A note from the Cabinet on recent redistricting

Dear Clergy and Laity across the Mountain Sky Conference,

In Hebrews 10:24 the author writes "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works." What a powerful reminder after coming out of Annual Conference 2023 where Bishop Karen encouraged us to hold hands, hold one another accountable in our covenant relationship, and pour our love and light far and wide into our communities. We believe this is especially important as we navigate together exciting, new and different liminal spaces.

You may remember at the October 2022 annual conference, the 2023 budget passed with funding for seven districts from January 1-June 30, and six districts from July 1-December 31, 2023. Due to funding realities, a Redistricting Task Force was established in November 2022 to study the needs of the Mountain Sky Conference and develop a plan for redistricting beginning July 1, 2023. After seven months of meetings and study, nine conference-wide listening sessions, discussion regarding geography and affinity groupings, and recognition of the multiple cultures within our annual conference, the Redistricting Team presented a plan for six geographic districts. At our 2023 Annual Conference the redistricting team presented the proposed district boundaries, and the Annual Conference approved six geographic districts. That presentation is found here.

We wanted to take a moment to share some information and encouragement in hopes of creating the smoothest transition possible, for the local churches and the districts.

The six districts will be consistently named according to their geographical identifiers. While the vast majority of churches in districts across our conference will see no change, a number of churches are moving from the Peaks Pikes Peak District to either the newly formed Colorado Front Range District or the Eastern/South-central Colorado District. The churches around Great Falls in Montana will also change districts in an effort to more accurately meet their geographical needs and connections.

In addition to these important geographical changes our conference will be implementing an exciting new model of permeable supervisory boundaries for some churches. For those churches who fall within this model, they will still continue to participate in the life of their geographic district including district gatherings, clergy and laity geographic circuits, and other clergy and laity district gatherings throughout the year. The significant difference for these churches will be which District Superintendent holds the supervisory responsibility. It is important to note that while this model is new for many, we have already been doing this in a more limited capacity for many years.

Please note, if you would like to see both the geographic and supervisory boundary map, please click here. Friends, if you need further clarification or need to engage in deeper conversation, please do not hesitate to reach out to your District Administrators, District CRMs, or District Superintendents. We want this important transition to be as seamless and effortless as possible.

We give thanks for the work of the clergy, laity, and districts across the Mountain Sky Conference, now and into the future.

 

May it be so,

The Cabinet of the Mountain Sky Conference

Bishop Karen Oliveto, Resident Bishop
Rev. Jessica Rooks, Dean, Colorado Front Range District
Rev. Mark Calhoun, Wyoming District
Rev. Chris Carr, Eastern/South-central Colorado District
Rev. Lynn Miller Jackson, Montana West District
Rev. Karen McRae, Montana East District
Rev. Lou Ward, Utah/Western Colorado District
Rev. Annie Arnoldy, DCM & Superintendent of Vitality
Rev. Betty Nguyen, Superintendent of Nurturing Leadership and Belonging