Charge Conference 2023

You can find a list of Charge Conference dates above under “For Charge Conference.”

The Pastor will need to contact another pastor in your District and see if they are willing to change dates with you. It is imperative that you notify your Assistant to the District Superintendent (AADS) immediately to make them aware of the change.

Your pastor or church office will mail you a copy of the Charge Conference Minutes in advance of your Charge Conference.

If you are the Pastor, please click on the forgot my password on the OLDCS login page and follow the instructions. The password or username reset links will be sent to the pastor’s Conference email. The reset link is only valid for one hour. 

If you are not the pastor, please contact your pastor and ask for the login information for the Church OR ask the pastor to click on the forgot password on the login page and follow the instructions.

Yes – actually, all Charge Conference reports must be completed 14 days before the date of your Charge Conference.  The Charge Conference Minutes is the report which will be projected or given out during your Charge Conference for approvals that require a vote. Much of the information on the Charge Conference Minutes report auto-populates from the other required Charge Conference reports. Your Assistant to the District Superintendent (AADS) will check for completeness on all your reports before the date of the Charge Conference. If your Charge Conference reports are not completed 14 days prior to the date of your Charge Conference, it may be necessary to reschedule your Charge Conference. Please contact your AADS immediately if you foresee not being able to complete all reports 14 days before your scheduled Charge Conference.

All Charge Conference reports must be completed 14 days before the date of your Charge Conference. The Charge Conference Minutes is the report which will be projected during your Zoom Charge Conference for approvals that require a vote. Much of the information on the Charge Conference Minutes report auto-populates from the other required Charge Conference reports. Your Assistant to the District Superintendent (AADS) will check for completeness on all your reports before the date of the Charge Conference. If your Charge Conference reports are not completed 14 days prior to the date of your Charge Conference, it may be necessary to reschedule your Charge Conference. Please contact your AADS immediately if you foresee not being able to complete all reports 14 days before your scheduled Charge Conference.

The pastor/Zoom screen sharer should be present on the Zoom meeting 10 minutes before the start time to greet church members and assist with any technical issues, such as difficulty with audio or video and identify any callers.

You will need to be able to share the video message from Bishop Connie Shelton over the Zoom platform. You will find a link to this in the Charge Conference section on the Conference website.

For the worship portion of the Charge Conference:

• The pastor read the scripture: Isaiah 42:1-9.
• The pastor will make the Lay Leader aware that they will be leading the Call to Worship responsive reading, and they will be asking those attending the Charge Conference the two questions below. The answers need to be as succinct as possible. The Lay Leader may wish to compile the responses from the laity in advance of the Charge Conference.
  • What is something you celebrate from the former things you have experienced in the last year?
  • What is something you need to let go from the former things in your life and as a congregation?
  • Is there something new that God is already announcing in your life and congregation?

During the Charge conference, the pastor/Zoom screen sharer will need to be able to access the church(s) Online Data Collection page and project the Minutes report as well as Worship information.

At the conclusion of the Charge Conference, the pastor, the Zoom screen sharer, and the recording secretary will need to remain on the Zoom meeting with your DS for a few minutes to make sure that the Charge Conference attendees are properly entered into the Minutes report and that there are no corrections or additions to the Minutes that need to be entered into the Minutes report. When everything is entered, you will click the “Form Complete” box and the red save button on the Charge Conference Minutes Report.

You will then be asked to go to the church’s main Charge Conference page. If you see all green checkmarks indicating that all the church’s Charge Conference reports have been completed, including the Report of the Pastor, you will be asked to go to Step 4 and click on the red button to “Finalize and Submit” the Charge Conference reports.

If reports cannot be finalized and submitted due to incomplete work, the DS will instruct you to complete the reports the next day and contact the AADS to let them know that all reports have been finalized.

The DS will officially end the Zoom call.

It is the responsibility of the pastor to make sure the AADS knows that the church has a first-time ministry candidate requiring a vote during the Charge Conference. The AADS will email the instructions to those pastors and work with them to make sure that the pastor/Zoom screen sharer knows how to enable the Zoom polling feature for those attending the Charge Conference through Zoom video. For those who call in to participate in the Charge Conference, a ballot will be mailed to voting members and will be returned to the church so they can also participate in the voting process.

Read about the minimum salary in the Pastoral Compensation letter.

¶246.2 (Book of Discipline 2016) states that the membership of the Charge Conference shall be all members of the Church Council or other appropriate body, together with retired ordained ministers and retired diaconal ministers who elect to hold their membership in said Charge Conference and any others as may be designated in the Book of Discipline. If more than one church is on the pastoral charge, all members of each church council shall be members of the Charge Conference.

Any member of the church can attend the Charge Conference.  However, only members of the Church Council or other appropriate body, together with retired ordained ministers and retired diaconal ministers who elect to hold their membership in said Charge Conference and any others as may be designated in the Book of Discipline, may vote on Charge Conference matters.

The charge conference is the basic governing body of each United Methodist local church and is composed of all members of the church council. All members of the charge conference must be members of the local church. The charge conference must meet at least once per year. The charge conference directs the work of the church and gives general oversight to the church council, reviews and evaluates the mission and ministry of the church, sets salaries for the pastor and staff, elects the members of the church council, and recommends candidates for ordained ministry.

Source: A Dictionary for United Methodists, Alan K. Waltz, Copyright 1991, Abingdon Press. Used by permission.