of our yesterdays, we pray for these pastors as they remember their tenure of ministry in their current appointment. Fill them with gratitude for the holy moments that revealed your grace at work in, through, and around them. Fill them with joy over the lives they saw transformed by the light of your love. Bring to their minds the occasions in which you led them, taught them, anointed them, and blessed them to be your agents of love, hope, and reconciliation. Comfort them when regret assails them over mistakes and lost opportunities. Console them when their heart aches over memories of conflicts, disappointments, and unrealized dreams. Give them your peace when grief overwhelms them as they prepare to say goodbye to people they have loved and served wholeheartedly. Grant them the courage to look upon their tenure of ministry at this appointment with eyes of grace, trusting that you work all things for good for those who love you and are called according to your purpose.

God of our today, we pray for these pastors as they live in the in-between. In-between the farewell lunches and nice-to-meet-you coffees, nurture their spirits. In-between the transition documents they create for the next pastor and the ones they receive from the pastor they will follow, ease their stress. In-between packing up their belongings and making preparations for a new office, a new home, and a new community, sustain them with your abiding Presence.

God of our tomorrows, we pray for these pastors as they look ahead to their next appointment. Bless their hope as they imagine what good you wish to accomplish through them. Bless their hearts of love that are open, ready, and willing to serve new people. Bless their excited eyes of faith that eagerly look for your possibilities and rejoice over the evidence of your grace leading their way. Bless the joy with which they will step into their new appointment, especially the joy that coexists with grief and anxiety. Bless their courage to trust in who you have created them to be and bless their confident servanthood that will reveal the heart of Jesus.

God of grace, we pray for these pastoral colleagues in transition as they embrace this season of change. Meet them in all the strong and disparate emotions they feel. Bless them with the assurance of your compassion, your presence, and your enduring faithfulness to them and to the Church of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Image: Unsplash / Pablo García Saldaña

We’d like to keep everyone up-to-date about the happenings all across the NC Conference offices and committees, so we’ll be posting a roundup of all the major news at the end of every month.

Here’s an overview of NC Conference events and updates from the month of February.

NC Conference

• View the February Monthly Resource Flyer.
• Bishop Shelton encouraged us to pray for the Cabinet, clergy and their families, and congregations during the appointment-making season. Watch the video and read the prayers.
• Bishop Shelton shared a video reflecting on Ash Wednesday as we entered the Lenten season. Watch the video. 
• View resources for General Conference Special Sunday.

Annual Conference

• The AC 2024 website launched! View hotels, sign up for ECU housing, submit special meals, reserve a display table, and submit resolutions.

Center for Leadership Excellence

• Registration opened for an upcoming webinar, “Christian Unity in a World of Disunity,” presented by the Christian Unity and Interreligious Relationships Committee and the Center for Leadership Excellence.
• Registration opened for “Looking Up: Acknowledging Grief, Embracing Hope.”
• Hosted “Teaching So Kids Can Learn.”

Christian Formation

• Nominations opened for the Harry Denman Evangelism Awards. The nomination deadline is March 14.
• The Commission on the Status and Role of Women (COSROW) hosted a clergywomen’s gathering on February 20 with Bishop Shelton and Becky Posey Williams, Senior Director of Sexual Ethics and Advocacy for GCOSROW.

District Office

• The District Office announced Pam Maher will become the new Administrative Assistant to the District Superintendent (AADS) for the Gateway and Harbor Districts beginning March 1.

Laity Ministries

• Registration for spring quarter Lay Servant Ministries classes opened. 

Media Center

• View Fresh Expressions resources for NC United Methodists.
• View resources written by Black authors for small groups and church leaders.

Office of Clergy Life

• The Office of Clergy Life recently sponsored a Candidacy Retreat for laity of the NC Conference discerning a call to ministry. Bishop Shelton opened the gathering with worship. District Superintendents described their areas of service while also discovering who God is preparing as future clergy leaders in the NC Conference. Participants learned about the candidacy process and ways to serve as clergy in The United Methodist Church: licensed local pastor, ordained elder, and ordained deacon. Small mentoring groups were launched and will convene throughout the Spring.

Outreach Ministry

• Applications opened for a local church creation care grant. Applications are due May 1.
• Disaster Ministries shared ways you can prepare your congregation and church for severe weather. 
• Congregations for Children joined other public education advocacy organizations on February 22 for an advocacy event, “Day of Action for Education Rights.” 
• The Health Team shared helpful reminders and information regarding COVID-19, RSV, and the flu.
• Disaster Ministries hosted Early Response Team training. Learn more and sign up for upcoming courses. 

Race Equity & Justice Ministries

• Co-sponsored a screening of “Faith in Blackness” at Duke Divinity School. 

Treasurer’s Office

• The 2023 Annual Audit Report opened. The deadline for churches to submit their reports is August 1.

Youth Ministries

• The interest form for the second cohort of TenX10’s Relational Discipleship Kickstart program opened. Learn more about the program.
• Read Youth Ministries’ February updates.