Annual Conference is both an organizational unit (the basic unit in the UMC) and also a yearly meeting. I will be attending the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference this coming week along with Harvey Wise as our Lay Member.
Equal numbers of clergy and lay members attend their Annual Conference sessions for worship, fellowship, and to conduct the business of the Conference, which may last 3-5 days. These sessions include reports of past and ongoing work; adoption of future goals, programs and budgets; ordination of clergy members as deacons and elders; and election of delegates to Jurisdictional and General Conferences (every 4 years). The bishop presides over these meetings.
This year, due to fallout from the recent Special General Conference, many petitions have been made to challenge the actions of both the General Conference as well as the Judicial Council. You can access these petitions on the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference website www.bwcumc.org. Harvey and I will report back the actions of the session.
Peace and grace, Pastor Curtis