What are "Go & Do Likewise" sessions about at AC?

Have you ever been to a conference, and wondered, “What can I bring home with me that will be practical and engaging in my community?”

Every UMC in the Oregon-Idaho Conference strives to understand its community, make an impact, and partner with others to make disciples of Jesus Christ and transform the world. Throughout our Annual Conference session, we will be exploring the familiar story of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:30-37. Jesus invites his disciples to make a difference in their communities to “go and do likewise.” We are called to do the same in our church contexts. During the annual conference session, we will have opportunities to, as Bishop Bridgeforth said in his call letter to Annual Conference, “hold up mirrors for us to see ourselves more clearly” and “open windows to possibilities beyond our imagination.”
 
Through three different sessions, called, “Go and Do Likewise,” we will be invited to engage in practices, workshops, and even walking tours that will help us do just that in our own churches, ministry settings, and communities. In these sessions, you will explore in tangible ways how you might be in service to and among others in your community.
 
Is your church interested in developing faith practices? Choose Soul Pages Visual Journaling or Reclaiming Discipleship in Age-Level Ministries. Perhaps your community is dealing with huge issues like increasing suicide rates, or housing crisis, or environmental justice, or economic justice, civil and human rights! Choose Faith and Facts, Planned Parenthood, Eagle Rock Park with the Boise Valley People, Take the Housing LEAP, or a Social Justice Walking Tour of Boise. Perhaps you want to hear some practical ways your church administration can lead the way! Choose Unleashing Your church for Mission with SAS!, or Beyond the Checkbook! Or perhaps you want to get some practical advice about how to become a Reconciling Ministry or engage in Global ministries or disaster response.
 
There is something for everyone this year at Annual Conference as we engage together in what it means as Oregon-Idaho United Methodists to “Go and Do Likewise!”