2014 UM Polity Series – Local Church

          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.

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…