Name of conference: Mountain Sky Conference of The United Methodist Church
Location of conference gathering: Virtual – Zoom Webinar
Dates of conference gathering: June 19-20, 2020
Did the coronavirus change the dates or how the conference met?
Yes, we switched our planned in-person annual conference session that was to be held in Gillette, Wyoming to hosting it virtually through the Zoom Webinar platform. GNTV managed our session. We also condensed the days of our conference from four days to three, and only addressed essential business.
Officiating bishop: Bishop Karen P. Oliveto
Guest speakers and memorable points or quotes by speakers:
Please find the Mountain Sky Conference 2020 legislation report: https://www.mtnskyumc.org/ac20-petitions
Main actions enacted by the conference:
Resolutions or action related to the coronavirus:
Relocation of the Mountain Sky Conference Office: “The building contains about 10,000 square feet of office space and the building is in a prime location in the Tech Center corridor of south Denver. The conference only needs about 2,500 square feet for staff and other purposes. The excess office space is not used for other ministries. The shutdown orders related to COVID-19 have also provided the opportunity to recognize how conference staff can operate differently and, in some ways, better. As more staff is scattered across the conference, the need for a central hub diminishes.”
Resolutions or actions related to the delay of General Conference: None
Resolutions related to General Conference 2019: None
Resolutions related to General Conference 2021, including conference alignment: None
Number of churches leaving conference: Two disaffiliations
Number of churches that closed due to financial issues related to the coronavirus:
Our four church closures that were approved at annual conference were not specifically affected by the COVID-19, as they had been in decline for years.
Any special annual conference set: None
Endorsement of episcopal candidate: None
Other resolutions adopted by the conference:
In response to the national protests that occurred following the killing of George Floyd, the Mountain Sky Conference assembled a Racial Justice Movement & Ministries Team to address how we can continue to fight racism. The conference approved the addition of a member from that team to be part of our governing body, the Mountain Sky Conference Roundtable, with voice and vote.
Co-lay leader elections: During the laity session of the 2020 annual conference, delegates elected Nancy Flint and Barry Welliver to join Gayla Jo Slauson to be the three co-lay leaders of the Mountain Sky Conference.
Did you elect new delegates to the coming General Conference?
Delegates for General and Jurisdictional Conferences remained the same. See the 2019 ballot results
Number of people ordained, commissioned or received into associate membership, and average age:
The official ordination for the 2020 class will be held along with the 2021 class at the 2021 Annual Conference Session.
The number of ordinands for the 2020 class: 8
The number of commissioned candidates: 10
The number of continuing candidates: 16
Number of clergy retired: 14
Membership stands at 60,792, down 1,784 from the previous year. Of that membership we had an increase of 14 Native Americans (to 216) and 16 Pacific Islanders (to 648).
Worship attendance stands at 27,608, down 1,145 from previous year with increases of 1,209 on those who, pre-COVID 19 in 2019, worshipped online in some way.
Church school attendance stands at 7,663, down 156 from previous year.
Professions or reaffirmations of faith for 2019 were 1,090, down 384 from previous year. Our “One Matters” Church was Epworth United Methodist Church in Kalispell, Montana which finished 2019 with 210 members. Epworth confirmed eight and welcomed 32 other professions/reaffirmations of faith and increased their attendance to 106 (up 13) with a new reporting of 59 worshipping online.
Adults and young adults in small groups for 2019 was 22,085, down 2,651 from previous year.
Worshippers engaged in missions for 2019 was 25,509, up 193 from previous year. People served in those missions for 2019 was 643,157, up 74,148 from previous year.
Two of our Special Sundays were of particular note: UMCOR Sunday was $123,896 for 2019, which was up $36,119 and Native American Ministries Sunday was $21,415, up $936. In addition, the Mountain Sky budget provides assistance to two Native American Ministries in Colorado and Montana.
During our virtual annual conference session, our missions team hosted “Miles-o-Love” to raise money to address food insecurity through Feeding America and to support our longstanding partnership with the East Angola Annual Conference pastors. Teams were assembled to walk a number of miles each week as well as gather donations. Here are the details of our fundraisers and special offerings:
Total Collected: $23,065
• Miles-o-Love: $16,395
• Annual Conference offerings: $6,670
Learn more about our ongoing mission engagement program JUST LOVE: https://www.mtnskyumc.org/ac20-justlove
Location of conference gathering: Virtual – Zoom Webinar
Dates of conference gathering: June 19-20, 2020
Did the coronavirus change the dates or how the conference met?
Yes, we switched our planned in-person annual conference session that was to be held in Gillette, Wyoming to hosting it virtually through the Zoom Webinar platform. GNTV managed our session. We also condensed the days of our conference from four days to three, and only addressed essential business.
Officiating bishop: Bishop Karen P. Oliveto
Guest speakers and memorable points or quotes by speakers:
Please find the Mountain Sky Conference 2020 legislation report: https://www.mtnskyumc.org/ac20-petitions
Main actions enacted by the conference:
Resolutions or action related to the coronavirus:
Relocation of the Mountain Sky Conference Office: “The building contains about 10,000 square feet of office space and the building is in a prime location in the Tech Center corridor of south Denver. The conference only needs about 2,500 square feet for staff and other purposes. The excess office space is not used for other ministries. The shutdown orders related to COVID-19 have also provided the opportunity to recognize how conference staff can operate differently and, in some ways, better. As more staff is scattered across the conference, the need for a central hub diminishes.”
Resolutions or actions related to the delay of General Conference: None
Resolutions related to General Conference 2019: None
Resolutions related to General Conference 2021, including conference alignment: None
Number of churches leaving conference: Two disaffiliations
Number of churches that closed due to financial issues related to the coronavirus:
Our four church closures that were approved at annual conference were not specifically affected by the COVID-19, as they had been in decline for years.
Any special annual conference set: None
Endorsement of episcopal candidate: None
Other resolutions adopted by the conference:
In response to the national protests that occurred following the killing of George Floyd, the Mountain Sky Conference assembled a Racial Justice Movement & Ministries Team to address how we can continue to fight racism. The conference approved the addition of a member from that team to be part of our governing body, the Mountain Sky Conference Roundtable, with voice and vote.
Co-lay leader elections: During the laity session of the 2020 annual conference, delegates elected Nancy Flint and Barry Welliver to join Gayla Jo Slauson to be the three co-lay leaders of the Mountain Sky Conference.
Did you elect new delegates to the coming General Conference?
Delegates for General and Jurisdictional Conferences remained the same. See the 2019 ballot results
Number of people ordained, commissioned or received into associate membership, and average age:
The official ordination for the 2020 class will be held along with the 2021 class at the 2021 Annual Conference Session.
The number of ordinands for the 2020 class: 8
The number of commissioned candidates: 10
The number of continuing candidates: 16
Number of clergy retired: 14
Membership stands at 60,792, down 1,784 from the previous year. Of that membership we had an increase of 14 Native Americans (to 216) and 16 Pacific Islanders (to 648).
Worship attendance stands at 27,608, down 1,145 from previous year with increases of 1,209 on those who, pre-COVID 19 in 2019, worshipped online in some way.
Church school attendance stands at 7,663, down 156 from previous year.
Professions or reaffirmations of faith for 2019 were 1,090, down 384 from previous year. Our “One Matters” Church was Epworth United Methodist Church in Kalispell, Montana which finished 2019 with 210 members. Epworth confirmed eight and welcomed 32 other professions/reaffirmations of faith and increased their attendance to 106 (up 13) with a new reporting of 59 worshipping online.
Adults and young adults in small groups for 2019 was 22,085, down 2,651 from previous year.
Worshippers engaged in missions for 2019 was 25,509, up 193 from previous year. People served in those missions for 2019 was 643,157, up 74,148 from previous year.
Two of our Special Sundays were of particular note: UMCOR Sunday was $123,896 for 2019, which was up $36,119 and Native American Ministries Sunday was $21,415, up $936. In addition, the Mountain Sky budget provides assistance to two Native American Ministries in Colorado and Montana.
During our virtual annual conference session, our missions team hosted “Miles-o-Love” to raise money to address food insecurity through Feeding America and to support our longstanding partnership with the East Angola Annual Conference pastors. Teams were assembled to walk a number of miles each week as well as gather donations. Here are the details of our fundraisers and special offerings:
Total Collected: $23,065
• Miles-o-Love: $16,395
• Annual Conference offerings: $6,670
Learn more about our ongoing mission engagement program JUST LOVE: https://www.mtnskyumc.org/ac20-justlove
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