Annual Conference Update

As Methodists we’re not just part of our individual church, but in the greater United Methodist Church. Every year, Marcy LaViollette and Jim Odiorne attend our Pacific NW’s annual conference (PNWAC), which is our legislative and budgetary body for all of Washington state and Northern Idaho. Our General Conference lay delegate is Skylar Marston-Bihl (Ruth's wife). The next meeting is June 13-16. Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth is currently appointed to supervise and preside over this body which is split evenly between clergy and lay people (non-clergy). Fun fact: Members of AC are not delegates representing local churches, but rather are instructed to rely on the Spirit for discernment on how to vote on matters before the PNWAC. Marcy and Jim, as our lay members of Annual Conference, also sit on the Church Council to help communicate information between the two groups. Typically after the conference you’ll see an article in the Courier as well as a post-church presentation from us to help you know what took place.

Our Conference also elects lay and clergy folks to attend the Western Jurisdiction (all the western states, who elect our Bishops) and a delegation to the General Conference (worldwide, typically every four years). This is a General Conference year and our delegation who were elected wayyy back in 2018, before the pandemic, will be in North Carolina from April 23-May 3. Please keep them in your prayers as they discern how to update our Book of Discipline after 25% of U.S. United Methodist churches disaffiliated from our Church over disagreements on the topic of “human sexuality." It’s an exciting time in the United Methodist Church!

If you ever have questions about legislation before our Conference, or how to propose legislation yourself, please reach out to us!

Marcy LaViollette and Jim Odiorne