News

The Alabama-West Florida Conference continues to collect reports from our churches, clergy and families and is preparing the best ways to help in the immediate and long-term aftermath. Churches should report damage to their ...

Hurricane Michael continues to gain strength in the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to make landfall in or near the bounds of the Alabama-West Florida Conference. Our Conference Disaster Response Ministry is active in preparations ...

October 2, 2018 We invite you to watch a video message from Bishop David Graves related to conference staff priorities. Click here to view. Click here to read transcript.  You may also listen to this message as an audio-only ...

September 18, 2018 We celebrate the two-year anniversary of Bishop David W. Graves being assigned and installed to the Alabama-West Florida Conference. Hear more from him in this interview with Mary Catherine Phillips, AWF ...

September 17, 2018 In an effort to better align the work and focus of the Alabama-West Florida Conference, Bishop David Graves, the extended cabinet, and the Compass leadership team (ministry area directors) have released four ...

Thank you for your prayers for those who have been affected by the winds, storms, and floods brought by Hurricane Florence in South Carolina, North Carolina, and its continued path up the east coast. ERT Teams: Our AWF conference ...

September 12, 2018 In an attempt to study and obtain data on conference-sponsored events, we invite you to take a brief survey. One of our goals at the Alabama-West Florida Conference office is to make the best use of our clergy ...

(Bishop David Graves for The Montgomery Advertiser) - Football season has kicked off for high school and college with the pro ranks soon to follow. Each week until the Super Bowl, which will take place the first Sunday of ...

Nashville, Tenn.: The Commission on the General Conference has outlined a process for determining if petitions submitted to the 2019 Special Session of the General Conference are in harmony with the Council of Bishops’ amended ...

(SSSEF) - On Thursday, August 9, 2018, the Stegall Seminary Scholarship Endowment Foundation celebrated its 11th year in ministry at the annual Dinner of Celebration. The banquet, held at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown ...

The Alabama-West Florida Conference and Communities of Transformation (COT) are excited to announce the hiring of a new Conference Director of COT, Ms. Katy Wrona. A leadership team from the conference and COT interviewed several ...

To complete the process of the complaints against Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the following decision has been made:  The judicial process of The United Methodist Church cannot be used in the matter of United States Attorney ...

(COB) – The final report of the Commission on a Way Forward has been released in all four official languages of the General Conference: English, French, Portuguese and Swahili.  The report will be presented to the 2019 Special ...

(Bishop David Graves) - In the middle of the Civil War between the North and South, William Parton (W.P.) Mackay wrote a song entitled, “Revive Us Again.” His song appeared in many church hymnals over the next two centuries and is...

July 26, 2018 Friends,  I hope you are enjoying your summer with friends and family. This conference is home to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world! If you were in attendance at the 2018 session of the AWF Annual ...

(Kari C. Barlow for the AWF Conference) - One year after Casa de Dios Gateway of Heaven Church found a permanent home in Pensacola, it’s celebrating another major milestone.   The growing congregation was recently presented with ...

July 18, 2018 Clergy and Lay Members of the Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference, Greetings! On July 9th, I shared with the AWF Conference about the delay in the release of the Commission on A Way Forward Report. Originally, I ...

(UMNS) - A request by the United Methodist Council of Bishops for a ruling on the constitutionality of three legislative plans heading to the 2019 special General Conference is among the docket items being considered this fall by ...

Over the past five weeks (and two more to go), Alabama Rural Ministry (ARM) has hosted several youth mission teams engaged in home repair and children’s ministry. The following churches from our Annual Conference have sent teams: ...

Montgomery, Ala.—Twenty-one high school students from 15 regional churches participated in the Huntingdon Leadership Academy at Huntingdon College, June 24–29.  The students, from rising high school sophomores to seniors, devoted ...

To the Clergy and Lay Members of the Alabama-West Florida Conference:   As we embark on a new conference year, I want to inform you of the status of the Commission on the Way Forward and Council of Bishops’ Report that was to be ...

At this time, the Alabama-West Florida Conference has received numerous complaints related to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The United Methodist Book of Discipline outlines how these complaints against a lay church member will ...

(Kari Barlow for the AWF) - Facing old age can be frightening, but at New Hope UMC in Theodore, the congregation’s most senior members—and the people who serve them—have become More Than Conquerors.   That’s the name of the ...

WASHINGTON, D.C.   -  The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church today issued the following statement pertaining to three United Methodist missionaries who have been prevented from leaving the Republic of the ...

(Bishop Graves for the Montgomery Advertiser) -  All of us go through times of discouragement and disappointment. At times, things don’t turn out the way we thought or planned. Moreover, situations arise that turn our life upside ...

QuadW Missional Outreach is pleased to announce receipt of a $100,000 grant from the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. This grant will support the launch of the “QuadW Missional Residencies ...

We are heartened to see President Trump sign an executive order today ending his administration’s policy of separating families at the border. Furthermore, we commend him for taking this action and putting the needs of these ...

As the Bishop of the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, it deeply troubles me and burdens my heart that innocent immigrant children are being separated from their parents. It was difficult to celebrate...

As United Methodists, we look to scripture and our social principles to guide our thinking and actions in regards to social justice issues. Specifically, the social principles state about immigration, “The United Methodist Church ...

The 2018 Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference was held June 3-6 in Montgomery, AL, with the theme, "Imagine A Church That's the Hope of the World." Bishop David Graves, presiding over his second annual conference session since ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church is joining other faith organizations in a statement urging the U.S. government to stop its policy of separating immigrant families. Below is the full ...

June 6, 2018 In the News Full Recap and Bulletin Insert coming this Thursday! Stay tuned to www.awfumc.org/ac2018 for an informative bulletin insert. It is printer friendly and we encourage you to share it with your local ...

June 5, 2018 In the News Morning Worship: Day three of annual conference began with morning worship and Holy Communion. Jerrod Dorminey and the Frazer Praise Band provided moving music for this service. Rev. Chris Kelsey, a deacon...

June 4, 2018 Special reminder: please remember that Frazer Memorial UMC is an Alabama primary voting location tomorrow, June 5. The polls will be located in the gymnasium area away from most of the annual conference activities and...

In the News Opening Worship: A capacity crowd attended the Opening Worship Service of the 2018 Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference session, which was held Sunday evening, June 3, in the sanctuary of Frazer Memorial UMC in ...

Petitions for the 2019 Special Session of the General Conference of The United Methodist Church may be submitted to the petitions secretary beginning June 6, 2018 until July 8, 2018. On May 25, 2018, the Judicial Council ruled ...

We invite you to watch a video message from Bishop David Graves, Resident Bishop of the Alabama-West Florida Conference. Click here to view. Click here to read the transcript.  You may also listen to this message as an audio-only ...

(UMNS) The United Methodist Church’s top court has ruled that other petitions — in addition to legislation from the Council of Bishops — can be submitted for the 2019 special session of General Conference. Any organization, as ...

(UMNS) - The 32-member Commission on a Way Forward for The United Methodist Church concluded its ninth and final meeting in Nashville yesterday (May 16). The Commission met nine times over 17 months. The Commission reviewed a wide...

We are quickly approaching the 2018 session of the Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference. We are excited to see many of you soon. Click here to access a working agenda. Copies of the final agenda will be distributed at the doors ...

(Kari Barlow for the AWF Conference) - You could hear the excitement in Laurel Akin’s and Celeste Eubanks’ voices on Monday as they made their way to Columbus, Ohio, for the 2018 Assembly of United Methodist Women.   Not even the ...

(Kari C. Barlow for the AWF Conference) -  The Dothan District of the Alabama-West Florida Conference is ready to build a house. After almost two years of fundraising, the district has raised the $40,000 needed to sponsor the ...

(UMNS) - Des Moines, Iowa: The Rev. Gary W. Graves, Secretary of the General Conference, announced today that an error was made in the text of a proposed Constitutional amendment as it was presented for voting, and which ...

We invite you to watch a video message from Bishop David Graves, Resident Bishop of the Alabama-West Florida Conference. Click here to view. Click here to read transcript.  You may also listen to this message as an audio-only ...

The 2018 Annual Conference session, June 3-6, 2018, falls during the Alabama Primary Elections. Election day is Tuesday, June 5, 2018. This is important for you to know for two reasons.  First, if you are a member of the annual ...

Friends, Nancy and I returned late Saturday night following the conclusion of the Council of Bishops meeting in Chicago, IL. We enjoyed yesterday as a day of Sabbath and worship and needed that renewal time as many of you ...

Dear Women Clergy of the Alabama-West Florida Conference, I write to you today saddened and disappointed that the two constitutional amendments related to the rights of girls, women, and vulnerable groups did not receive the ...

CHICAGO – United Methodist bishops, meeting in Chicago, engaged in a prayerful process to discern a way forward.  At the conclusion of the discernment process, the Council of Bishops strongly approved the following motion and ...

The Alabama-West Florida Conference Council on Finance & Administration is pleased to announce the new Treasurer and Director of Administration. Suzanne Krejcar will begin her service to the conference on July 1, 2018. She is ...

(Kari Barlow for AWF Conference) - Lynn Haven United Methodist Church has launched a new ministry to support the men and women in its congregation who have stepped up to care for the most vulnerable children in Bay County and ...