Welcome!
Valley Ridge District of the Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church
The Valley Ridge District connects members of 138 United Methodist Churches in Alleghany, Augusta, Bath, Bedford, Botetourt, Craig, Floyd, Franklin, Giles, Highland, Montgomery, Roanoke, Rockbridge, and Rockingham Counties and the cities and towns of Buena Vista, Clifton Forge, Covington, Lexington, Roanoke, Salem, Staunton, and Waynesboro with the Virginia Annual Conference, the United Methodist Church, and the World in ministry to others on behalf of Christ.
The clergy and laity of the Valley Ridge District are supervised by a Conference-appointed District Superintendent. The Virginia Conference comprises eight districts serving over 1,100 local United Methodist congregations across most of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Virginia Conference Bishop: Sue Haupert-Johnson
District Superintendent: J. Douglas Forrester
Fishersville Office
Address: 26 Orr Drive, Fishersville, VA 22939
Phone: 540-932-1055
Office Hours: Monday - Thursday 7:30 AM - 3:30 PM Friday 7:30 - noon
Roanoke Office
Address: 402 Second Street, SW, Roanoke, VA 24011
Phone: 540-989-3335
Office Hours: Monday - Friday 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM
From the District Office
The Beginning and the End
It had been a long week, and I was driving home from my fourth out-of-town disaffiliation meeting in four nights, meetings attended by members from seven small congregations on the Valley Ridge District. My next presentation would be three days later for a circuit of three churches located two hours from my home. As I drove, the smoke from the Canadian wildfires mingled with the quickly approaching dusk to transform the typically serene, pastoral vistas into something resembling a dystopian landscape. I felt like I had eaten every meal for a week in my car.
When a District Superintendent gives the one of the presentations which are necessary to begin the disaffiliation process in the Virginia Conference, we explain to those gathered that the congregation must begin their work with thirty days of prayer and discernment. There are no exceptions to this rule, no matter what objections we hear: We’ve been praying about this for years, preacher! Why do we have to do it some more?