The Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church part three

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Jan 2, 2001

The conference functions through a fairly large number of boards and agencies. The following conference agencies are mandated by the Discipline: council on finance and administration, commission of equitable compensation, council on ministries or its equivalent, board of higher education and campus ministry, board of ordained ministry, committee on episcopacy, board of pensions and health benefits, commission on archives and history, commission on Christian unity and interreligious concerns, commission on religion and race, commission on the status and role of women, joint committee on disability, board of laity, and committee on investigation. In addition, the three major program boards of the Church (church and society, discipleship, and global ministries) may be organized at the annual conference level, but if not, must have their functions assigned to an alternative conference body. Only three structures are mandatory at the district level: the district committee on ordained ministry, the committee on district superintendency, and the board of church location and building.

While most of these agencies will be described elsewhere in these pages, one of them is so uniquely related to the annual conference that this seems the appropriate place to describe it. The board of ordained ministry is an extremely important board in each annual conference and is concerned with the clergypersons of the conference from birth to death. That may be a slight exaggeration, but the board is concerned and charged with the responsibility from the time a young person may first exhibit interest in the ministry until retirement and even beyond. The board is made up of clergy members in full connection, except that from one fifth to one third of the board are to be laity, who may vote on all matters except matters of ordination, character, or conference relationships. The bishop actually makes the nominations of members for the board of ordained ministry after consultation with the outgoing chairperson of the board for the previous quadrennium and with the cabinet. This is in contrast with the other boards and agencies of the conference, practically all of which have their members nominated by a conference nominating committee. This, the bishop is provided an indirect but important way to influence the whole area of ministerial relationships.

These are some of the responsibilities the board of ordained ministry carries: recruiting men and women for the ministry; screening and testing candidates at all levels of progress; administering scholarships and other funds received through the Ministerial Education Fund apportionment; developing continuing education programs; providing resources to help clergy deal with problems of the ministry; interviewing and making recommendations concerning all clergy who are seeking to leave the ministry or seeking another relationship; including retirement' plus other duties that the annual conference structure.

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