2014 UM Polity Series – Annual Conference

        Article IV of the Constitution of the United Methodist Church calls annual conferences the “fundamental bodies of the Church.” (Discipline ¶11)

According to Discipline the purpose of the annual conference is “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world (this is the mission of the whole UMC according to ¶120) by equipping its local churches for ministry and by providing a connection for ministry beyond the local church; all to the glory of God.” (Discipline ¶601)

We are in the Iowa Annual Conferences which includes the state of Iowa and one church in Illinois (Wesley UMC in East Dubuque.)  However, there may be more than one annual conference in a state, or one annual conference may be made up of more than one state.  It may also work the same way for areas outside of the United States.  The map at left shows the annual conferences in the United States.

As the name implies, annual conference is a meeting that takes place once each year. (In Iowa in early June; in 2014, June 7-9.)  At this meeting we gather for worship, fellowship, and learning.  We also receive reports about various ministries and conduct business sessions to approve budgets, ministry plans, rules and policies of the annual conference, and resolutions related to social and moral issues.

Membership in the annual conference includes all of the clergy, active and retired, and an equal number of lay members.  Each charge elects one lay member for each pastor serving the charge. (Our three church charge elects one lay member to balance me as the pastor.)  Retired clergy and other clergy serving outside of the local church (chaplains, staff positions, etc.) are balanced by lay persons who are in certain positions of conference and district leadership, including United Methodist Men and United Methodist Women, as well as youth and young adult members.  If there are still clergy left to be balanced, each district will be assigned a number of equalization members.  The district will then assign equalization members to charges with larger membership which may be underrepresented. (For 2014 our charge has been assigned two equalization members, which, in addition to our regular member, makes our total of lay members three.  They are Carol Matta, Dee Shope, and Terri Goodhart. Each of them represents the charge as a whole, not just one church.)

For almost all of the business and activities of the annual conference session the clergy and laity meet together as one body of equals.  However, the clergy are required to gather separately in an additional session called clergy, or executive, session.  During this closed session ordained clergy members vote on clergy candidates, handle any issues of clergy discipline, and vote to grant retirement, disability and other changes in clergy status.  The Discipline calls these “matters of ordination, character, and conference relations of clergy.”  (For clergy, membership is in the annual conference, not the local church.  The annual conference is the primary place where clergy receive support and accountability.)   While the clergy are in clergy session the lay members sometimes also gather in laity session.

In addition to being an annual meeting, the annual conference is also a structure which supports churches and persons in mission and ministry throughout the year.  We will talk more about how the annual conference works throughout the year in the next article.