Purpose: "The primary responsibilities of the charge conference in the annual meeting shall be to review and evaluate the total mission and ministry of the church, receive reports, and adopt objectives and goals recommended by the church council that are in keeping with the objectives of The United Methodist Church," The Book of Discipline, paragraph 247.3.
Simple Governance: An increasing number of churches are moving to a simpler governance structure as allowed for by the 2016 Book of Discipline, to learn more about these various structures and view a one-page resource guide with a number of linked references, click here.
Video Tutorials: You can access the video tutorials to assist you in the submission process on YouTube by clicking here.
Formvite Access: Clergy can access both the Church Dashboards for their appointments as well as the actual Charge Conference Formvites by logging into their People Portal by clicking here. If you have forgotten your user name or password, you can watch a one-minute video explaining how to reset it by clicking here.
Deacons who need to access the editable "Annual Report of the Deacon" form can click here.
Extension Ministry Clergy who need to access the editable "Annual Report for Appointment to Extension Ministry" form can click here.
Clergy / Pastor Budget Compensation Forms
Beginning in 2021 churches have completed the compensation form using an Excel sheet which will complete all calculations for you and help validate many of your elective entries if an inadvertent error or entry is made. To view a video explanation of how to complete this form click here. To view a short video highlighting the most commonly made mistakes on clergy comp sheets click here.
Note that the compensation forms must use the appropriate document format provided below. Detailed instructions are included on each form to help you. To view the insurance rates that take effect on January 1 which are required to complete these forms click here.
See the non-clergy budget compensation packet below for use with supply pastors or any other non-licensed, non-commissioned or non-ordained person serving as a church pastor.
Charge Conference Forms and Process
All pastors whose email address is properly listed in the alternate email address field of their church information will receive email instructions on or about August 1 each year. This email will include a hyperlink to connect directly to your church's "Church Dashboard" in the conference's Brick River database system. If you inadvertently deleted this email or did not receive a copy, contact your district office who will help you.
1. The office of connectional ministries and communications facilitates the charge conference process. Please carefully read the directions sent to you or on the linked web pages that you will use in this process. While we understand that many of you will be assisted in this process by various members of your church or church staff, the senior pastor should be the final person to review the information and ensure the correct information is submitted for your church.
2. Pastors serving a multi-point charge will receive a separate email for each church with a UNIQUE hyperlink to access that church's online dashboard (details in paragraph 4 below). This process is very similar to what you did in completing your church and clergy profiles.
3. If your church no longer has access to this email, contact your district office who can assist you with your church's login information which you can use to access your Church Dashboard and these forms and clergy members can access the forms from the People Portal. Clergy members needing help accessing the People Portal should contact your district office if you are not able to reset your password using the "Sign up and login help" hyperlink on the People Portal page.
4. The Church Dashboard streamlines much of your work. The Church Dashboard is where you will enter your church leadership names and contact information for the required lay leadership positions. In fact, if someone is continuing in a given leadership role, you can simply change the end date of an assignment directly on the dashboard. You can also update your church's general information that is automatically published on the Our Churches section of the conference website.
5. You will again use a Consolidated Charge Conference Form. You will access this link from the email sent to the pastor on August 1, 2023 from your district office.
6. Churches will access your church's online form by clicking on the blue hyperlink to your church dashboard towards the bottom of this email to the pastor. This link will launch your Church Dashboard where you can click on a Charge Conference Forms link on the left-hand navigation bar. From this page, you can launch your Consolidated Charge Conference Form.
7. You may find it helpful to review the video tutorials posted on YouTube. The videos will primarily address how to navigate the online Consolidated Charge Conference Form and the Church Dashboard. Finally, options will be shared for scanning and uploading your documents if you are not familiar with that type of data submission. While much of the information is required for final submission, you can start, stop and save your work as you collect your information. Simply click the "save" button at the bottom of the form before exiting your browser after you make any changes. If you have intermittent internet connectivity, you should save your work often.
8. Thank you for your continued help in this process. As always, your first call for questions should be to your district office.
Technical Notes regarding editable PDF forms: In order to type and save your church's information on the editable PDF forms, your best option is to use Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. Please note, that you can print out the forms and hand-write your information (neatly) and scan that copy onto your computer if you prefer. You can download this free program at https://get.adobe.com/reader/. Be sure to download the select correct version for your computer's operating system (Windows 10, Windows 8, MAC OS 10.xx, etc.). On this linked page, you should see your computer's operating system on the left side of this page. You may want to uncheck the other extensions and optional offers that are selected for you by default on this page—they are NOT required for Acrobat Reader to work correctly or complete your charge conference forms. To type the information on these forms and upload them, follow these directions:
Open each link for each PDF form.
Save each file to your computer, prior to beginning to fill it out.
*If you enter data into the PDF form while it is open on your internet browser and not the saved one from your computer, you will lose the data.
Complete each form.
Save the completed form.
Scan the form if a 'wet' or original ink signature is required and save the file to your computer. Follow the directions on the Consolidation Charge Conference Form as to what forms can be combined together in scanning for uploading and which ones need to be submitted separately.
Upload the form(s) as required in the Consolidation Charge Conference Form.
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2024 Clergy Compensation Form - Excel