AC 2023 Mission Offering
June 4-7, 2023
Each year, all churches in the Kentucky Annual Conference are invited to participate in a mission offering at Annual Conference. The Mission Offering for 2023 Annual Conference will support the UMC Clergy Financial Well-being Initiative, which is creating resources to support clergy of color and providing financial flexibility and space to the new Director of Connectional and African American Ministries.
Resources New or Emerging Opportunities in Connectional and African American Ministries
We are excited to welcome Rev. Dr. Tina Patterson to her new role as Director of Connectional and African American Ministries. As we set our sights on what it means to be a conference that supports and invests in our African American clergy and churches, we are looking forward to this opportunity.
“I am excited about working with the African American ministries because it allows me the privilege of being a part of an initiative that will make a difference in the life of the Kentucky Annual Conference. It will allow me to provide leadership that will facilitate growth, build up leaders, and advocate for cultural sensitivity and diversity, as I walk alongside of people who are determined to strengthen the African American Church. As I look through my spiritual eyes, I see possibilities!” Patterson said.
UMC Clergy Financial Well-being Initiative
Launched in 2016, the UMC Clergy Financial Well-Being Initiative is a collaboration of United Methodist organizations working together to support clergy financial well-being and to develop clergy financial leadership within their ministry settings. In its current phase of this important work, the initiative is addressing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on UMC clergy of color. Through our Annual Conference Mission Offering, Kentucky United Methodist Churches can partner with Wespath Benefits & Investments, Gammon Theological Seminary, and other United Methodist organizations to be a part of addressing the disparity in resources that meet the needs for underserved clergy of color. The Initiative and its partners will discern new ways to share materials, connections and strategies that support their shared vision.
“We at Wespath are immensely grateful to the Kentucky Conference for sharing a portion of your Annual Conference missions offering with our Clergy Financial Well-Being Initiative. The Lilly Endowment affirmed this need in awarding us a grant for this purpose. The Endowment will also match the funds we raise by Sept. 30 this year for clergy of color well-being efforts. Your generosity enables us to greatly expand this worthwhile work, in that each mission offering dollar shared with our Initiative will mean an additional dollar from the Lilly Endowment. Thank you for coming alongside us. Your partnership in supporting financial skills and well-being of pastors will in turn help enable the congregations they serve make more disciples of Jesus Christ and be stronger agents of transformation in their communities and the world,” said Dale Jones, Director of Church Relations at Wespath and former Kentucky Conference Treasurer.
To learn more about the UMC Clergy Financial Well-being Initiative, you can watch and share this helpful video. Additionally, this publication helps share the exciting opportunity we get to be a part of. We are excited for the ways this initiative will resource and equip our underserved brothers and sisters in Christ and look forward to bringing this project home and investing in Kentucky’s clergy of color.
Checks should be made out to Kentucky Annual Conference Treasurer, 2023 Mission Offering on the memo line. Please mail to:
Kentucky Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church
attn.: Treasurer
7400 Floydsburg Road
Crestwood KY 40014