When meeting to discuss our vision and work for the coming year, the Leadership Team came to the consensus that moving forward with a transition to become a Mission District of the Pacific Northwest Conference (PNW) was not in our best interest at this time. Instead, we agreed that remaining as a missionary conference and maintaining our identity as the Alaska United Methodist Conference (AUMC) was actually more aligned with our conference values.

As a reminder, the Leadership Team coordinates the work of the AUMC. We support the implementation of our conference priorities including work in support of Annual Conference decisions and direction. The Leadership Team is composed of both laity and clergy members who use conference values as our guide in discussions, decision making, and actions. Simply put, this means our focus is on lovingly dismantling inequities, recognizing and prioritizing local experiences, and living into meaningful connectionalism.

Much has changed since the Alaska Annual Conference voted in support of a transition into a Mission District of the PNW. The globe has experienced a pandemic that resulted in the delay of the General Conference, and votes pertaining to the future identity of the United Methodist Church as well as our legislation related to this transition. This pause has allowed for each of us to reflect, and we have the opportunity now to change our mind regarding past decisions.

As we know, Alaska is a unique and wonderfully diverse place. Understanding and respecting the diversity of Alaska’s people and geographies is vital in ensuring that our mission and ministry are both relevant and effective. The missional conference structure as it exists now allows for place-based cultural sensitivity and flexibility which is paramount for sustained and meaningful ministry in Alaska, especially in our remote and underserved areas.

Changing our minds need not mean we need to revert back to the way things had been. We now have an opportunity to take what we have learned over the past few years and grow into something new! Our Leadership Team makeup continues to evolve in an effort to help ensure more equitable representation. The work of the Mission District Task Force, combined with the perspectives of others, can help us set the path for what our conference can be in the future. 

Friends, there is currently legislation into the General Conference for formal consideration and adoption regarding this transition. We anticipate that Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth will call for a Special Session of the Alaska Conference to reconsider this transition based on the work that we have been put in. If the Alaska Annual Conference chooses to take a different route, we need to take action that clearly communicates that choice by the end of the year. Driven by a deep commitment to the mission and ministry of the AUMC, I invite each of us to consider this and forthcoming articles on this topic, to participate in any upcoming discussions, and attend an anticipated Special Called Session where the Annual Conference may formally reconsider its position on the transition. If you are a voting member of the Annual Conference, I encourage you to vote to maintain our identity as the AUMC. 

Grace and peace be with you,

Erin Reinders