| Annual Conference: Meets once a year to represent United
Methodists in a particular geographical area. All clergy are
members. Each local church or charge elects at least one lay member
of Annual Conference so that lay members equal clergy members. The
Annual Conference is responsible for accepting goals and approving
the budget for the work of the United Methodist Church in its area.
It is also responsible for approving persons for ordinations as
clergy and consecration as diaconal ministers. |
| Appointment: The pastoral charge or other position in the
church to which an ordained ministerial member is assigned by a
bishop, or between sessions of the Annual Conference, by a district
superintendent. |
| Apportionment: The fair share assigned to a local church
or other United Methodist body by proper church authority, to be
raised by that body as its portion of the church fund. |
| Bishop: Responsible for the work and oversight of the
church in a particular Annual Conference or conferences. The bishop,
in consultation with district superintendents, parishes and local
churches, appoints pastors to local churches. |
| Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church:
Contains the rules and laws governing the United Methodist Church.
It also contains information about the church's history, some
theological statements, the Social Principles, and the Social
Creed. |
| Cabinet: The resident bishop and the district
superintendents of an Annual Conference acting together as a
body. |
| Charge Conference: Annual meeting of a church where
officers are elected for the coming year. It also receives reports,
reviews and evaluates the total mission and ministry of the
congregation, and adopts objectives and goals recommended by the
administrative council, or the Administrative Board. It also
recommends candidates for the ordained and diaconal ministry to the
District Committee on Ordained Ministry or to the Conference Board
of Diaconal Ministry. Members of the Administrative Council, or
Board, are members of the Charge Conference. The district
superintendent calls the meeting and presides over it. Anyone may
attend the meeting. |
| Circuit: Two or more local churches that are joined
together for pastoral supervision. |
| College of Bishops: All the bishops that are assigned to
a Jurisdictional or Central Conference. |
| Deacon: (Before 1996) An ordained minister who has
progressed far enough in preparation for ordained ministry to be
received by an Annual Conference, as either an associate member or
probationary member, and who has been ordained deacon. |
| District Superintendent: Oversees the work of churches
within a geographic region called a district. District
superintendents within an episcopal area comprise the bishop's
cabinet. The bishop makes the appointments of pastors to
churches. |
| Elder: A clergyperson who has completed preparation for
the ministry of Word, Sacrament, and Order; has been elected into
full connection by an Annual Conference, and has been ordained as an
elder. |
| Episcopacy: The system of church polity whereby bishops
serve as general superintendents and exercise certain authority
within the denomination. |
| Episcopal Area: The Annual Conference, or Conferences,
assigned to a bishop for supervision. |
| General Conference: Meets every four years for the
purpose of speaking and acting on behalf of the
national/international body of the United Methodist Church.
Delegates are elected by Annual Conferences. Half the delegates are
clergy and half are laypersons. |
| Itineracy: The system of The United Methodist Church by
which clergy are appointed to their charges by the bishop and are
under discipline to accept such appointments. |
| Jurisdictional Conference: Composed of a number of Annual
Conferences whose delegates are elected by each Annual Conference.
Each Annual Conference has a designated number of delegates based on
the total number of members of the United Methodist Church in that
conference. Half of the delegates are laypersons and half are
clergy. It meets every four years and its main purpose is the
election of bishops and setting of conference boundaries. General
Conference delegates are also members of the Jurisdictional
Conference. |
| Lay Leader: Charged with fostering the role of the laity
in the mission of the church, both through ministries of the
congregation and in their homes, workplaces, and neighborhoods. Is
involved in training opportunities to develop a growing
understanding of the church and alerting the church to opportunities
for more effective ministries throughout the laity. Meets regularly
with the pastor to discuss the state of the church and its needs for
ministry. Member of the Administrative Council, or the
Administrative Board. Council on Ministries, Committee on
Nominations and Personnel, and Finance Committee. |
| Local Pastor: A lay person approved by the clergy
membership in full connection of an Annual Conference and authorized
to perform all the duties of pastor, including the sacraments, while
assigned to a particular charge under the specific supervision of a
counseling elder, subject to annual renewal. |
| Pastoral Charge: One or more churches that are organized
under, and subject to, the Discipline, with a single Charge
Conference, and to which a clergyperson is, or may be, duly
appointed or appointable as pastor in charge. |
| Probationary Member: A clergy member of the Annual
Conference who is on trial while preparing for full membership. A
probationary member is on trial as to character, preaching ability,
and pastoral effectiveness. |
| Social Principles of The United Methodist Church,
The: A statement by The United Methodist Church that states
the church's position on a number of issues or areas that affect the
way we live our lives. |
