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UMARC's New Award in Honor of Bishop Karen P. Oliveto & Robin Ridenour
The inaugural Bishop Karen Oliveto and Robin Ridenour Award in 2024 was presented to the Reconciling Ministries Network.
Read their thank you note to UMARC on their website.
United Methodist Association of Retired Clergy (UMARC) plans a lasting memorial to these two special women by remembering them yearly by honoring an individual or organization that best reflects their ideals of inclusiveness and acceptance in The United Methodist Church. Hopefully, each year recipients will receive a plaque and $500.
Celebrating
Bishop Karen Oliveto’s
Leadership
In the Midst of New Dimensions & Changing Ways (2016-2024)
Nearly 400 United Methodist laity and clergy gathered at St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, to celebrate Bishop Karen P. Oliveto’s leadership of the Mountain Sky Conference since 2016.
Photos by Charles Ledbetter
Momentous General Conference
Key Points
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General Conference brought big changes, particularly the removal of constraints on ministry with and by LGBTQ people.
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Now The United Methodist Church’s challenge is to remain a big-tent denomination that can evangelize in diverse communities and countries.
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United Methodists already are preparing to move beyond denominational infighting and reach people long disconnected from church.
UM Global AIDS Committee: Breaking Barriers Conference
Article by Neil Caldwell in the UM News
Key points:
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The United Methodist Global AIDS Committee facilitated the daylong Breaking Barriers Conference as part of the run-up to the start of the denomination’s long-delayed General Conference.
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The Rev. Donald E. Messer, chair of the group’s executive committee, said that people of faith care about being in ministry with people living with HIV and AIDS.
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The day’s keynote speaker was Dr. Ulysses Burley III of Chicago, a medical doctor who was an AIDS adviser to President Obama.
Remembering Rev. Julian Rush's Legacy
The rich legacy of Rev. Julian Rush (1946-2023) in the United Methodist quest for full inclusiveness of LGBTQ+ persons in the life of the church and our society cannot be simply stated. An icon of inclusiveness, Julian served with distinction as a pastor in the Mountain Sky Conference until his retirement. When he died in November, after a short illness, he was serving as an honorary member of the Steering Committee of the United Methodist Association of Retired Clergy and Friends (UMARC).
His memorial service will take place on June 29, 2024
Would You Like To Help Sponsor Our Free Webinars?
Write check designated to "Mountain Sky Conference" and send to Dr. Don Messer, UMARC Co- Chair: 7185 S Niagara Cir, Centennial, CO 80112.
To give online, click the button below, then scroll down to the UMARC box.
Thank you for supporting the mission of the United Methodist Association of Retired Clergy and Friends
Bishop Melvin Wheatley Legacy
$1,000 +
Mountain Sky UM Conference
Rev Donna Newendorp
Bishop Mary Ann Swenson Legacy
$250 +
Miller, Joe & Kathryn
Marshall, Joretta & Joy Allen
University Park UMC, Denver
Rev. Julian Rush Legacy - $100 +
Baber, Melinda
Benedett-Farmer, Larry & Terry
Blinn, Elaine & John
Burnett, Steve & Ingrid
Butler, Tom & Pat
Center for Pastoral Effectiveness
Curry, Ella
Eakle, Lonnie & Terry
Graf, William
Hoefner, Lisa Jean
Hoffman, Ilse & Riley, John
Howard, John & Constance
Hunt, Ann
Martz, Harvey & Judy
Mercer UMC, Mercer, WI
Merrick, Tracy & Karen
Millikan, Laura
Oneal, Margaret Dianne
Responsible Stewardship (Mountain Sky)
Richards, Sheila & Caryle
Tanquist, Mardel & Roger
Thompson, John
Twidwell, Susan
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Bishop Roy Sano Legacy - $500 +
Burnett, Ingrid and Steve
Huie, Robert
Marsh, Kay
Martz, Harvey & Judy
Messer, Don & Bonnie
Miles, Rebekah
Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell Legacy
$150 +
Bagwell, Inelle
Hunt, Ann
Owsley, Judy
Robledo, Liwliwa & Ramon
St Paul & St Andrew UMC Churches,
New York City
Wills, Brenda
Rev. Mary Ann Downs Legacy
$50 +
Bergman, Michael
Bibb, Stephen
Bode, Glynden
Butler, Tom
Fado, Donald & Martha Jean
Fletcher, Paula
Gilbert, Richard & Jane
Gulley, Nancy & James
Guyette, Laraine
McCormick, Sharon & Thomas
Nelson, Karen
Newquist, Amy
Reaves, Charles
Rice, Mabel
Roe, Ben & Margaret
Seckel, Carol
Talla, Eric
Trowbridge, Ruth
Watson, Keith & Mary Ann
Wingelier, Douglas
UMARC Endorses Christmas Covenant
By Ben Roe
October 31, 2022, Centennial, Colorado-- United Methodists will be considering in 2024 a plan for reorganizing the United Methodist Church along global regional lines. At a recent meeting, the United Methodist Association of Retired Clergy has endorsed the plan, which was developed by representatives from United Methodist Conferences outside the United States.
The Christmas Covenant features a regionalization plan...
The Resurrection
of an Inclusive Church:
United Methodism’s 2024 General Conference
Rev. Adam Hamilton of the Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City, Rev. Israel Alvaran from the Philippines Annual Conference, Bishop Karen Oliveto of Mountain Sky Conference, Rev. Dr. Lydia Munoz National Hispanic/Latino Ministry, Rev. Dr. Mark Holland of Mainstream UMC, and Dr. Randall Miller from the California-Nevada Conference will be among our speakers. Our Facilitators will be UMARC Co-Chairs Rev. Dr. Harvey Martz and Rev. Dr. Don Messer.
Inclusiveness VII Webinar: Empowering United Methodists for Inclusive Mission & Ministry
Keynote Speakers: Bishop Daniel Schwerin, Chicago (Northern Illinois Conference), Bishop Karen Oliveto, Denver (Mountain Sky Conference) and Dr. Randall Miller, Oakland (California-Nevada Conference), a well-known lay spokesman in United Methodism.
Other speakers: Rev. Sam Beaves-Fisher of Billings, MT, Rev. Jamielee Demske of Laurel, MT, Rev. Mark Feldmeir of St. Andrew UMC, Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and Rev. Elizabeth Macaulay Hennepin Avenue UMC, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Rev. Dr. Joretta Marshall, Rev. Dr. Harvey Martz, Retired Lead Pastor, St. Andrew UMC, Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and Dr. Don Messer, President Emeritus, Iliff School of Theology, Denver, Colorado. Justin Bullis provided the music.
Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth
at Mountain Sky Annual Conference
The first openly gay African American episcopal leader in United Methodism -- Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth of Seattle, Washington, spoke on June 24 at UMARC's special dinner at the Mountain Sky Annual Conference on Intersecting Identities Are Tools of Liberation.
Bishop Bridgeforth is author of Alabama Grandson: A Black, Gay Minister's Passage Out of Hiding.
Webinar Explores "New Beginning" of United Methodism
United Methodists from around the world participated in the Sixth Annual Inclusiveness Zoom Webinar on November 11, 2022. Rev. Matt Miofsky, St. Louis, Missouri, keynoted the event along along with three of the church’s best-known episcopal leaders: Bishop Thomas Bickerton, New York, President of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, Bishop Julius Trimble, Indianapolis, of the Indiana Area, and Bishop Karen Oliveto, Denver, of the Mountain Sky, Conference.
Three newly elected bishops also joined the conversation: Bishops Carlo A. Rapanut, Dottie Escobedo Frank, and Cedrick Bridgeforth.
Watch the Video of the webinar in its entirety, or just the sections you wish.
UMARC Sponsored World AIDS Day Event
UMARC was an enthusiastic sponsor for the World AIDS Day Candlelight Walk and Service of Healing and Hope held at Park Hill United Methodist Church in Denver, CO. Reverend Doctor Valerie L. Jackson hosted the event, and Reverend Benjamin Reynolds was the keynote speaker.
UMARC endorses a dynamic programmatic and fund-raising program that focuses on ensuring future inclusivity in our beloved United Methodism Mountain Sky Conference. Check out A Table For All and urge a November 13 observance (or another date of your choosing) in your church. Click on image for details and registration.
UMARC Joins Three Bishops in Denver Pride Parade
Episcopal Bishop Kym Lucas, Lutheran (ELCA) Bishop Jim Gonia, and United Methodist Bishop Karen Oliveto led an ecumenical delegation, including UMARC, in the Denver Pride Parade on Sunday, June 26, 2022. This was the first time all three denominations joined together in the Pride Parade.
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Responding to an Attack on a Vision of an Inclusive United Methodism
After the conservative Institute for Religion and Democracy published an attack on Bishop Oliveto and the Inclusiveness V Webinar sponsored by the United Methodist Association of Retired Clergy & Friends in late November 2021, the Vice Chair of UMARC, Rev. Dr. Harvey Martz, responded with “Gone MIA from the IRD - Jesus:"
“So, it seems, when we want to demonize persons who are not 'like us,' I believe that Lord Jesus the Prophet will draw us up short and cause us to look inside.
Bishop Karen Oliveto
Rev. Dr. Harvey Martz
Inclusiveness V Webinar, Saturday, November 20, 2021
Experiencing An Inclusive UMC:
Celebrating First Five Years of Bishop Karen Oliveto’s Episcopacy
