![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greaternw.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Bishop-elaine-praying.jpg?resize=263%2C263&ssl=1\")
\u201cWe are forming this Guiding Coalition in response to many\nconversations since last February, and to legislation passed at the annual\nconference sessions earlier this year,\u201d shared Stanovsky. \u201cIt is clear that we\nneed to be both strategic and collaborative in this moment, when the generous\npractice of United Methodism is under attack. The coming months may require us\nto move quickly and rely on our collective strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Guiding Coalition is comprised of representatives from\nthe three conferences that make up the Greater NW Episcopal Area \u2013 The Alaska\nConference, the Oregon-Idaho Conference, and The Pacific Northwest Conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Stanovsky, the coalition will embody practices\nand values that build on strengths already present in the Greater NW Area.\nPrevious discussions in the area have identified the need for deeper Christian\ndiscipleship and community engagement, including stronger ministries of\nsolidarity, justice, and mercy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Guiding\nCoalition will invite work groups of laity and clergy to examine areas where the\nconferences can shape or define a way forward. One group will consider how the\narea can continue to resist the harmful remnants of the Traditional Plan that\nwere passed by the 2019 General Conference while seeking to reform the Church\nthrough legislative action in 2020. Another will look at financial resources,\nincluding apportionments, seeking to align them with the values and concerns of\nUnited Methodists in the Northwest. And yet another will strive to discern what\na new expression of Methodism might look like if designed for 21st<\/sup>\ncentury people living in the Greater Northwest Area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One group will\nenvision what a \u201cgrassroots\u201d connection might look like, built on authentic\nrelationships. Vital conversations across difference \u2014 between established and\nemerging leaders, churches of different hearts, minds, and experiences \u2014 will\nbe explored. The group will also look forward to the 2020 Shared Greater NW\nAnnual Conference Session in June, with anticipation for the potentially\nmonumental decisions that may need to take place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Members of the Greater NW Guiding Coalition include: Jim Doepken, Jo Anne Hayden, Kelly Marciales and Carlo Rapanut from the Alaska Conference; Wendy Woodworth, Jan Nelson, Mark Bateman, Rick Shewell, Jeremy Smith, Paul Cosgrove, Karen Hernandez, Allen Buck, Carter Lybeck, Laurie Day, and Donna Pritchard from the Oregon-Idaho Conference; and Skylar Bihl, Brant Henshaw, Joe Kim, Marie Kuch-Stanovsky, David Reinholz, Katy Ritchey, Elizabeth Schindler, Dionica Sy, Kathleen Weber, Karen Yokota Love, David Valera and Kristina Gonzalez from the Pacific Northwest Conference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many more people will participate in the workgroups as they form in the weeks ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the wake of the exclusionary and punitive actions of General Conference 2019, Bishop Elaine JW Stanovsky is announcing the formation of a Greater Northwest Area Guiding Coalition. The coalition will help to shape and lead a new movement of Methodism in the Northwest that fully includes LGBTQIA+persons in membership, participation and leadership, both lay […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":15133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Bishop Stanovsky announces Greater Northwest Area guiding coalition #UMC","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[32,438,458],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-press-release","9":"category-the-greater-northwest-episcopal-area"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/BANNER_GNW-fb.png?fit=1227%2C640&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-5j1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20399"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20400,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20399\/revisions\/20400"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}