Engaging Faith In the Public Square at ACS 2016

*By Dr. Larry R. Hygh, Jr.

Addressing more than 1,000 attendees, San Francisco Episcopal Area Bishop Warner H. Brown Jr., told the 168th session of the California-Nevada Annual Conference: "Live in hope, live in the possibilities…Love is the power that gives us life and connects us with the God whonull loves us despite ourselves."

This is the third year the annual conference met in the Hyatt in Burlingame, California, near San Francisco. The conference continued with last year’s theme, “Engaging Faith in the Public Square." Focusing on the theme, the opening processional began with the American rock band, The Doobie Brothers, song, "Takin' It To The Streets."

The Rev. Dr. David Vasquez-Levy, president of the Pacific School of Religion (PSR), served as the preacher for the opening worship and communion service. Vasquez-Levy preached from the theme, "Coming Home," based on 2 Kings 5:1-14, and Luke 17:11-19. Vasquez-Levy told those gathered, "Our churches no longer look the way they once did and we grieve the loss of that orientation…we no longer find our way home these days by finullxed points." He added, "It is the call of the church to tend to this mobile flock, to see ways to orient ourselves not only by fixed points, but by tying ourselves to the one who calls us into relationship."

The Rev. Dr. Lisa Allen-McLaurin, assistant professor of worship and music at Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, led the annual conference in worship. She is an elder in the North Georgia nullAnnual Conference. Prior to joining the faculty at ITC in 2005, where she teaches courses on Christian music and worship, Allen-McLaurin was an associate pastor of worship and evangelism at a local United Methodist Church.

One of the focuses for this year's session was an act of repentance for the horrific acts against Native Americans. Bishop Brown said, "Certainly we must state the obvious, as we declare it now, together, that we repent that much harm was done to native peoples in the midst of arrogant and erroneous claims of superiority, and we repent of what is much worse, the false claim that this historical destruction was done in God's name in Jesus Christ." Prior to the Friday afternoon service of repentance, the conference received presentations about the Bloody Island Massacre, and the Stewart Indian School.

The conference paused to celebrate the 60^th anniversary of the ordination of clergywomen in The United Methodist Church and 20^th anniversary of the ordination of Deacons.

Bishop Brown welcomed the Rev. Tevita Nawadra Banivanua, associate general secretary of the Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma, who participated throughout the session. He also welcomed retired United Methodist Bishops Roy Sano and Alfred Johnson.

A retirement celebration was held for Bishop Brown that celebrated his legacy. Bishop Brown was elected to the Episcopacy from the annual conference and served most of his active ministry in the California-Nevada Conference. The Core Team (leadership team) established an award in his honor and named him the first recipient. The award will recognize innovative and collaborative leadership of clergy and laity.

The annual conference celebrated the chartering of two new United Methodist churches in California: Peace United Methodist Church, a Vietnamese congregation in San Jose, and Fresno Korean United Methodist Church in Fresno.

In other action, some of the legislation the conference passed included:

-        An aspirational resolution called "Living into a Season of Grace" calling for the Book of Discipline not to be followed as it relates to items concerning LGBTQIA persons and ceasing judicial processes in matters related to prohibitions against LGBTQIA persons;
-        Resolution to join the California Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice;
-        Resolutions on reducing gun violence and the control of gun violence;
-        Endorsed the Rev. Dr. Karen Oliveto, senior pastor of Glide United Methodist Church in San Francisco, as the conference's Episcopal nominee to the Western Jurisdiction Conference.

The conference passed a budget of $6,294,144 budget for mission and ministry for 2017, a two percent increase from 2016, and renewed its commitment to moving towards paying 100 percent of general church apportionments.

Conference offerings were taken for the following:

United Methodist Volunteers In Mission (UMVIM) projects at the conference's four Native American ministries, $10,328.94;
Necessitous Fund (Pensions), $3,959.10;
Ministerial Education Fund (MEF), $2,350.75; and,
a special offering for the Erskine Fire, $4,229.00.

In what has become a tradition for Bishop Brown’s episcopacy, he washed the feet of the newly commissioned ordinands. Eight elders in full connection were ordained, two deacons ordained, and seven provisional elders were commissioned on Friday evening. Eleven licensed local pastors were received as well as one deaconess commissioned.

Ordained Elder:

Brian Adkins
Anthony Fatta
Luke Edward Ham
Jaekuk Jo
Lindsey Kerr
Shijung Shim
Sadie Elaine Stone
Jason Miles Thornton

Ordained Deacon:

Angela Brown
Mike Friedrich

Commissioned Elder:

Vathanak Heang
Burke Owens
Jose Ramos
Michele Robbins
Latulala Toetu'u
Robin Wells
Hae-Jeong Yoon

Licensed Local Pastors:

Andrew Davis
Scott Gessford
Patty Inis
Meina Ko
Julie Raridan
Becky Stockdale
Iunisi Tovo
Greg Vang
Joseph Vang
Jon Visitacion
Betty Weiser

Commissioned Deaconess:

Robin T. Ridenour

Twenty-Six clergy and spouses who died in the past year were remembered during a memorial service.

Nineteen clergy retired, representing more than 371 years of service.

The conference also celebrated the graduation of four classes from the Conference Lay Minister (CLayM) training program that trains lay persons for effective and expanded service in the local church and community. This was the first year two graduating classes were in Vietnamese and Cambodian languages.

Statistics:

Membership stands at 73,283, down 945 from the previous year.

Worship attendance stands at 29,928, down 1,206.

Church school attendance stands at 6,433, down 306.

Professions of faith stand at 1,332, up 96.

Baptisms stand at 751, up 27.

Attendance in Christian Formation groups stands at 29,890, down 360.

Awards:

Bishop's Awards

Dick and Carolyn Sloan, First United Methodist Church, Bakersfield
Barbara Fitzpatrick, Tracy United Methodist Church
Julia Borjeson, Santa Clara United Methodist Church
Romy Domagas, Geneva Avenue United Methodist Church
Burt Yin, Oakland Chinese United Methodist Church
Gayle Shearman, Novato United Methodist Church

Bishop Talbert Awards

Roy Pina and Michael Pina, CONAM
Daniel Gbundema, the Rev. Chesung Ryu, and the Rev. Kathleen McShane, Campbell United Methodist Church

One Matters Awards from the General Board of Discipleship

Ely United Methodist Church, Ely, Nevada
Trinity United Methodist Church, Colusa
St. Luke's United Methodist Church, Richmond
First Tongan United Methodist Church, San Bruno
Clovis Memorial United Methodist Church, Clovis
Wesley United Methodist Church, Fresno

Videos and Other Presentations:

General Conference 2016 Video, click here.

Committee On Native American Ministries (CONAM), Rediscovering Connection Video, click here. (More resources from CONAM including video and text from the presentations and service will be available at a later date).

Acts of Repentance Video, click here.

Core Team Video, click here.

Missionary Katherine Parker Video, click here.

Celebrating the ministry of Prunedale UMC, click here.

Faith in the Public Square featuring the Rev. Dale Weatherspoon, click here.