North AL: Discerning Our Future

Discerning Our Future

Throughout 2022, the Bishop, Cabinet, Conference Leadership Team and NAC3 Team have gathered frequently asked questions from North Alabama United Methodists. Below are lists of questions and responses organized by category to help you more easily find the information you and your congregation are seeking. As additional frequently-asked questions emerge, they will be added so these pages may serve as a resource of up-to-date and accurate information for North Alabama United Methodists.

If you would like to submit a question to Conference Leadership, please use this form.

FAQ About The United Methodist Church →

FAQ The North Alabama Conference and the Bishop →

FAQ Local Congregations and Laity →

FAQ Clergy and Surviving Spouses →

Resources

Local Church Cost of Disaffiliation Information Request

Call to Prayer and Discernment Informational Packet

FAQ on continued affiliation with and disaffiliation from The United Methodist Church

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Discerning Our Future Posts

Message from the NAC3 Team: Season of reflection and renewal

So what comes next? Now we must roll up our sleeves and dig in together, as many groups and congregations have been doing across the Conference.

January 12, 2023

Message from NAC3 Team: Encouragement and Visioning

We want to take this opportunity to share the video of the second hour of the Special Session — a time of encouragement and visioning — with the many United Methodists who are continuing our journey together.

December 16, 2022

New and Renewing Churches introduces Moving Forward Together initiative

The purpose of this resource is to provide support and resources for people feeling abandoned or displaced from their local United Methodist Church due to disaffiliation.

December 10, 2022

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The North Alabama Annual Conference will hold Special Sessions of the Annual Conference on Dec. 10, 2022, and on May 11, 2023, to process requests for disaffiliation under ¶2553 of the United Methodist Book of Discipline. These are the first two of potentially three opportunities the North Alabama Annual Conference will have to vote on disaffiliations for churches who, after going through our discernment process, discern to disaffiliate from The United Methodist Church. The other possible date would be a called Special Session in December 2023.

Key dates and deadlines regarding the December 2022 Special Session of the North Alabama Annual Conference:

Sept. 1, 2022 - Last day for a congregation to begin the discernment process to consider disaffiliation from The United Methodist Church and have time to complete it prior to the December 2022 Special Session. Contact your District Superintendent for more information. Please note: congregations not wishing to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church do not have to enter a discernment process.
Dec. 1, 2022 - Last day for a congregation to hold a Church Conference vote to disaffiliate from The United Methodist Church under Book of Discipline ¶2553 and be among the churches considered during the December 2022 Special Session of the North Alabama Annual Conference. Churches that hold a vote to disaffiliate under ¶2553 after December 1, 2022, will be processed at a North Alabama Annual Conference session in 2023.
Dec. 10, 2022 - Special Session of the North Alabama Annual Conference to be held with the purpose of processing current requests for disaffiliation under ¶2553 of the United Methodist Book of Discipline. This is the first of potentially three gatherings the North Alabama Annual Conference will have to vote on disaffiliations for churches under Book of Discipline ¶2553.
Dec. 31, 2023 - The ¶2553 Disaffiliation Process, which was added to the Book of Discipline by the 2019 Special Session of the General Conference expires.

Key dates and deadlines regarding the May 2023 Special Session of the North Alabama Annual Conference:

Feb 1, 2023 - Last day for a congregation to begin the discernment process to consider disaffiliation from The United Methodist Church and have time to complete it prior to the May 2023 Special Session. Contact your District Superintendent for more information. Please note: congregations not wishing to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church do not have to enter a discernment process.
May 1, 2023 - Deadline for congregations to turn in all disaffiliation-related documentation and financial payments due to the Annual Conference.
May 11, 2023 - Special Session of the North Alabama Annual Conference to be held with the purpose of processing current requests for disaffiliation under ¶2553 of the United Methodist Book of Discipline. This is the second of potentially three gatherings the North Alabama Annual Conference will have to vote on disaffiliations for churches under Book of Discipline ¶2553.
Dec. 31, 2023 - The ¶2553 Disaffiliation Process, which was added to the Book of Discipline by the 2019 Special Session of the General Conference expires.