We
are going to finish our series on United Methodist Polity with a look at the
local church.
You
will remember that the United Methodist Church is governed by a series of conferences:
General, Jurisdiction/Central, Annual, and District. The conference at the local level is called a
Charge Conference, or sometimes a Church Conference. (You will also remember that a charge is made
up of one or more churches to which as a pastor may be appointed.) The Charge Conference is made up of all of
the churches in a charge and often joint conferences are held with a group of
charges in order to be better stewards of time.
Charge conferences are presided over by the District Superintendent or
an elder in full connection approved by the DS.
Regular
charge conferences meet annually to set the pastor’s salary, elect officers,
set the annual budget, and receive reports about the ministries of the church. Most of the groundwork for these things is
done well beforehand which can make charge conferences seem redundant, however,
it is also a time to worship together with the DS and people from the other
churches in the group and to share the stories of our ministries. Special charge conferences can also be called
if needed and sometimes one church within a charge will have a conference by
itself to care for an individual issue of that church.
General
oversight of the ministry of the whole local church is carried out by the
Church Council (or Administrative Council or Board.) The council is made up of the officers of the
church, the chairpersons of the various committees, and leaders of the various
ministry groups within the church.
Local churches vary greatly in
the types of ministries they have and the way in which they are organized,
however, there is a basic structure which I will outline below. Beyond the basic structure churches can have
many other committees, groups, and ministries, however, all of them report to
the Council and the Charge Conference.
The Basic Structure
·
Church Council – Discussed above. All committees, ministries, and groups report
to the Council and ultimately to Charge Conference.
· Board of Trustees – Care for the property and legal concerns of the local church. They are the “legal” board of directors.
· Finance Committee – Cares for the financial matters of the church.
· Staff/Pastor Parish Relations Committee (S/PPRC) – Provides support and accountability to the pastor, consults with the DS on pastoral appointments, and handles the personnel matters of the church.
· Committee on Nominations and Leadership Development – Chaired by the pastor, nominates persons for offices and committees to be elected by charge conference.
· Board of Trustees – Care for the property and legal concerns of the local church. They are the “legal” board of directors.
· Finance Committee – Cares for the financial matters of the church.
· Staff/Pastor Parish Relations Committee (S/PPRC) – Provides support and accountability to the pastor, consults with the DS on pastoral appointments, and handles the personnel matters of the church.
· Committee on Nominations and Leadership Development – Chaired by the pastor, nominates persons for offices and committees to be elected by charge conference.
One
thing that you should have noticed throughout this series is that the United
Methodist Church is a big, complex, active, and I would say, beautiful church
that requires the participation of many people, especially lay people like you,
at every level. It is my hope in this
series that you have come to understand and appreciate how the United Methodist
Church is organized to accomplish our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ
for the transformation the world. It is
also my hope that you, all of you, would get involved in service and leadership
in the local church and beyond. I would
be more than happy to talk to any of you about that.
Our
series for 2015 will be on United Methodist history, see you then…
