As previously announced, Annual Conference 2021 will be held virtually through Zoom webinar. The four-day annual conference session will be held June 6-9, 2021. A non-voting live stream option will be available for guests. Click here for live stream. No persons will be permitted on site except essential conference staff, report presenters and invited guests of the ordinands and commissionees.
It is important to note that the very first agenda item on Sunday, June 6 is the ordination service. That will only be available via the livestream. You will not log onto Zoom for any matters on Sunday; only Monday-Wednesday.
To make this a Holy time together, we are inviting all participants to prepare a worship space. Watch this video from Rev. Michael Precht, pastor at Dauphin Way UMC and AWF 2021 worship leader.
Orders of worship may be found here. This will be the most comprehensive way to follow along from your computer. They may also be found at www.awfumc.org/acworship.
Service of Ordination
Service of Remembrance
Service of Commissioning
Tuesday morning worship
Wednesday morning worship
A working agenda for annual conference is available by clicking here.
This year’s missional offering will be a collective effort of four conference ministries. Acts 1:8 reads, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Following the movement of the Spirit and seeking to be Christ’s witnesses to our community, nation, and throughout the world, we ask that you choose from the following four mission endeavors to support during this annual conference:
Blue Lake Camp
Communities of Transformation
AWF Disaster Response Ministry
Teaming with Tanzania.
You may give online, send a check or text to give. Complete giving information may be found here.
It is imperative that each clergy and lay member carefully review the 2021 Book of Reports, which contains the proposed agenda, procedural guidelines, and report of our boards and committees, as well as items to be acted on during the 2021 annual conference. Click here to access the Book of Reports.
There are several reports that will be presented at annual conference. Members of the annual conference will vote on these items. Please review these prior to our time together.
Book of Reports, presented by Rev. Ashley Davis
Standing rules changes, presented by Dr. Kathy Knight
Nominations report, presented by Rev. Ashley Davis
Board of pensions and health benefits report, presented by Tara Sanders
Equitable compensation report, presented by Rev. Michael Cobb
Council on Finance and Administration and the proposed 2022 budget, presented by George Mingledorff
Action Item: Board of Trustees, presented by Dr. Olivia Poole
Report of the cabinet, presented by Rev. June Jernigan
Should you have a question about any of the reports, please complete this brief form and the appropriate person will respond to you. These submitted questions will be given priority in the limited online time we have together.
If you have not registered, please do so soon. Registration will be through Zoom. Only those participating in an official capacity (clergy, board of ordained ministry, voting lay members) need to register. Only lay members elected at charge conference and entered into the dashboard for their church will be approved. Clergy and lay members who are in the same household will need to register separately and be on separate devices. If you know there has been a change to your lay member since charge conference or that you are to attend for your church as an alternate lay member, please contact sarah@awfumc.org. Click here to register for annual conference. Please note that registration will close one hour before the event. You will not be able to obtain a link to participate once registration has closed. We will be present on the Zoom webinar one hour before the session to work through any technical issues that may arise as participants log on starting on Monday morning (Sunday is livestream only). A technical helpline will be live one hour prior to the beginning of each session. Should you have problems logging on, call Chris Echols at 912-223-6984.
If you are unfamiliar with Zoom, please consult this brief instructional sheet.
The laity session has concluded. A host of helpful information was presented by Beverly Maddox and conference leadership. If you are a new lay or clergy member or would like to prepare yourself for annual conference, click this link for the archive recording.
To join the social media conversation, please use the hashtag #awfac21. We look forward to our virtual time together while still "coming to the table."