United Methodist Congregations and Hierarchy of the Entire Church

[KagomeShuko]

I was wondering about the structure of the United Methodist Church and how things work for each congregation. I joined a local UMC as an associate or affiliate member (whichever they call it) as I am comfortable there for a local church, but I wanted to keep my membership with the ELCA, but my home church there is not local and I am not comfortable at the local ELCA congregation.

Anyway, though, since I grew up ELCA and even served on the church council and have been involved in the call process for the pastor of the local church before I had to leave it, I know all about the ELCA and the structure and was wondering about the UMC.

In the ELCA, there is a hierarchy where official statements are published, but they don't really rule over congregations. ELCA churches are very much run from the congregation up and have "shepherds" for the people that are higher other than the church council taking care of things before presenting them to congregations.

For calling a pastor, the church council will go through the applications and interview candidates and vote on them. Then, the candidate has to come preach at the church and the congregation as a whole has to vote on if they like the pastor or not. The result of that vote then determines what the council will do - call the pastor to pastor the church or tell the pastor that s/he was not chosen.

The ELCA is broken up into synods - which are regions of the country. The synods each have a bishop over them. The bishop doesn't issue statements on what each congregation should do. They take care of things for the whole region and they do check on congregations at times just to make sure things are okay, but it isn't a major thing where they have to come visit. They don't offer disciplinary action, either. They can give helpful advice. The congregation ultimately has to decide on things like salaries and if they no longer like the pastor they have. A pastor always had the right to willingly leave a congregation, too.

Then, over the synods, there's the national bishop of the ELCA. That person (currently Elizabeth Eaton) does a lot of administrative and overseeing for the synods themselves.

They are kind of "figureheads" and handle communication and handle the major decisions made when ELCA synods send representatives to conferences.

Is the UMC similar? How do things work for them?

 

[Methodized]

Is the UMC similar? How do things work for them?

There are quite a few differences between how the ELCA is organized and the UMC. I'm a UM Pastor so I'm much more familiar with the UM structure.

One of the bigger differences is that UM congregations are more directly tied to the denomination through our Episcopal (Bishops) system. The Bishop, in consultation with their cabinet, appoints pastors to their churches. The local church does not decide who their pastor will be. They do consult with the church. But the is the Bishop's decision.

Clergy are under the supervision of a District Superintendent (DS). And when the Church Council has its annual business session to adopt budget, officers, etc. (Called a Charge Conference) It is the DS who presides, not the pastor or a member of the congregation.

There is a lot more, but that is a start. Please ask questions and I'll try to fill in the blanks.

 

[Rawtheran]

I was wondering about the structure of the United Methodist Church and how things work for each congregation. I joined a local UMC as an associate or affiliate member (whichever they call it) as I am comfortable there for a local church, but I wanted to keep my membership with the ELCA, but my home church there is not local and I am not comfortable at the local ELCA congregation.

Anyway, though, since I grew up ELCA and even served on the church council and have been involved in the call process for the pastor of the local church before I had to leave it, I know all about the ELCA and the structure and was wondering about the UMC.

In the ELCA, there is a hierarchy where official statements are published, but they don't really rule over congregations. ELCA churches are very much run from the congregation up and have "shepherds" for the people that are higher other than the church council taking care of things before presenting them to congregations.

For calling a pastor, the church council will go through the applications and interview candidates and vote on them. Then, the candidate has to come preach at the church and the congregation as a whole has to vote on if they like the pastor or not. The result of that vote then determines what the council will do - call the pastor to pastor the church or tell the pastor that s/he was not chosen.

The ELCA is broken up into synods - which are regions of the country. The synods each have a bishop over them. The bishop doesn't issue statements on what each congregation should do. They take care of things for the whole region and they do check on congregations at times just to make sure things are okay, but it isn't a major thing where they have to come visit. They don't offer disciplinary action, either. They can give helpful advice. The congregation ultimately has to decide on things like salaries and if they no longer like the pastor they have. A pastor always had the right to willingly leave a congregation, too.

Then, over the synods, there's the national bishop of the ELCA. That person (currently Elizabeth Eaton) does a lot of administrative and overseeing for the synods themselves.

They are kind of "figureheads" and handle communication and handle the major decisions made when ELCA synods send representatives to conferences.

Is the UMC similar? How do things work for them?

I used to be in the United Methodist Church and I have relatives in the ELCA so I can help to answer this question as well. The UMC has a lot of things that go into how the church is governed but for simplicity's sake I'll break it down like this. You have the local church whose main government is the charge conference which is a meeting of all the church members and the church council along with the Pastor that meet and vote on the major issues of the church. Other matters in the local church are then handled by other committees such as the SPRC, Finance, Hospitality, etc. who usually meet annually. Next you have what is known as The District which is run by a District Superintendent who also serve as members of the Bishop's cabinet. The DS is essentially the overseer for all of the pastors and lay leaders who serve in the local church which are apart of the district. Next you have what is known as the Annual Conference which in ELCA terms would be the equivalent of the Diocese. The Annual Conference meets once a year where a lay leader and the pastors from each local church come and vote on policies which will affect the entire conference as a whole. It is also at Annual Conference where the Bishop will ordain new clergy members. Finally, at the very top of the chain you have what is known as the General Conference which meets every 4 years to vote on policies which will affect the entire denomination. Each Annual Conference will send representatives to the General Conference from all over the world. Again this is a very brief overlay of how the UMC structure works and I know that I left some pieces out. The whole bureaucratic structure really is quite confusing even for parishioners who have been apart of the UMC for years.

 

[Rawtheran]

There are quite a few differences between how the ELCA is organized and the UMC. I'm a UM Pastor so I'm much more familiar with the UM structure.

One of the bigger differences is that UM congregations are more directly tied to the denomination through our Episcopal (Bishops) system. The Bishop, in consultation with their cabinet, appoints pastors to their churches. The local church does not decide who their pastor will be. They do consult with the church. But the is the Bishop's decision.

Clergy are under the supervision of a District Superintendent (DS). And when the Church Council has its annual business session to adopt budget, officers, etc. (Called a Charge Conference) It is the DS who presides, not the pastor or a member of the congregation.

There is a lot more, but that is a start. Please ask questions and I'll try to fill in the blanks.

Just to add to Methodized's post because the DS has so many churches under their jurisdiction in their district and it is pretty much impossible to get to all of them come charge conference time, then either the Assistant to the DS or an Ordained Elder can be there in his/her place. I know that this is the norm where I live where in the West Ohio district because many of our churches are rural and aren't exactly high on the totem pole when it comes to the DS's radar. They usually tend to worry more about the trouble church's or the bigger ones which give more in apportionments.

 

[Methodized]

You have the local church whose main government is the charge conference which is a meeting of all the church members and the church council along with the Pastor that meet and vote on the major issues of the church.

Just one correction, what you've described is a "Church Conference." Church conferences include the entire membership. Charge Conferences are only the Church Council members of any church or churches the pastor is in charge of, plus the pastor, and any retired clergy who are affiliated with your charge conference in retirement.

Most of the time for most items the DS will only call Charge Conference and the rank and file members don't vote in those. The DS will call a Church Conference if it is something that effects all the membership such as building a new building, selling the property, etc.

Calling a Church Conference versus a Charge Conference is the DS's decision. But most of the time it is a Charge Conference in my experience anyway.

 

[Rawtheran]

Just one correction, what you've described is a "Church Conference." Church conferences include the entire membership. Charge Conferences are only the Church Council members of any church or churches the pastor is in charge of, plus the pastor, and any retired clergy who are affiliated with your charge conference in retirement.

Most of the time for most items the DS will only call Charge Conference and the rank and file members don't vote in those. The DS will call a Church Conference if it is something that effects all the membership such as building a new building, selling the property, etc.

Calling a Church Conference versus a Charge Conference is the DS's decision. But most of the time it is a Charge Conference in my experience anyway.

Ahh I see wow thank you Methodized I never realized how much goes into all of this. if a DS has 50-80 churches though in their district how the heck are they able to make it to all of them come charge conference time? I would never in a million years want to become one if they have to do all of that

 

[bekkilyn]

Ahh I see wow thank you Methodized I never realized how much goes into all of this. if a DS has 50-80 churches though in their district how the heck are they able to make it to all of them come charge conference time? I would never in a million years want to become one if they have to do all of that

I don't know about other conferences, but in mine, the DS holds charge conferences for a whole group of churches at a time. Each church is responsible for getting all the "paperwork" done and submitted ahead of time and then at the charge conference, the DS has each church stand and make a formal vote for the record on whatever was already decided and it's all done for multiple churches in about an hour. The DS doesn't therefore need to have a separate charge conference for *every* church. If necessary, a church can request its own charge conference if they can't attend the pre-scheduled charge conferences, but most churches just make plans to go to the one that is scheduled for their cluster.

 

[bekkilyn]

One aspect of the episcopal UMC structure that I have come to highly appreciate is that it really helps to shield its pastors from local church clergy abuse. We hear a lot about clergy abusing parishioners, but less about when the church abuses its clergy, and having an episcopal system means that the clergy could be moved to a different appointment if necessary without the livelihood of the clergy and family being seriously threatened.

The episcopal structure also helps minority clergy get appointments in the first place.

Another advantage to the episcopal structure is accountability.

 

[KagomeShuko]

. The DS is essentially the overseer for all of the pastors and lay leaders who serve in the local church which are apart of the district. Next you have what is known as the Annual Conference which in ELCA terms would be the equivalent of the Diocese.

I have no idea what you mean by the Diocese. I have only heard that term when it comes to Catholic congregations.

Do you mean the Annual Conference of Bishops that meet to take care of advisory issues and social statements?

 

[KagomeShuko]

Just one correction, what you've described is a "Church Conference." Church conferences include the entire membership. Charge Conferences are only the Church Council members of any church or churches the pastor is in charge of, plus the pastor, and any retired clergy who are affiliated with your charge conference in retirement.

Most of the time for most items the DS will only call Charge Conference and the rank and file members don't vote in those. The DS will call a Church Conference if it is something that effects all the membership such as building a new building, selling the property, etc.

Calling a Church Conference versus a Charge Conference is the DS's decision. But most of the time it is a Charge Conference in my experience anyway.

This is very confusing. Wow.

ELCA congregations have church councils. Each church has its own constitution that determines how long people can serve on the council. That's all volunteer unless the constitution states otherwise. They usually have monthly meetings and they take care of what goes on in the congregation. They usually have up to a certain amount that they can spend from the congregational budget, but if any more money is to be spent, a congregational meeting has to be called. I always hated congregational meetings for that.

There are other reasons for congregational meetings. I think it is usually common to have two general ones per year just to let the congregation know that is happening.

There are a total of 65 synods in the ELCA. They are grouped into regions of the country. I live in the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod (stretches from Houston to New Orleans and from the coast and I don't kn

ow how far north). However, that synod is part of Region 4 which is Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and most of Texas.

Not in my region, but because the ELCA leadership doesn't really correct behaviors, there is a church with which the majority of the ELCA does NOT agree that is still in the rosters call "herchurch." I won't get into all the stuff that we would consider heresy.

It obviously had to be a local decision to let that happen. Obviously, a LOT of people have left that church.

And, I got off topic . .

But, things sound confusing . . .

 

[Rawtheran]

I have no idea what you mean by the Diocese. I have only heard that term when it comes to Catholic congregations.

Do you mean the Annual Conference of Bishops that meet to take care of advisory issues and social statements?

I meant to say Synod, I am so sorry! I interact a lot with Catholics on other forums so that's probably why I said that lol. But Annual Conference in the UMC is the equivalent to a synod in the ELCA.

 

[KagomeShuko]

I meant to say Synod, I am so sorry! I interact a lot with Catholics on other forums so that's probably why I said that lol. But Annual Conference in the UMC is the equivalent to a synod in the ELCA.

That still doesn't really make sense to me. Synods are geographical areas. The meetings that the ELCA has are called Churchwide Assemblies. They used to have a meeting every two years, but have no started meeting every three years.

 

[Rawtheran]

That still doesn't really make sense to me. Synods are geographical areas. The meetings that the ELCA has are called Churchwide Assemblies. They used to have a meeting every two years, but have no started meeting every three years.

Annual Conferences are geographical areas as well. For example in my state there are two Annual Conferences the West Ohio Conference and the East Ohio Conference. Each Annual Conference has a Bishop that is in charge of that geographical area.Yu are right though it is quite confusing. The UMC system has many pluses but also a lot of minuses as well.

 

[KagomeShuko]

Annual Conferences are geographical areas as well. For example in my state there are two Annual Conferences the West Ohio Conference and the East Ohio Conference. Each Annual Conference has a Bishop that is in charge of that geographical area.Yu are right though it is quite confusing. The UMC system has many pluses but also a lot of minuses as well.

Oh, okay. Strange name for geographical regions . . .

 

[tampasteve]

Is there any reason the UMC kept/chose such off naming for what are essentially a diocese? Is there a reason there is not a Presiding Bishop or similar title - or is there?

 

[actionsub]

Is there any reason the UMC kept/chose such off naming for what are essentially a diocese? Is there a reason there is not a Presiding Bishop or similar title - or is there?

There is a Bishop over each Annual Conference. However, there is no ONE Presiding Bishop for the entire UMC, but a Council of Bishops. A lot of this naming is because "well that's what John Wesley called it..."