The Resurrection
of an Inclusive Church:
United Methodism’s 2024 General Conference
Rev. Adam Hamilton of the Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City, Rev. Israel Alvaran from the Philippines Annual Conference, Bishop Karen Oliveto of Mountain Sky Conference, Rev. Dr. Lydia Munoz National Hispanic/Latino Ministry, Rev. Dr. Mark Holland of Mainstream UMC, and Dr. Randall Miller from the California-Nevada Conference will be among our speakers. Our Facilitators will be UMARC Co-Chairs Rev. Dr. Harvey Martz and Rev. Dr. Don Messer.
Inclusiveness VII Webinar: Empowering United Methodists for Inclusive Mission & Ministry
Keynote Speakers: Bishop Daniel Schwerin, Chicago (Northern Illinois Conference), Bishop Karen Oliveto, Denver (Mountain Sky Conference) and Dr. Randall Miller, Oakland (California-Nevada Conference), a well-known lay spokesman in United Methodism.
Other speakers: Rev. Sam Beaves-Fisher of Billings, MT, Rev. Jamielee Demske of Laurel, MT, Rev. Mark Feldmeir of St. Andrew UMC, Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and Rev. Elizabeth Macaulay Hennepin Avenue UMC, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Rev. Dr. Joretta Marshall, Rev. Dr. Harvey Martz, Retired Lead Pastor, St. Andrew UMC, Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and Dr. Don Messer, President Emeritus, Iliff School of Theology, Denver, Colorado. Justin Bullis provided the music.
Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth
at Mountain Sky Annual Conference
The first openly gay African American episcopal leader in United Methodism -- Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth of Seattle, Washington, spoke on June 24 at UMARC's special dinner at the Mountain Sky Annual Conference on Intersecting Identities Are Tools of Liberation.
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Bishop Bridgeforth is author of Alabama Grandson: A Black, Gay Minister's Passage Out of Hiding.
Webinar Explores "New Beginning" of United Methodism
United Methodists from around the world participated in the Sixth Annual Inclusiveness Zoom Webinar on November 11, 2022. Rev. Matt Miofsky, St. Louis, Missouri, keynoted the event along along with three of the church’s best-known episcopal leaders: Bishop Thomas Bickerton, New York, President of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, Bishop Julius Trimble, Indianapolis, of the Indiana Area, and Bishop Karen Oliveto, Denver, of the Mountain Sky, Conference.
Three newly elected bishops also joined the conversation: Bishops Carlo A. Rapanut, Dottie Escobedo Frank, and Cedrick Bridgeforth.
Watch the Video of the webinar in its entirety, or just the sections you wish.
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UMARC Sponsored World AIDS Day Event
UMARC was an enthusiastic sponsor for the World AIDS Day Candlelight Walk and Service of Healing and Hope held at Park Hill United Methodist Church in Denver, CO. Reverend Doctor Valerie L. Jackson hosted the event, and Reverend Benjamin Reynolds was the keynote speaker.
UMARC endorses a dynamic programmatic and fund-raising program that focuses on ensuring future inclusivity in our beloved United Methodism Mountain Sky Conference. Check out A Table For All and urge a November 13 observance (or another date of your choosing) in your church. Click on image for details and registration.
UMARC Joins Three Bishops in Denver Pride Parade
Episcopal Bishop Kym Lucas, Lutheran (ELCA) Bishop Jim Gonia, and United Methodist Bishop Karen Oliveto led an ecumenical delegation, including UMARC, in the Denver Pride Parade on Sunday, June 26, 2022. This was the first time all three denominations joined together in the Pride Parade.
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Responding to an Attack on a Vision of an Inclusive United Methodism
After the conservative Institute for Religion and Democracy published an attack on Bishop Oliveto and the Inclusiveness V Webinar sponsored by the United Methodist Association of Retired Clergy & Friends in late November 2021, the Vice Chair of UMARC, Rev. Dr. Harvey Martz, responded with “Gone MIA from the IRD - Jesus:"
“So, it seems, when we want to demonize persons who are not 'like us,' I believe that Lord Jesus the Prophet will draw us up short and cause us to look inside.
Bishop Karen Oliveto
Rev. Dr. Harvey Martz
Inclusiveness V Webinar, Saturday, November 20, 2021
Experiencing An Inclusive UMC:
Celebrating First Five Years of Bishop Karen Oliveto’s Episcopacy
