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Read or download the sermons, episcopal address, presentations, and Vision Updates from the 220th Session of the New York Annual Conference.

The closing worship service of the 220th session of the New York Annual Conference was a time to celebrate how God’s claim on all lives is experienced through baptism, confirmation, ordination and Holy Communion.

The 220th session of the New York Annual Conference runs from Thursday, June 6 to Sunday, June 9. Here's the daily agenda:

Rev. Doris K. Dalton The New York Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church announces that Rev. Doris K. Dalton has been selected as the director of leadership development and intercultural competency.  Doris is a deacon in full connection and has been a member of the conference for five years. She currently serves on the NYAC Board of Ordained Ministry and is the chair of the Order of Deacons.  She most recently led the Westchester Martin Luther King Jr. Institute for Nonviolence as ...

In a video interview, Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton shares his thoughts and hopes as the New York Conference prepares to gather for a time of holy conferencing from June 6-9 at Hofstra University. The bishop urges prayer for the conference and that those who will attend "come with a spirit of peace" as we continue to "wade into the waters of uncertainty." Click here to watch on Vimeo.

The 2020 General Conference worship design team invites United Methodists to apply to create liturgy for the quadrennial event, including prayers, calls to worship and litanies. The top legislative assembly will meet May 5-15, 2020, in Minneapolis. “When liturgists from across the connection bring their voices together in prayer and celebration, the power and beauty of God is manifested in a sacred way,” said Raymond Trapp, General Conference worship and music director. Individuals may apply to...

More than 600 U.S. United Methodists spent three days grappling with possible options for forging what they hope will be a more just and inclusive church future. What united those at UMCNext, which met May 20-22 behind closed doors, was their opposition to the Traditional Plan.

United Methodists are wrestling with what’s next in a multinational denomination still deeply divided over the role of LGBTQ Christians. Some 350 U.S. United Methodists staked out their position during the May 17-18 gathering, launching a movement centered on voices they see as too often marginalized — namely people of color and queer and transgender individuals.

Nashville, May 17 - The United Methodist Publishing House has published an Addendum to the 2016 Book of Discipline containing the changes to the Book of Discipline resulting from the 2019 Special Session of the General Conference. The new text of each paragraph or subparagraph affected is included in the Addendum. These will replace the corresponding portions printed in the 2016 Book of Discipline, and should be used when preparing petitions to the 2020 General Conference. The majority of these...

The decision of the 2019 United Methodist General Conference was not the last word for many in the denomination. Every day seems to bring another public statement in support of LGBTQ people and their role in The United Methodist Church or in defense of the Traditional Plan, which states homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching.”

NASHVILLE, Tennessee: Beginning today, United Methodists may apply online to serve as volunteer marshals or pages during The United Methodist Church’s 2020 General Conference. The denomination’s top legislative assembly will meet May 5-15, 2020, in Minneapolis. Approximately 175 volunteers are needed to serve as marshals and pages during General Conference. Marshals are responsible for assisting visitors and special guests in the visitor and reserved seating galleries, checking credentials to ...

Connecticut United Methodists are praying that a federal appeals court will reopen the immigration case of Nelson Pinos. His two teenage daughters, who are U.S. citizens, and the Rev. Vicki Flippin, pastor of the church where he sought sanctuary, were among those attending the May 14 hearing.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE Chicago: The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church approved a motion to work with the Connectional Table (CT) on proposed legislation for General Conference 2020 to create a regional structure similar to that of a central conference for churches in the United States. The proposed legislation, developed this quadrennium by the CT’s U.S. Contextual Ministries Advisory Group, puts forth a two-stage process for creating the regional conference: Stage I creates a ...

The Judicial Council rulings on the Traditional Plan and the disaffiliation legislation passed at the 2019 General Conference are presented in a chart with links to the full text of all of the rulings.

For Immediate Release April 26, 2019 WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Council of Bishops expresses its deep gratitude to the Judicial Council for its careful review of the actions of the 2019 General Conference. The Judicial Council’s decisions are clear and sound, and they give helpful guidance to the Church. In Decision 1378, the Judicial Council ruled that the constitutional parts of the Traditional Plan enacted by the General Conference were severable from those parts that it ruled were ...