Report of the West Ohio Annual Conference
by Bob Wilson, lay member delegate
Once again, I’m privileged to be your delegate to annual conference. After several years of on-line meetings, it was good to be there in person. Dayton’s Convention Center is where it was held and the facilities there were adequate. The theme for this year’s conference was: Committed, Connected, Community.
The Laity session started at 11:00 Thursday morning. Bishop Palmer delivered a statement to all the lay people by saying: Never say, “I’m just a……… Sunday School teacher, a grounds keeper, keep the nursery, etc. Any lay servant can take pride no matter what they do because they are part of the body.”
The teaching that morning centered around being connected and also dis-connected. When you enter a strange place, it takes a person 90 seconds to feel connected, but also 4 seconds to feel dis-connected. So, it’s important to make newcomers feel welcome right away. Dis-connections that were caused by Covid are: distance, decisions, death, disaffiliation, and disruptions in congregations. All of these have contributed to issues in the local church.
Corporate Session
Connectional support has been impacted by the number of churches that have left the WOC. Between 25 to 30% or 172 churches have gone through disaffiliation and have left the conference. In 2024, the East Ohio and West Ohio will share a Bishop.
Global Ministry
Last year the mission offering of $600,000 was raised for Ukraine. This year the mission offering of $29,000 went to Mexico and UMCOR disaster relief mainly in Ohio. 10 flood buckets were delivered from New Zion and $200 was given for the mission offering.
Pension and Health Benefits
During 2022, the Board of Pension and Health was presented with decisions related to disaffiliation and its impact on healthcare and retirement benefits eligibility. At the same time, the 2023 active healthcare pre-newal presented some interesting challenging, yet positive outcomes. The current health plan continues to fall short on collecting enough premiums to cover actual claims to the tune of $1.2M over the last two renewal years and on top of that the initial renewal suggested a 23% increase would be needed for 2023. This issue led to an analysis to a change in healthcare. Negotiations led to a stop loss coverage to $300,000 from $150,000. A final adjustment was allocating 13% of the total amounts billed to churches to the plan participant, leaving 87% to be covered by the church. Finally, we are increasing the Pre-82 clergy plan PSR from $623 to $650, a 4.33% rounded increase.
Re-Alignment
There is a new map of the six districts in the WOC.
Maumee River (Northwest)
Grand Lake (Western)
Olentangy River (Central)
Great Miami River (Southwest)
Scioto River (South Central)
Hocking River (Southeast)
Equitable Compensation
The commission presents the following guidelines and minimum salaries for the calendar year 2024. Minimum salaries reflect a 2% increase over the past year. Elder full-time appointment in a local church —$46,512.
Legislation
There were 9 recommendations in Annual Conference this year.
(The following legislation summaries were taken from the West Ohio Conference summary of 2023 Annual Conference written by West Ohio staff members: Kay Panovec, Chris Clough and Amy Graham contributed)
Recommendation #1—Changes to Structure, Procedures and Rules—PASSED Recommendation to amend the conference rules impacting our structure, procedures and to be more concise. This recommendation added the official list of Annual Conference officers to the General Rules. Throughout the rules, document references to United Methodist Women were changed to United Women in Faith and references to the Director of Lay Speaking Ministries were changed to Director of Lay Servant Ministries
Recommendation #2—Board of Pension and Health Benefits—PASSED This recommendation outlines Clergy Pension and Disability plans and the Health Care Benefit plans for Active and Retired Clergy, as well as the eligibility requirements for those plans, and also includes resolutions related to Rental/Housing Allowances for retired and disabled Clergy of the West Ohio Conference. The base annuity rate for 2024 on Pre-82 pensions will increase to $650 as outlined under the Clergy Pension and Disability Plans section of the recommendation.
Recommendation #3—Commission on Equitable Compensation—PASSED The 2024 Equitable Compensation recommendation presented a minimum salary increase of 2% over last year. The committee sought to balance the needs of appointed clergy and the financial challenges of the local church.
Recommendation #4—Disposition of West Ohio Camps and Retreat Ministry Property—WITHDRAWN by Makers (Board of Trustees) The recommendation was withdrawn to allow more time to study the potential options for the disposition of the camp and retreat properties.
Recommendation #5—Responding to a Request from Palestinian Christians—PASSED The resolution authorizes the creation of a West Ohio Annual Conference committee to educate clergy, laity and delegates to General and Jurisdictional Conferences on the current situation in the Holy Land and to consider whether the West Ohio Conference will fully embrace the request made by Palestinian Christians represented by Kairos Palestine. The committee members are to be chosen by the Bishop and to report their findings to the 2024 session of the West Ohio Annual Conference.
Recommendation #6—In Support of Creating a U.S. Regional Conference—PASSED The West Ohio Conference supports the intents of the Christmas Covenant and Connectional Table legislation, including the creation of Regional Conferences in Africa, Europe, the Philippines and the United States. The recommendation also supports urging the Council of Bishops to expedite the process of voting on the constitutional amendments necessary to enact the regional conferences legislation including calling special sessions of annual conferences where necessary. Through the recommendation, the West Ohio Annual Conference also requests that the Council of Bishops appoint an Interim Committee on organization for a U.S. Regional Conference.
Recommendation #7—Supporting the Removal of Discriminatory Policies—PASSED AS AMENDED The West Ohio Conference supports the removal of discriminatory policies and harmful language related to sexual orientation that are present in the United Methodist Book of Discipline. The recommendation notes nine petitions that identify the policies and language for removal that are already submitted and will be before the voting body of the next General Conference.
Recommendation #8—Affirmation for All People in The UMC—PASSED The recommendation affirms that the West Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church will aspire to become a United Methodist Church in which LGBTQIA+ people will be protected, affirmed and empowered by supporting and amplifying the call to justice and empowerment for the LGBTQIA+ community throughout the Annual Conference; affirms the spirit of abeyance or moratorium as proposed to the General Conference by the authors of the Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation; and asks the West Ohio Annual Conference either to not pursue, hold in abeyance or resolve in timely fashion through the process of Just Resolution complaints against clergy regarding their sexual orientation or the officiating of wedding of LGBTQIA+ persons.
Recommendation #9—Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions—PASSED The Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions recommendation asks the West Ohio Conference to join our denominational boards and commissions in committing to a just and equitable reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050. The recommendation calls on the bishop to establish a working group to study this action and develop an implementation plan. The working group will report back on their plan to the 2024 session of the Annual Conference.
The voting concluded Friday afternoon and the people were dismissed. Linda and I ate nearby and then went back to our hotel because business for us was over. We left Saturday morning to head back to Baltimore.
I left the conference with a heavy heart because I disagreed with several of the recommendations, especially #7 and #8. This is the first time I have left annual conference feeling this way, and I believe it’s because The UMC is putting social issues before scripture. I have been a delegate for several years and have noticed that each year has become more progressive in the recommendations that have been made. Please pray for our church.
Anyone who listens to the Word
but does not do what it says
is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself,
goes away and immediately
forgets what he looks like.
—James 1:23-24
But everyone who hears these words of mine
and does not put them into practice
is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the steams rose,
and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.
—Matthew 7:26-27