District News

2024 Charge Conferences

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Church Charge Conference/SPRC meetings

Partnering with you to bring people to Jesus.

Are your pencils sharpened? Printer full of fresh paper? Get ready friends, CC Season is upon us.

Schedule of Zone CC 2024:
October 13 @ 2:30 pm ZONE FIVE. Hosted by Ionia: First
October 13 @ 6:00 pm ZONE SIX. Hosted by Alma
October 20 @ 2:30 pm ZONE TWO. Hosted by Mt. Pleasant: First
October 20 @ 6:00 pm ZONE FOUR. Hosted by Saginaw: First
October 27 @ 2:30 pm ZONE ONE. Hosted by Reed City
October 27 @ 6:00 pm ZONE THREE. Hosted by St. Charles

Each Conference will include a teaching time, Wesley presentation (this will also include a free will offering), Lay Servant Ministry presentation and the business and voting of each local church/charge.

Voting Items:

These are voting items that will be done for Central Bay District budget and leadership. Thank you for sharing them with your congregation.
After all conferences are completed and the 2025 budget has been approved, the district will send out the ministry share amounts for 2025. Please look for that in November.

Forms for CC 2024:
Click Here for Forms Page – ALL files can be downloaded from this page.

A reminder to rename each form to include Church Name (please not just “First” or the church initials – spell out the name of the church/charge), form name and year. For example: SaginawFirstProfileofChurch2024. I promise you that there will be riches in heaven and gold stars from me heaped onto you!!

Please note that each Church/Charge is responsible for all forms.

The District Office only needs to receive the following forms. Please submit them electronically by the due date. ONLY SUBMIT THE FORMS LISTED BELOW.

  1. 2025 Pastoral Compensation
  2. Pastor Self Evaluation
  3. SPRC Evaluation of Pastor
  4. SPRC Joint Dialogue
  5. Business of the Church
  6. Profile of the Church
  7. GCFA Report of Finance
  8. GCFA Trustee Report
  9. Parsonage Inspection
  10. Membership Report
  11. Agenda for Church Conference (to be used, but nothing to turn in)

Remember, each church/charge is responsible for all the forms – they are to be kept in house. Submit the list above to the district office.

SPRC Meetings 2024
SPRC Meetings are held on Zoom – SPRC ZOOM LINK.

Pastor, please make sure all current and incoming SPRC members have this link. Each meeting will last approximately 45 minutes. SPRC paperwork MUST be turned in prior to this meeting. SPRC will meet with the DS without Pastor present.

6:00 pm 7:00 pm
9/3 Amble Edmore Faith
9/4 Greenville Ionia Easton
9/5 Ionia First New Life
9/9 Riverdale Pierson: Heritage
9/11 Portland Breckenridge/St. Louis
9/12 Ashley/Bannister/Pompeii Elsie
9/16 Carson City/Maple Rapids Blanchard Pine River, Shepherd, Trinity, Countryside
9/17 Shepardsville Lyons-Muir
9/18 Alma Harrison
9/19 Farwell Mt. Pleasant First
9/26 Rosebush/Leaton Weidman
10/3 Winn Standish
10/7 Arenac County Christ Bay City Grace
10/8 Auburn Frankenmuth
10/9 Essexville St. Lukes Pinconning
10/10 Freeland Caro
10/14 Saginaw First Barryton
10/15 Ashton Evart/Hersey/Avondale
10/16 Brooks Corners Marion
10/17 Leroy/Luther United Methodist Mecosta County
10/21 Reed City Hope/Dale/Edenville
10/22 Beaverton First Midland 1st
10/23 4 Points Sanford
10/24 Homer/Gordonville St. Charles
10/30 Coleman

Church Conference theme: Love Reaching Out

To Reach Out in Love, others will have to see it in us. It is essential that we demonstrate God’s love in ministries of compassion, mercy, and justice in tangible ways. We need to take risks, be interested in others, be accepting no matter what, and be profoundly relational. It will stretch us, for sure, but only then will we be able to make a positive difference in the lives of others for the sake of Jesus Christ.

If you have questions, please let me know. I am looking forward to working with you!

ZONE ONE
Churches – Evart/Hersey, Avondale, Reed City/Brooks Corners, Leroy/Ashton/Luther, United Methodist Ministries of Mecosta County , Barryton: Faith

ZONE TWO
Churches – Harrison: The Gathering, Clare, Farwell, Coleman, Rosebush/Leaton, Mt. Pleasant First, Shepherd/Countryside/Trinity/Blanchard Pine River, Weidman/Winn

ZONE THREE
Churches – Beaverton: First, Hope/Dale/Edenville, Sanford, Midland: First, Homer/Gordonville, St. Charles, 4 Points

ZONE FOUR
Churches – Bay City Grace, Auburn, Pinconning, Standish: Beacon of Light/Arenac County Christ, Essexville, Freeland, Saginaw First, Frankenmuth

ZONE FIVE
Churches – Amble, Greenville: First, Lakeview: New Life, Pierson: Heritage, Belding/Turk Lake, Ionia: Easton, Ionia: First, Lyons-Muir, Portland, Edmore Faith, 

ZONE SIX
Churches – Alma, Ashley/Bannister/Pompeii, Breckenridge/St. Louis, Riverdale: Lincoln Road, Elsie/Shepardsville, Maple Rapids, Carson City

Teri Rice
Partnering with You to bring people to Jesus
Central Bay District
The United Methodist Church
PO Box 5386
Saginaw, MI 48603
CentralBay.MichiganUmc.Org

2024 Advent and Christmas Resources

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Plan for this holy season using these Michigan Conference resources, and then ensure your church’s online Christmas Eve services are listed correctly in our directory.

The seasons are changing, and there’s a nip in the air. It’s time to plan for local church Advent and Christmas services and events. The Michigan Conference has many resources coming your way, with the opportunity to integrate these offerings into your planning.

Read more >>>

Children, Youth & Family Ministries

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Is your church looking to build on your children’s or youth program? Has it not really recovered since the Covid days changed ministry for our young members? Starting in November, we’ll begin a monthly Zoom ‘get together’ of children and youth leaders. Whether you are paid or volunteer, seasoned or a newbie, we’ll gather to network, discuss ideas, provide resources and meet new friends and faces to help us all navigate ministry with children and youth. These meetings will be on the 3 rd Tuesday of each month.

Jennifer Lane and Tina Karnath will host the first Children and Youth leaders zoom informational meeting on Tuesday, November 19th at 6:30pm. The topic will be advent, advent resources and a hands
on idea to use for this year or any year in the future.

Please register here by 11/12 and you will be mailed a special Advent swag bag with materials to use in
your church! The zoom link will be emailed to you before the event.

Questions? Tina Karnath [email protected] or Jennifer Lane [email protected]

Future dates for Children & Youth leader zooms:
November 19 – Advent resources
December 17 – Virtual Christmas party
January 21 – ?
February 18 – ?

If you have any questions, please email Tina Karnath [email protected] or Jennifer Lane,
[email protected]

Bishop Announces Listening Tour

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Bishop Bard has scheduled 4 listening sessions around the state to gain input about how the conference can best assist and lead so that the local church can live into the mission of Making Disciples for the Transformation of the World. One of the listening sessions will take place in the Central Bay District!! The event will take place at Midland First United Methodist Church on Saturday, December 14, from 10:30am to 12:30pm.

Please set the date aside and plan to attend.
Get more information >>>

Ways to Support UMC Hurricane Relief

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Two powerful hurricanes have devastated the southeastern United States in a short time. Here are ways you can join our United Methodist response to these disasters.

Editor’s note: Local annual conferences and resources are utilized first when a disaster occurs. Churches from Michigan are not to deploy people or to ship supplies directly to the impacted areas until a request comes to our Conference Disaster Response Co-coordinators, Rev. Kayla Roosa and Rev. Bob Miller. Learn more on our Disaster Response Ministry web page.

Read more

Continuing Education for Clergy

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Upcoming Webinars:

  • More Effective Communication to Grow Your Church
  • Safeguarding Your Ministry (Ministry Risk Management)
  • Sermon Preparation: Preparing to Preach During Advent
  • Equipping Collaborative Teams in Ministry
  • Seven Strategies to Make 2025 Your Strongest Year of Ministry

Join the Admin Connection!

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Administrative Assistants….Let’s Connect!

Please join us for our regular monthly Zoom gathering the second Wednesday of each month, 11:30-Noon.

Each month Tina and I will be hosting an in-person luncheon for a specific connexion zone. To decide which zone is chosen, we will put all the names of the admins present in a “hat” and draw one out. The zone belonging to that admin will be the chosen zone. ALL admins from that zone will be invited to attend. Lunch will be the first Tuesday of the following month (at the location chosen by the winning Admin). More info and details will be explained at our regular Admin Connect meeting, so don’t miss out! The more Admins present, the better the chances your zone will be chosen. 

November 13, 2024 – our focus will be all things 2025.
December 11, 2024 – our focus will be a Christmas Party!

Join us every single month, or just when you can – this is going to be informal gathering to support each
other in the ministry of the church office.

We are REALLY looking forward to seeing you on Zoom.

Zoom Link:  https://michiganumc.zoom.us/j/81283796136#success

*This zoom link will be the same for each Let’s Connect gathering we do – the second Wednesday of
each month from 11:30 – Noon.https://michiganumc.zoom.us/j/81283796136#success

We are looking forward to connecting with you.

Teri Rice
Partnering with You to bring People to Jesus

Executive Assistant
Central Bay District
Michigan Conference UMC

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Central Bay District