On Wednesday, Bishop Elaine JW Stanovsky announced dates for the 2020 Sessions of the Alaska, Oregon-Idaho, and Pacific Northwest Annual Conference, with participants meeting remotely online in September. The sessions will be livestreamed with no registration required for “guests” of the conference.
- The Alaska Conference will meet 6-9 p.m. AKT, on Tuesday, September 15, 2020.
- The Oregon-Idaho Conference will meet 2:30-4:30 and 6-8 p.m., PT, 3:30-5:30 and 7-9 p.m., MT, on Wednesday, September 16, 2020.
- The Pacific Northwest Conference will meet 3:30-5:30 and 7-9 p.m. PT, Thursday, September 17, 2020.
A FAQ accompanied the bishop’s letter to answer some expected questions about changes to the Annual, Western Jurisdictional, and General Conferences due to COVID-19 disruptions.
The bishop’s invitation was sent by email yesterday to persons with voice or voting privileges at Annual Conference. Please contact your respective district office if you did not receive this invitation and believe that you should have. Registration information will be available around the beginning of August.
Each session will consider only the “essential business” of the Annual Conference as determined by Bishop Stanovsky in consultation with conference leadership. The adoption of a conference budget for 2021 will be part of this work.
Leaders hope that it will be safe for United Methodists across the Greater Northwest Area to gather in June of 2021 for a shared annual conference at the Washington State Fair Grounds in Puyallup, Wash. Several traditional elements of Annual Conference, like the celebrations of retirements, and commissioning and ordination services, will occur at this time.
