Rocky Mountain Conference of The United Methodist Church
Rocky Mountain Conference
of The United Methodist Church

I would like to thank everyone for your faithful participation in the 2014 Annual Conference, which was held at the Pueblo Convention Center, from June 19-22.   Here are highlights of various events, several reports, and information about next year's annual conference.  More reports will follow.

 

Pilgrimage to the Site of the Sand Creek Massacre

 

Over 620 people participated in the pilgrimage to the site of the Sand Creek Massacre. We are grateful that everything ran smoothly and without glitches! Ben Ridgely, one of the Sand Creek descendants called me today to say, "Please tell Bishop Elaine and the Rocky Mountain Conference that you honored us descendants last week."  Ben went on to say, "People were sincere and respectful.  I came back and told my people that the conference was awesome.  We are proud of you. You are good people.  God bless you.  We hold you in our prayers."

 

Given the history, it is amazing that the descendants continue to be gracious to us. One delegate wrote a word of thanks to the descendants, "For the invitation to embrace this part of our shamed history. I am moved to know you welcomed us and offered us the grace that you were forced to accept at the end of a gun or the point of a sword. God bless all of us."

 

Truly, we have begun a journey of healing relationships. We received many notes of reflections, questions and poems. We will read them carefully, share them as appropriate, and respond as best we can.  Thanks to you all for joining the pilgrimage to the Sand Creek Site and the journey of healing.

 

A few resources that you have requested:

  • Prayer Cards:  We will soon send the document to you to print a complete set of Prayer Cards yourselves. 
  • A short documentary about the Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual Healing Run/Walk in Denver, Colorado. This was shown at the Saturday evening plenary, June 21. Here is a link to this 6 minute Vimeo video: http://vimeo.com/23782202
  • A Script for School Section:   We stopped at a place called "the School Section" for a panoramic view of the Big Sandy Creek valley.  Here is the link for the script written by Jeff Campbell, National Park Services staff.
  • United Methodist News Service (UMNS) article on the Rocky Mountain Conference Pilgrimage to Sand Creek:   http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/pilgrimage-to-sand-creek-brings-healing

 

Invitation to the 2014 Healing Run and RMC Sand Creek Resolution


Bishop Elaine issued a call for 100 people at the Sand Creek site for the Healing Run on November 29, 2014, and Jerry Boles, Chair of the Conference Committee on Native American Ministries, requested 300 people at the Riverside cemetery in Denver for the final stage of the Healing Run.

 

Annual Conference delegates passed a resolution on the Healing Run.  The Resolution states "that the Rocky Mountain Conference request that the State of Colorado Sand Creek Commemoration Commission invite the President of the United States, Barack Obama, to the Colorado State Capitol for the Saturday, November 29, 2014, observance of the 150th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre. The capitol building marks the finish line of the annual Sand Creek Healing Run, which begins at the massacre site."

 

 

Episcopal Address and Various Reports

  • Episcopal Address
    • Last year we said that the mission of the Church is like cultivating the Tree of Life. You remember the Tree of Life - that we find at the beginning and end of the Bible. In the center of the Garden of Eden and at the fulfillment of the New Jerusalem in the book of Revelation. A tree whose fruit is good to eat and plenty. And a tree whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. Please read the full Episcopal Address.
  • Imagine No Malaria Report
    • In October 2012, we set a goal of $1.2 million for the RMC to give to the INM campaign of the UMC. To find out how much we raised, read the full report.
  • Telling the Story
    • "We come together in the name of God who is a God of healing. We come together to share and tell the story of healing ministries that the people of God in the Rocky Mountain Conference are engaged in. Those of us who stand before you represent the Appointive Cabinet, the Laity, Finance, the Mission and Ministry areas of the Rocky Mountain Conference and most importantly, young people." Please read the full report
  • Imagine Team (Visioning the Future)
    • The Imagine Team was formed at the invitation of Bishop Elaine J. W. Stanovsky. The purpose of this Team is to clarify the mission and vision, and adopt priority outcomes and core measures that articulate the future we believe God envisions for the Rocky Mountain Conference. For the full presentation, you can download the visual slides as well as the script.  
 
Offerings

Members of the Rocky Mountain Conference continued to exhibit abundant generosity in their response to the Annual Conference Offerings.

  • $2,466.25 was donated for scholarships for Native American Young People to attend the Countdown to Zero United Methodist Global AIDS Conference.
  • $2,130 was collected in cash and checks for scholarships for participants in the Sand Creek Healing Run. (We have not yet tallied your generous amounts pledged.)
  • $11,555.41 was collected in coins, cash and checks for the Bridge of Love, to be split between the RMC Flood Disaster Response efforts and UMCOR Philippines Projects.
  • $2,242.22 was given during the Laity Session, to be split between the Native Grace Intertribal Fellowship of Cortez and Hispanic/Latino Ministry "Rethink Church".
  • $3,649.79 was given by Clergy to the Clergy Covenant Fund.
  • $2,764.65 was collected at the Ordination Service, for the Ethnic Leadership Development Fund and Bridges to Grace cultural competency training program.

In addition to these scheduled offerings, we received $3,634.98 for Imagine No Malaria. And the Ordinands contributed $1,000 in honor of Bishop Elaine towards our new RMC ministry In the World and the Native Grace Intertribal Fellowship of Cortez.

  

  

Annual Conference Evaluations

Your feedback is highly appreciated and will help us to improve our ability to plan future annual conferences. Please use the following link to take a brief survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/rmac14

  

  

Invitation to the 2015 Annual Conference

 

Next year's Annual Conference will be June 11-14, 2015, at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, CO. The housing deadline is April 11, 2015. No rooms will be available at the YMCA after April 11, 2015. Please make your reservations early. For more information, please visit www.rmcumc.org/ac15 or look on the back of your 2014 Annual Conference program book.

 

 

 

Youngsook C. Kang

Director of Mission and Ministry

 

 

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