“Conferences” in The U.M.C.
(or I keep hearing we’re in a Conference; is it the Pac-12?)
In mid-June (June 10-11), all active clergy, retired clergy who choose, and elected leaders from all of our United Methodist Churches in the state of Arizona and part of Nevada will gather for the “Desert Southwest Annual Conference.” This regional gathering occurs annually, and though it was online in 2020 and 2021, in 2022 it will be a hybrid experience for both in-person and online attendees.
Annual conference is the middle of four levels of “Conferences” that constitute the organization of The United Methodist Church. You may also have heard that while General Conference has been delayed yet again until 2024, Jurisdictional Conferences may still meet later this year. What are all these “Conferences,” and why do they matter to us as United Methodists? Here is a summary of the “Conferences” of The UMC.
First, note that Methodists use the term “Conference” intentionally with two simultaneous meanings: it refers (1) to a physical/geographical region, and (2) to a regular gathering/meeting of leaders from within that region. Many of our Annual Conferences have adopted the communications habits of either adding the parenthetical word (Regional) – e.g. Desert Southwest Annual (Regional) Conference – or dropping the word Annual altogether – e.g. Desert Southwest Conference.
The term goes back to the earliest days of the Methodist movement, when John Wesley called all the itinerant Methodist preachers together annually for a conference in what he called the Methodist Connexion*. (We still use the word “connectional” to refer to our interconnectedness with other Methodists.) The first such Conference occurred amongst the Methodists in England in 1744, and thereafter became an annual event.
*I wrote about “ConneXion” back in 2020. Click here for more.
In July, 1773, the Methodist preachers in the American colonies gathered for the first Annual Conference in Philadelphia. Over 10 days at the end of 1784, this “Christmas Conference” marked the official beginning of the Methodist Episcopal Church (the first Methodist Church to separate from the Church of England, and a predecessor of our modern United Methodist Church).
As the church in America grew, the organization of the church was developed into four primary levels, all with the name “Conference” applied to them:
- The Charge Conference is the annual meeting of a local church’s leadership, where leaders are elected, pastoral salaries are approved, and goals and objectives for the church’s ministry are discerned. Ours is generally held toward the end of each year.
- The Annual Conference is both a regional body (we are part of the Desert Southwest Annual Conference) that provides organization to multiple churches and the annual meeting of clergy and lay leaders from those churches. Ours is generally held in June. (Click here for a map of annual conferences in the US.)
- Jurisdictional or Central Conferences are a much larger regional body consisting of several Annual Conferences, and meet every four years (quadrennium) for purposes of church oversight, including the election of bishops. Jurisdictions exist within the United States – we are part of the Western Jurisdiction. Central Conferences are equivalent to Jurisdictional Conferences, but exist outside of the United States (and have the rights to some activities, including editing The Discipline, that American Jurisdictional Conferences do not have).
- The General Conference is the largest organizational body of the church, and includes elected representatives from every Annual Conference worldwide, gathering together once every four years to review the Church’s mission, update the governing documents of the Church (The Discipline; the Book of Resolutions), officially “speak” for the church, and provide guidance to ministries of Christ through The United Methodist Church.
Ordination in The United Methodist Church
(or, Why is Ron an “elder” at 47? I have older socks.)
As you’ll read elsewhere in this month’s Epistle, on Saturday, June 11, our own Meredith Joubert will be commissioned as a Deacon in The United Methodist Church! Hurrah! This is a significant moment in Meredith’s call to, and journey as, a clergy woman in our denomination, and we wanted to share with you about the “orders” of clergy in our United Methodist Church and a bit about the ordination process. (And you can visit the online blog version of this article on our website for live links to even more!)
Since 1996 there have been three different “orders” of clergy in The United Methodist Church. The year 1996 is important because some terms now used for the orders were previously used for different stages in one ordination process, but through discernment the General Conference adapted The Discipline to recognize them as permanent orders.
Once again, let’s begin with a bit of context and remember that in The United Methodist Church we believe that all people are called to ministries of love, justice, and service within local congregations and the communities in which they live as part of the “priesthood of all believers.” All who follow Jesus have a share in the ministry of Jesus! Even so, among the people of God some are called and affirmed to be set apart for vocational ministry.
The Order of Elders
The order that is probably more readily recognized by most of us is that of “Elder.” What we often think of as the church pastor is an Elder, one who provides spiritual and temporal leadership to the local congregation that all its members may grow and serve in Christ. By Discipline, Elders are described as called and ordained to Word, Sacrament, Order, and Service and:
“authorized to preach and teach the Word of God, to provide pastoral care and counsel, to administer the sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion, and to order the life of the Church for service in mission and ministry. The servant leadership of the elder, in both parish and extension ministries, is expressed by leading the people of God in worship and prayer, by leading persons to faith in Jesus Christ, by exercising pastoral supervision, and by ordering the Church in mission in the world.”
¶332, The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church 2016
In our connectional system as it exists today Elders make the commitment to “itinerate,” meaning they will go and serve in those places where the annual conference’s bishop and cabinet of leaders discern and appoint them.
There Order of Deacons
An equal but different order of clergy, “Deacons” take on a primary responsibility not in leading the church but in serving to connect the witness of the church with the needs of local communities. By Discipline, Deacons are described as called to Love, Justice, and Service
“and for connecting the church with the most needy, neglected, and marginalized among the children of God. This ministry grows out of the Weselyan passion for social holiness and ministry among the poor… Deacons fulfill servant ministry in the world and lead the Church in relating the gathered life of Christians to their ministries in the world, interrelating worship in the gathered community with service to God in the world.”
¶328, The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church 2016
In our connectional system, Deacons generally seek out or begin their own ministries to connect church and community, and seek approval by the annual conference’s bishop and cabinet of leaders to appoint them to that ministry.
Ordination
Since 1996, the process of ordination to either of these two clergy orders (Elder, Deacon) has consisted of many steps with two key public moments of affirmation. After approval by a local church’s Charge Conference, the local district’s Committee on Ministry, and the annual conference Board of Ordained Ministry, and completion of set requirements of study and service, an individual may be voted upon by the annual conference’s clergy session to be:
- Commissioned and elected as a “Provisional Member” to serve in the annual conference. In our conference these provisional members may also be called “Residents in Ministry.” (This is the stage Meredith is now at, as she goes before the conference’s clergy session for approval and commissioning as a Deacon!)
- Ordained and elected as a “Full Member” in the annual conference. This occurs after at least two years of service as a provisional member and repeating the approval processes with the Board of Ordained Ministry.
Click here to learn more about ordination in The United Methodist Church.
Additional Modes of Ministry
In addition to these orders, there is also a Fellowship of Local Pastors. Local Pastors are called and licensed to a ministry of leadership in local churches, but pursue a different level of schooling and are subject to different supervision and authority than ordained clergy. There are also lay servant ministries that include the Certified Lay Servant, Certified Lay Speaker, Certified Lay Minister, and Lay Missioner.