“There is nothing like the local church when it’s working right. Its beauty is indescribable. Its power is breathtaking. Its potential is unlimited. It comforts the grieving and heals the broken in the context of community. It builds bridges to seekersand opens its arms to the forgotten, the downtrodden, and the disillusioned. It breaks the chains of addictions, frees the oppressed, and offers belonging to the marginalized of this world. The potential of the local church is almost more than I can grasp.” *

In this time of chaos, confusion, political strife, racial inequity, poverty growing by leaps and bounds, families being beset by food insecurity, isolation and unbridled death and dying, how can we carry that hope to others? Some days it feels as though we Christians have nothing much to offer the world.

Historically, we have not loved our neighbors as we should, our buildings are closed for now, and our communities are not meeting in-person. I don’t know about you, but to me it seems the needs are growing exponentially but we can’t keep up; we don’t have the means; we don’t have the organization; we don’t have the position in the community or the funding.

But the hope we bring to the world, in the end, has very little to do with means, or organization or position or funding. The hope we bring to our community and the world is not through OUR strength, but God’s. Even when we feel like we have nothing to offer or not enough to give, we have Jesus…we have the good news.

We can and do intercede on behalf of our community and our world through our prayers and the actions we can take. That, my friends, is more than enough.

I know of no greater blessing in my life today than to be a part of the church. Not just the universal church but I have a church family. You are my church family. And although we are not physically together, we are still church and although the building is closed for the time being, we are still ‘being’ church in the world.

Through our ministries of Pioneer Kitchen, connecting with Sharpstein, collecting food for the Food Pantry, supporting justice through Justice for Our Neighbors, Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition and Walla Walla Speaks, creating meaningful on-line worship, our Whitman Fellow, our bible studies and justice classes — we are being church.

When we think unselfishly with the mind of Christ, reach out and to care for and restore those in need and those who are lost, the church becomes the hope of the world. We, dear friends, stand in the breach for all those who cannot. We offer ourselves, our prayers, and our actions on behalf of the world…and when we do, God shows up. Thank you church!

*[Bill Hybels, Courageous Leadership, 2002]

Walla Walla Speaks

In response to the groundswell of local and global justice work, Pioneer United Methodist Church and the Neighborhood Engagement Program at the City of Walla Walla will be hosting a series of speakers and storytellers on a variety of critical topics in our city and surrounding area.

Our next gathering takes place on Tuesday, November 10th at 6:30 pm via Zoom Webinar and will feature Abigail Scholar, Executive Director of Central Washington Justice for our Neighbors and Dr. Aaron Bobrow-Strain of the Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition. Come hear these leading advocates reflect on the current state of immigration and immigrant rights. A moderated Q and A will follow.

You can join Tuesday’s webinar by following this link:

https://greaternw.zoom.us/j/96692891676

More about our November speakers:

Abigail Scholar

Abigail has worked as part of the coordinating committee of the Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition, she is a founding member of the Spokane Immigrant Rights Coalition, the Tri-Cities Immigrant Rights Coalition and is a member of Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network and sits in the steering committee for their bond fund. She is also on the steering committee for All In for Washington and works closely with the ACLU of Washington. She has worked in community organizing for a number of years and she has extensive experience in developing community led programs and supporting leaders within the community to advance capacity building.

Aaron Bobrow-Strain

Aaron is a professor and Baker Ferguson Chair of Politics and Leadership at Whitman College, where he teaches courses on food, immigration, and the U.S.-Mexico border. He is the author of White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf and Intimate Enemies: Landowners, Power, and Violence in Chiapas. In the 1990s, he worked on the U.S.-Mexico border as an educator and activist. He is a founding member of the Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition.

Along with academic journals in the U.S. and Mexico, his writing has appeared in The Believer, The Chronicle of Higher Education Review, Salon, Gastronomica, and The Huffington Post.

The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez: A Border Story (Hardback – Farrar, Straus, and Giroux 2019 & Paperback – Picador 2020) won the Washington State Book Award and the Pacific Northwest Book Award, was named a Southwest Books of the Year Top Choice, a Goodreads People’s Choice Award Semifinalist, and an AudioFiles Magazine Best Audio Book of 2019, and was shortlisted for the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Award.

He has an MA in Latin American Studies from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley. He’s received grants and fellowships from the National Science Foundation and Social Science Research Council and won teaching prizes from UC Berkeley and Whitman College.

Contact Us

If you have questions about our program, please email livg@pioneerww.org or zgalant-laporte@wallawallawa.gov. We hope you’ll join us for listening and learning!(Edit)

DENVER, Colo. (Oct. 7, 2020) – The Western Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church is beginning preparations for the next General Conference by recommitting itself to be a faithful, inviting, open, safe and loving place for all people.

As The United Methodist Church awaits a delayed decision on the proposed Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation, “Where Love Lives” is a nearly year-long campaign centering on the faith values that have undergirded the jurisdiction’s long-term commitment to a scripturally based fully inclusive ministry. It advocates approval of the Protocol by the General Conference.

“The Western Jurisdiction is committed to living out our belief that God’s church is open to all,” said Bishop Karen Oliveto, president of the Western Jurisdiction College of Bishops. “The Protocol for Reconciliation and Grace through Separation offers a way forward to begin easing the five decades of pain created by the wounds inflicted on LGBTQ persons by the church.”

“Your home – our home – remains open,” the Jurisdiction declares. “The United Methodist Church is and will be safe, secure, open, and built on faith in God, trust in one another, and with love for all in all we do.”

Bishop Oliveto said the idea for the campaign came from conversations within the Western Jurisdiction leadership focused on the great divisions the church and nations around the world are experiencing. “We wanted to make sure there is an alternative vision for people to embrace, a vision that comes out of love that informs our actions as Christians.” She said.

The campaign comes in the midst of global uncertainty – heightened by the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic – over the future of the denomination. Because of the pandemic, the 2020 General Conference, where the Protocol had been scheduled to be considered, was postponed and rescheduled for Aug. 29-Sept. 7, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minn.

“As we await the… General Conference and Protocol vote, let us recommit ourselves to creating, protecting, and sustaining a United Methodist Church that welcomes all, in Christ,” The jurisdiction said. Since 1982, two years before the denomination officially barred the practice, the Western Jurisdiction has ordained and assigned LGBTQ persons to be pastors. In 2016, the jurisdiction elected the denomination’s first openly lesbian bishop. And in 2019, the Jurisdiction committed itself to be a safe harbor for LGBTQ+ clergy from across the denomination.

The Protocol awaiting action in the postponed General Conference offers a path forward through the nearly 50-year-old dispute over the role of LGBTQ+ people in The United Methodist Church. Simply put, it would create a reshaped United Methodist denomination where LGBTQ+ persons could be ordained as pastors and churches could hold same-sex weddings, while simultaneously allowing opponents of LGBTQ+ inclusion to leave and form a new, more conservative denomination. Those persons would retain their former United Methodist pension benefits and congregations would be able to keep their buildings to be part of the new denomination.

In addition to promoting the Protocol, Bishop Oliveto said, the campaign will create opportunities for United Methodists across the Jurisdiction to engage in conversation about what its adoption could mean for local congregations and their pastors. These could be gatherings in homes, Sunday School classes, other small group settings, and all church meetings.

Monthly themes from October through the convening of the postponed General Conference in 2021, will focus conversation and discussion on topics related to the Jurisdiction’s commitment to inclusion, scriptural faithfulness, and the theological teachings of John Wesley, the denomination’s founder.

Here are the opening themes of the campaign:

• Oct. 2020 – Strongly committed to radical inclusion of all people.
• Nov. 2020 – We will always keep scripture primary.
• Dec. 2020 – Grounded in social action.
• Jan. 2021 – We will ordain and consecrate LGBTQ+ people.

These themes, Western Jurisdiction leaders believe, build on the progress made across their jurisdiction over the past dozen years, and could provide a solid foundation for other conferences across the church after the completion of the postponed General Conference. It keeps the historic United Methodist name, and focuses on its commitment to Wesley’s teachings on piety and social holiness.

This is planned as a multi-faceted campaign. It can be adapted for use in annual (regional) conferences and local congregations. The range of tools that can be created for the campaign include blogs, e-mail posts, Zoom calls, congregation-wide events, locally-generated articles on the importance of being an inclusive church, newsletter posts, prayers, short videos, calls to action, and the utilization of social media like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Watch the WJ’s campaign video HERE.

About the Western Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church: The Western Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church encompasses the eight westernmost regional conferences of the United States, including United Methodist churches in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Guam, and other territory in the Pacific region. The president of the Western Jurisdiction College of Bishops for 2020-2023 is Denver-based Bishop Karen Oliveto of the Mountain Sky Area of The United Methodist Church, the region covering Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and a small portion of Idaho.

Take this beautiful tour of the Greater Northwest Episcopal Area including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska. As you sense the amazing diversity of people, locations, and situations in our region, think about your own mission field…what is God calling you toward?

Responding to Wildfires across the Greater Northwest Area Friends in the Greater Northwest Area, United Methodist leaders from across our area have been meeting to monitor and respond to the wildfires ravaging our land and threatening many communities across Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. People in many areas have evacuated or are preparing to evacuate from their homes. If you are not in immediate danger, you may be like many ­others who see and taste these wildfires in smoke-filled skies and with every breath we take. People of faith want to do good in the face of danger, but we need to work to ensure that the good we intend does not accidentally do harm. Because of the massive evacuations being issued across our states, and because our churches and ministry settings are committed to doing no harm, doing good, and staying in love with God, an addendum has been added to the Reimagining Life Together guidelines for our church and ministry settings to guide United Methodist responses to the wild fire crisis. ADDENDUM TO REIMAGINING LIFE TOGETHER for 2020 Northwest Wildfire Relief Effective September 11, 2020 For Wildfire Relief only, this addendum supersedes the Disaster Response guidance in the Reimagining document.   Ministry settings planning to provide relief and support in their communities will work with their District Superintendent (local churches) or Director of Connectional Ministries (other ministry settings) to discuss the community need and the request from a local government authority and/or established disaster response agencies (such as the Red Cross) for relief support. District Superintendents or Directors of Connectional Ministry must approve plans to use church facilities for wildfire relief support activities. As we seek to respond to these wildfires, I acknowledge how weary everyone is right now from these demands, on top of coronavirus, on top of dismantling racism, on top of escalating partisanship that is eroding our ability to work together for the common good. Amazing disaster response teams in the Greater Northwest Area act as the hands and feet of Jesus in communities across the area and in partnership with local churches. When a disaster strikes, survivors often lose so much – the roof over their heads and other property, livelihoods, even loved ones. These wildfires show how devastating these disasters can be. Yet this year it seems like one crisis erupts on top of the next.And so, we call out to God, seeking mercy. Seeking relief. Seeking just one day when we do not feel danger near at hand and it doesn’t feel like the weight of the world is on each of our shoulders. Join me in praying for the safety of our friends and neighbors and for those who have already suffered loss of life. Join me in praying for the first responders and wildland firefighters putting themselves in harm’s way to help others seek shelter, save homes and property. Join me in praying for God’s good creation, that we may tend to her more carefully. Join me, also, in a call to action through our gifts of financial resources. We know some of our communities have already been decimated by fire and know there are others in potential danger.I am grateful to report that the Pacific Northwest and Oregon-Idaho Conferences have each received emergency grants of $10,000 from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to support response efforts. But it’s just a drop in the bucket of what will be needed.Give, electronically, to the Oregon-Idaho Conference Disaster Fund    You can also give to the OR-ID Conference’s Disaster Fund (Fund #260) through your local church or by sending a check made out to the Oregon-Idaho Conference Treasurer with Conference Advance #260 on the memo line to: Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference Center c/o Conference Treasurer 1505 SW 18th Avenue Portland, Oregon, 97201-2524 Give electronically to the PNW Conference’s Disaster FundYou can also give PNW Conference’s Disaster Fund (Advance #352) through your local church or by sending a check made out to the PNW Conference Treasurer with Conference Advance #352 on the memo line to: Pacific Northwest Conference Office c/o Conference Treasurer P.O. Box 13650 Des Moines, WA 98198  Finally, local church leaders, please stay in touch with your District Superintendents if your community is impacted by wildfire. Let your superintendent know what is going on in your community and what your church is doing – or has been asked to do – in response. Your superintendent will coordinate with the conference disaster response coordinator to help support your work during this crisis. Stay safe my friends, and know the steadfast love of God each day. Bishop Elaine JW Stanovsky Greater NW Episcopal Area Find this letter at www.greaternw.org The Greater Northwest Episcopal Area provides leadership for the Alaska, Oregon-Idaho, and the Pacific Northwest Conferences of The United Methodist Church. www.greaternw.org | bishop@greaternw.org 206.870.6810 | Toll- Free: 800.755.7710