Charge Conference Tonight

Tonight is Grace UMC's annual Charge Conference. For those of you who aren't Methodists or just haven't heard about his aspect of the life of this denomination, a brief explanation. The United Methodist Church is a connectional church. Although each church is a fairly independent unit, we are all part of the national church. One way to see this is to think of non-denominational churches on one hand, who are not necessarily responsible to anyone other than themselves (and God of course) and, on the other hand, the Catholic Church which has a very top-down administration. United Methodists are somewhere in between.

One way this connection is shown most clearly is in the appointment of pastors. John and I are appointed by the Bishop of the Southwest Texas Conference and that is who we technically work for. We are not hired by the church, though the church does get a lot of say in what kind of pastors it will get.

The other way the connection is visible is in the annual Charge Conference. Every year each United Methodist congregation is required to call a Charge Conference and it is required that the District Superintendent is present. She (in our case Rev. Barbara Ruth) represents the Bishop and the Annual Conference at the meeting. There is certain business that can only be done at the Charge Conference. Most of the really big decision of the church must be voted on in the presence of the District Superintendent or her representative. These include buying of selling land, building new structures, and setting the salary of the pastors (who technically work for the Annual Conference, but are paid by the church.)

Some of this might just be too much information. But I encourage you, if you are around to come by. Only the Church Council votes at this meeting, but anyone is welcome. A lot of this stuff can seem pretty mundane, but it is how our church works and all of this is necessary business so our church can carry out is mission of worshipping and serving God and loving and serving each other.

And I always love questions about how the church works, feel free to ask.

peace,


will