Welcome to the Ashland District

Welcome to the Ashland District web site.  We hope you will find something of interest here.  But more important, we pray that you will find a family in one of our many vibrant churches across the Ashland District.

A Word From Your District Superintendent

Dear Friends,

During our recent 2010 Virginia Annual Conference the recommendation by the Task Force on Redistricting was approved by a strong majority vote of the delegates. The recommendation was to go from 18 districts to 16 districts. Key reasons for this reduction:

1. Annual savings of approximately $440,000 (for salaries, housing and offices).
2. New adjustments can be made for changing demographics.
3. Create a better balance for the number of charges per district.

The Task Force also made clear that while the Annual Conference decides how many districts we will have, the district lines are, by Discipline, set by the Bishop after consultation with the Cabinet. The Task Force did offer a plan for how we could change from 18 to 16 districts and on March 9, 2010 the following motion was approved unanimously by the Cabinet, “The Virginia Cabinet recommends both the 16 districts and the plan as presented to date.”

What does that mean for the Ashland District? One of the new districts centered around Fredericksburg will include the following counties: Caroline, Fauquier (southern part), King George, Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, Spotsylvania, Stafford and Westmoreland.

Our current churches in Hanover and Henrico counties will move to the Richmond District. Our churches in King and Queen, New Kent and King William would be included in a district centered around the Newport News/Williamsburg area.

During the discussion at Annual Conference a motion was passed that required each affected district to hold two listening posts to explain the changes of this re-districting plan. Our schedule for our listening posts is:

• September 12 at 4:00pm at Hillcrest
• September 26 at 4:00pm at Shady Grove (H)

The Reverend Dr. Lovett Weems Jr. in his book, Take the Next Step has a chapter on change with some very helpful insights. He lists some unchangeable rules of change which are:

• people do what they perceive is in their best interests
• people are not inherently anti-change
• people thrive under creative challenge

One of my favorite quotes about change comes from Rosabeth Moss Kanter in her book The Change Masters : “Change is disturbing when it is done to us, exhilarating when it is done by us.” P.63

My prayer for all of us on the Ashland District is that we will recognize God’s presence moving us forward as we gather for our listening post events. See you then,

Mark