Message from NAC3 Team: Who are we now?
Today, we North Alabama United Methodists begin our next chapter in ministry. It is a time to give thanks, reflect and dream together.
First, our NAC3 team wants to begin with an expression of gratitude for the 67,000+ United Methodists who now make up the North Alabama Conference. We give thanks to God to be continuing in ministry together. We give thanks for your love of Jesus Christ and your daily commitment to make disciples and share God’s love with your neighbors.
Our 305 North Alabama congregations are a connected body of faith. Just as different parts come together to form a fully functional body, so it is with the North Alabama Conference. Each of our congregations is an important part of who we are. Each congregation has gifts and graces we should all recognize and celebrate. Each congregation has a purpose and a calling to reach people in its community with a message of faith, hope and love. Our prayer is that together we United Methodists can reclaim our common purpose and strengthen our connection so that all of us are reinvigorated in our calling to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
In 2022 the congregations who now make up our North Alabama Conference of The United Methodist Church made an impact for Jesus Christ. We celebrate that together we
- welcomed 6000 children to ongoing programs and Vacation Bible Schools
- discipled almost 4000 youth
- regularly gathered 12,000 adults in small groups to grow in faith together
- sent out almost 15,000 individuals to serve others in our communities and as part of Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) teams
- And so much more.
As we celebrate and reflect on our recent ministry, we believe today is an important day to ask ourselves, “Who are we now? What is God calling us to do in this next chapter of ministry together?”
Our team believes we North Alabama United Methodists are a beautiful patchwork of followers of Jesus Christ who can grow more fruitful in our ministries by strengthening our relationships with each other, developing ministry partnerships and renewing our focus on our collective calling to offer Christ every day to our communities.
We celebrate that there are new United Methodist congregations and fresh expressions currently developing throughout the North Alabama area to reach new people for Jesus Christ. We believe God is calling even more congregations and individuals to start new things in order to reach new people in our communities.
We are excited at the opportunities our upcoming Annual Conference in June will give us to reconnect with one another and to be equipped in our individual and collective ministries of evangelism. We believe strengthening the different evangelism ministries of all our congregations will lead to more people coming into relationship with Jesus Christ.
We look forward to seeing how God will continue to work in North Alabama. We believe our calling to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world is something the continues to unite us each day.
As we begin a new chapter together, let us all renew our commitment to our mission, seek ways to encourage one other and pray for the Holy Spirit to revitalize us in our disciple-making ministries.
NAC3 Team
Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett
Rev. Brian Erickson, co-chair
Gail Hiett, co-chair
Danette Clifton
Rev. Sherill Clontz
Rev. Dedric Cowser
Rev. Tony Johnson
Lisa Keys-Mathews
Rev. Joy Morgan
Ambria Lankford
Rev. Rick Owen
Rev. Tom Parrish
Rev. Donald Smith
Rev. Keith Thompson