Bishop David Wilson was installed this past Saturday, February 11, 2023. The service can be viewed below.

In the event the video embedded above will not play, here’s a direct link: https://vimeo.com/798562726

From Forrest Buhler, CAUMC Lay Representative to the Great Plains Annual Conference:

I thought you might be interested in an article entitled “Taking stock after a season of disaffiliations” published December 15, 2022, by the United Methodist News (UM News), the official source of information and news about The United Methodist Church. The link to the article is below. The article puts together in one place information and links on the results of disaffiliations so far from across the
United States. You will also see a link in the article to stories showing how this is impacting the budget process for the UMC General Council on Finance and Administration.

Overall Numbers in the US. The article includes the numbers so far for Jurisdictions and Conferences in the US. All disaffiliations from the UMC must be completed by the end of 2023, so there is still more to come (see link below), but the article helps to give a picture of what the numbers are at this point. For example, the UM News says that 2,003 churches in the U.S. have disaffiliated so far. That translates to about 6.6% of U.S. congregations withdrawing since 2019 when the church’s disaffiliation provision took effect. The Southeastern Jurisdiction has the highest number of withdrawals.

South Central Jurisdiction Numbers that Include the Great Plains Conference. The article includes a chart with the total number of disaffiliations in each of the five Jurisdictions in the UMC. Our Great Plains Conference, made up of Kansas and Nebraska churches, is in the South Central Jurisdiction, which includes the states: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. According to the article: “The Texas Conference, stretching from the Houston area to the eastern part of the state, on Dec. 4 approved the highest number of disaffiliations — 294, or nearly half of its 598 churches. The Northwest Texas Conference, voting on the same day, ratified the highest percentage of disaffiliations — 74%, or 145 of its 196 churches.” Similarly high numbers were recorded for churches in the Southeastern Jurisdiction. There is a link in the article to the numbers for each of the Conferences in the United States.

Great Plains Conference Numbers Relatively Small. So comparatively speaking, the 77 disaffiliations we have experienced so far in the Great Plains Conference out of about 960 local congregations, is much lower than the conferences elsewhere. In addition, the income on which the Great Plains Conference based its budget for 2023 increased over previous years.

Hopeful signs. There are hopeful signs as well. The article says even with the disaffiliation, there are still more than 28,500 United Methodist congregations in the U.S. The article also reports new congregations forming made up of members who did not agree with the disaffiliating church’s decision.

The link to the article is as follows: http://bit.ly/40ezLtc

Link to Special Sessions for disaffiliations in 2023: http://bit.ly/3kRUwut

The Great Plains Conference Website has the details.

Link: http://bit.ly/3E1Fiu0

Bishop Saenz has put out a video about why he will remain United Methodist following the launch of the Global Methodist Church  (GMC) on May 1, 2022. He names many of the reasons why I will remain United Methodist as well. The United Methodist Church has long been a big tent denomination and I love the image the Bishop used of the UMC having a hard Jesus center and being soft around the edges to include all kinds of folks. 

And because I had a question about this, let me assure you that remaining United Methodist as a member of Abilene First is easy. You just stay right where you are. There’s nothing else you need to do. If you’re conservative, and you choose to stay—fear not—it looks like you’ll have plenty of company. The UMC will remain a big tent denomination.

Our current District Superintendent, Rev. Delores “Dee” Williamston will become the new Director of Clergy Excellence and Assistant to the Bishop effective July 1. You can read more here. I’ll miss Dee, but I’m very excited for her to receive this opportunity and bring her gifts to bear for the entire annual conference.

Rev. Williamston will be replaced by Rev. Karen Rice Ratzlaff, who I think will be an excellent DS. (Jenny knows her better than I do and she agrees with this assessment.) You can read more about Rev. Ratzlaff here. Like Dee, she will be serving both the Salina and Hutchinson Districts.

2021 ANNUAL CONFERENCE WILL BE VIRTUAL — This week it was announced that the 2021 Annual Conference (the meeting of United Methodists from all over Kansas and Nebraska) will again be held online. The explanation from the Bishop (and I agree) is as follows:

“As we enjoy warming temperatures, spring moves closer on our horizon, and the COVID-19 pandemic appears finally to be easing across Kansas and Nebraska, vaccinations across our two states lag. Put simply, with us coming so close to overcoming the virus, now is not the time to put down our guard or put people at risk. This is why we will not meet in person on May 26-29 in Grand Island, Nebraska, as previously planned.”

The theme for this annual conference session is: “Love me … and know that I am God” (Psalm 46; John 21:15-19).