An Update from the WNCC Cabinet

posted on February 23

Dear Friends, 

Thank you for your prayers last week as I attended Cabinet meetings. Your affirmation, communication, and intercession were all gifts to me. Please find below a recap of our week together at the Conference Office in Huntersville. 

I continue to celebrate the legacy of our upcoming retirees and the gifts the next generation will receive from our gifted seminary graduates. I rejoice in the work of the Expanded Profile, and in the equity work done for St. Matthews and our other sister churches in WNCC. It was a great week. We gather again March 21.  

Peace and Health,
Bev

Rev. Beverly B. Coppley
District Superintendent
& Chief Missional Strategist

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The Appointive Cabinet meet last week to begin considering clergy whose gifts and grace would match the needs of churches where there will be an opening or may be a change for the 2022-2023 conference year.  They reflected on 102 charges, with a focus on the needs of fruitfulness and diversity in leadership.  They also began exploring the assignment of lay persons to local churches in dialogue with the Conference Board of Laity.
As a part of their work, the Cabinet affirmed, as a general direction, an expanded profile that would serve the needs of traditional churches in our conference who want to remain connectional.  District Superintendents have begun to have conversations regarding this additional information as a part of their consultations with churches and clergy.

Additionally, the Cabinet approved $10,000 salary grants to three Black churches serving an anchoring presence in three locations in our Conference, out of a desire for greater equity and to reduce the salary gap between white pastors and pastors of color. Speaking about one of those churches, Rev. Dr. Sam Moore, Jr., commented, “I celebrate that St. Paul (Winston-Salem) will have adequate funding so that faithful, impactful, transformative, and vital ministries may continue.” The other two churches are St. Matthews in Greensboro and St. Mark’s in Charlotte.

The Cabinet also discussed working with the Office of Church Development to provide funding for associate pastors in these three congregations over the next three years.  The purpose of these appointments would be to provide training and mentoring of clergy entering ministry as well as to offer additional pastoral leadership within these congregations. Rev. Dr. Bill White, Jr., Director of Equity and Justice Ministries reflected, “Bishop Carter has consistently spoken about the work of anti-racism as discipleship and sanctification and as one of the four pathways for the WNCC. The work of equity and justice is one that requires changes in practices. There has been a need for associate pastors in the African American/Black Churches in our Conference for many years in order to strengthen their ministries. Providing funds from the Conference to support these positions is not only a symbolic act but a substantive one that will offer resources to ensure the vitality and continuation of these historic congregations.”