The North Carolina Annual Conference met in Greenville, NC on June 15-17, 2023. 1,183 persons attended the conference, which worshiped around the theme of Graceful Hospitality. Bishop Connie Mitchell Shelton presided over her first NC Annual Conference as the episcopal leader.
The conference began with executive sessions for the clergy and laity. In the laity session, members heard from several presenters about how the churches of the NC Conference are making disciples and extending Graceful Hospitality in their communities. From clothing drives to pop-up picnics, the work of the laity was celebrated. In the clergy session, members approved the ordination of 8 persons (2 deacons and 6 elders) and the commissioning of 11 persons.
Following executive sessions, Bishop Shelton officially convened the annual conference. Worship and work were woven together throughout the opening session, with the business of the conference punctuated and enlivened by music led by a conference choir of eighty! Opening worship wrapped with a duet by Bishop Shelton and rising seventh grader, Josiah Curry, singing “I Just Want to be Where You Are!” An attitude of prayer and discernment permeated holy conferencing.
The Thursday afternoon session provided an opportunity for the North Carolina Conference to officially welcome Bishop Shelton and her husband, the Rev. Dr. Joey Shelton. Reports and presentations included a celebration of Laity and Connectional Ministries. Rev. Wes Neal (clergy), Daewon Goldenbaum-Yang (laity), and Gabi Loaiza (youth) were honored as the recipients of the Harry Denman Evangelism Award. Business concluded with Holy Communion with an offering for Congregations for Children (C4C). Thursday evening was an opportunity for gathering and fellowship with ice cream, a welcome treat as the first day ended.
On Friday, Home Missioner Steve Taylor, Executive Director of Connectional Ministries, and Rev. Laura Wittman invited the Annual Conference to enter into a time of using our imaginations to enter into the world of Scripture. They modeled Steve’s creative, dynamic, and interactive way of engaging biblical texts by walking the gathered body through Luke 7:36-50. A diverse group of clergy and laity reenacted this passage from Scripture, interspersed with questions and responses that Taylor and Wittman exchanged with the gathered body using Mentimeter.
We remembered 21 clergy and 33 spouses at the All Saints Celebration and Memorial Service. In his sermon based on John 14, Rev. Dr. Edgardo Colón-Emeric, Dean of Duke Divinity School, shared that “Each person named today has a story, and those stories are connected in ways obvious and hidden, to the stories of those who came before us, the stories of those who will come after, and the stories of all us who are here today…The saints we celebrate constitute a declaration that the Methodist connection is stronger than death and if so, much stronger than divisions and disaffiliations. This celebration does not move me to optimism about the future of our church, because it moves me to something much better – hope.”
The Friday afternoon session began with the celebration of 22 clergy retirees, followed by the Order of the Day with Rev. Adam Hamilton, author and pastor of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Kansas. As he shared his thoughts on the future of The United Methodist Church, Rev. Hamilton discussed creating vital, vibrant congregations and called us to a Jesus revolution. Even in the midst of disaffiliation, our mandate remains the same: to preach the gospel and to live the gospel in our churches and our communities. Hamilton concluded with a prayer where we offered ourselves to Jesus, praying that he will work in and through us as we seek to incarnate his presence, to be the body of Christ, for our world today.
During the presentation of the financial reports, the 2025 budget proposal was approved as amended on Saturday. It was also announced that the North Carolina Conference would be receiving over 5 million dollars from The Duke Endowment over the next five years. The grant, totalling 10.5 million dollars, will be divided evenly between the North Carolina and Western North Carolina Conferences to support the creation of new faith communities in both annual conferences.
Annual Conference ended with the Ordering of Ministry worship service, where 40 persons publicly proclaimed their calling to ministry. In the sermon, Bishop Shelton focused on the story in the Gospel of John where Jesus asks a Samaritan woman to give him a drink. The Bishop reminded us that this is a beautiful story about a woman going to the well in the middle of the day to draw water because she was tired of “The Look.” Bishop Shelton asked everyone, “How will you create a culture of welcome, and graceful hospitality, and compassion for people who get ‘the look’? Each of us belongs to God and one another.”
The Conference offered many mindful health opportunities, including a masked seating area, Blueprint for Wellness Screenings, and free, confidential talk sessions with a therapist. The Glow in Greenville 5K Run/Walk drew 75 participants early on Friday morning.
Two special offerings were received: $6,060 for Congregations for Children (C4C) and $7,543.23 for Professors in Methodism.
Data and Statistics:
- Membership for 2022 was 162,625, down 5,353 from 2021, not including disaffiliations.
- The Conference approved a budget of $12,201,923 for 2025, a 22.45% decrease from what was approved for 2024. The 2025 budget is also a reduction from the 2023 and 2022 budgets (20.73% and 21.13%, respectively).
- The Annual Conference voted to formally close 12 churches. 6 new faith communities began this year. As of the Annual Conference gathering, 99 churches had voted to be Lighthouse Congregations. A motion was passed to ratify the disaffiliation agreements of 59 churches listed in the addendum of the Trustees’ report in the Conference Workbook.
- 22 clergy entered retired status.
- 6 elders and 2 deacons were ordained, with an average age of 38; 11 provisional members were commissioned, with an average age of 35; 13 local pastors were licensed, with an average age of 40; and 7 lay ministers were certified.
- 89 churches will receive new pastors this year.
- A special called virtual annual conference session will convene on October 7, 2023, to ratify disaffiliation agreements for churches that have met the requirements to disaffiliate under the Disaffiliation Agreement approved and adopted by the Conference Board of Trustees.
- Annual Conference 2024 will be June 12-15 in Greenville, NC.
Recordings of all plenary sessions and worship services are available on the NC Conference app or at nccumc.org/ac2023/watch/. You can view photos from the three-day conference online in the Annual Conference 2023 album on Flickr. The final PDF of Resolutions is at nccumc.org/ac2023/resolutions.