As we are anticipating change in our Denomination, we thought it might be a good time for us to understand the current structure of the United Methodist Church.
For the next four weeks, I will share some basis informaiton that will help understand our denomination. We hope that the following information will help us lay down a foundation to understand what will happen at our upcoming General Conference.
Week 1 – Understanding Conferences
Week 2 – Understanding Delegates
Week 3 – Understanding Past Schisms
Week 4 – Understanding the next General Conference
We will hold an information for our church members, regarding the upcoming General Conference on Sunday, March 29th at 4pm.
Understanding United Methodist Church (1) – Conferences
We are a connectional church. Connectional means that every United Methodist Church in the world is connected in our mission to ‘Make Disciples of Jesus Christ, for the Transformation of the World.’ Connectional systems are considered as the essential value of being a United Methodist Church, along with our Wesleyan Tradition (Connection makes UMC work). Through the connectional system, we are able to be involved in God’s mission together. When we come together, we are able to do more together.
Through the connectional system, we can say that the United Methodist Church is a global denomination. The United Methodist Churches worldwide, share the same mission, structure, and organization. The Book of Discipline, which details our beliefs, doctrine, and policies, is shared among the worldwide United Methodist Churches.
Every United Methodist Church is connected to this Global Denomation through a conference. Conferencing is a method for the churches to come together and discern God’s will for the church and make decisions by coming together.
Starting from the local church to the General Conference, we use this method to make decisions, to enhance our ministry to the world. I have found an article that defines each level of conferences, and I will share it with you.
METHODISM AS A CONNECTIONAL CHURCH (Click to veiw full article)
The Local Church
Ministry begins at the local church level. Each congregation has an elected lay leader who works with other lay and clergy leaders to carry out the mission of the church. Each church or charge has an annual charge conference to elect leaders, set the pastor’s salary and the budget, and to present ministry plans. These churches and charges are part of a district.
Districts
Somewhat similar to the way cities and towns are organized into counties, groups of churches in a geographical area form a district. Often churches in a district will work together to provide training and mission opportunities. Each district has a district lay leader who supports and trains local church lay leaders. A district superintendent (DS) is a clergy person who is appointed to provide administrative and spiritual leadership for the churches in a district. The DS typically presides over charge conferences.
Annual Conference
All of the districts in a particular geographical area make up an annual conference. The words annual conference can refer to either the geographical area that make up the conference or to the annual meeting of lay and clergy members of the annual conference.
Each local charge elects at least one lay member of the annual conference. The annual conference includes equal numbers of clergy and lay people. So, if a congregation is served by two clergy, then the congregation would also have two lay members of the annual conference.
A bishop presides over one annual conference (and sometimes two). The geographic conference(s) make up an episcopal area. The bishop in consultation with district superintendents and local churches appoints the clergy who will serve the local congregations within that annual conference.
Annual conferences support the work of the local church and help local churches to be in ministry in the larger community. Many annual conferences operate camps and sponsor other mission opportunities for churches in the conference.
Jurisdictional Conference
Annual conferences in the United States are divided into five jurisdictions; South Central, Southeastern, North Central, Western, and Northeastern. Each jurisdiction has a jurisdictional conference every four years. There are equal numbers of lay and clergy persons who are elected by their annual conference to be delegates at the jurisdictional conference. One of the most important things done at the jurisdictional conferences is the election of bishops for that jurisdiction.
Central Conferences
United Methodist annual conferences located outside of the United States are organized into central conferences. Central conferences are very similar to jurisdictional conferences. There are seven central conferences: Africa, Central and Southern Europe, Congo, Germany, Northern Europe, Philippines, and West Africa.
The General Conference
The General Conference is the only body that has authority to speak on behalf the entire United Methodist Church. The General Conference speaks for the Church as a body and speaks to the Church though the Book of Discipline. The General Conference meets every four years to consider the business and mission of the church. The General Conference is made up of an equal number of lay and clergy delegates, elected from the annual conferences.
General Agencies
The general agencies of The United Methodist Church include a variety of boards, councils, committees, and commissions that are created by and are responsible to the General Conference. These general agencies provide services and ministries beyond the local church, and they enable a common vision, mission, and ministry throughout the connectional system. These agencies are
- General Board of Global Ministries, including the Women’s Division and United Methodist Committee on Relief or UMCOR (office in New York City)
- General Board of Church and Society (Washington,DC)
- Discipleship Ministries, including The Upper Room (Nashville,TN)
- General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (Nashville,DC)
- General Board of Pension and Health Benefits (Evanston,IL)
- The United Methodist Publishing House, often referred to as Cokesbury (Nashville,TN)
- General Council on Finance and Administration (Nashville,TN)
- General Commission on Communication (United Methodist Communications, Nashville,TN)
- General Commission on Religion and Race (Washington,DC)
- General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns (Washington,DC)
- General Commission on the Status and Role of Women (Chicago,IL)
- General Commission on United Methodist Men (Nashville,TN)
- General Commission on Archives and History (Madison,NJ)
Virginia Annual Conference
As you can see, our church is part of the South East Juristriction, Virginia Annual Conference, Roanoke District.
Virginia Annual Conference governs around 1,000 churches in the State of Virginia. There is a small pocket of Virginia United Methodist Churches that are connected in the Holston Annual Conference.
Our Conference is governed by Bishop Sharma D. Lewis, who became the first African-American woman to be elected bishop in the Southeastern Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church in 2016. Along with 16 District Superintendents, Bishop Lewis leads our confernce.
And as you are familiar, our Raleigh Court Charge is connected to the Roanoke District Untied Methodist Church. Rev. Kathleen Overby-Webster was our District Superintendent and will be retiring this coming June. We will receive our new District Superintendent, Rev. Douglas Forrester, from Richmond.
Hope this helps your understanding of our structure. Next week, I’ll talk more about the General Conference and how Delegates are elected.