We are a connectional church. This means we are linked through our faith and commitment to Christ with other United Methodist Churches in our area, across the state, and around the world. Last week the 2025 Annual Conference of the Arkansas United Methodist Church was held in Hot Springs, AR. During these abundantly filled three days, we gathered with other United Methodists, clergy and laity, under the guidance of our bishop, Rev. Laura Merrill to conduct business of our Annual Conference.
I’m delighted to share with you a little bit of what occurred, and Pastor Josh will share some of his experience, then in the near future we will hear from some of our lay members who attended to represent our church and district. We had we 6 laity present and representing FUMC Springdale!
We kicked off the event with special sessions of the laity and clergy. In the clergy session we voted on accepting new clergy, including our very own Reverend Joshua Bland! Then, that night we celebrated with opening worship and a service of ordination. During the service, I was privileged to place the red sash on Pastor Josh representing his ordination. It was a beautiful moment.
Some of the highlights from conference include:
The theme of AC was Following, Loving, Sharing. This is a direct reflection of our new mission statement for the conference, “Working together to build vital faith communities by following Jesus, loving people, and sharing grace.”
Or simply, “Following Jesus, Loving People, Sharing Grace.”
We kicked off day two with worship and a Juneteenth celebration. The service was led by Rev. Peter Matthews, pastor of New Vision United Methodist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.
We attended several continuing education sessions with Rev. Dr. Ron Bell on living healthy emotionally, spiritually, and physically in order to build resilience and lead well. Rev. Dr. Bell is the director of healing and resilience for discipleship ministries and The Upper Room.
We voted on ratifying four amendments from the 2024 General Conference. These amendments include:
- Regionalization. Changing Central Conferences into Regional Conference and creating a regional conference for the United States. This will keep the core polity doctrines, polity, and theology of the UMC while allowing different regions and jurisdictions to practice in a manner that is best for their context.
- Inclusiveness. This would add the words, “gender” and “ability” to the list of all persons able to receive membership in the UMC.
- Racial Justice. This transition us from saying racism is bad and don’t be that way, to we are working together to oppose racism and inequality [my over simplification].
- Clergy Educational Requirements. This clarifies the degree from acceptable schools needed by clergy to become clergy in full connection with the conference [full voting rights] and able to serve as delegates to General Conference.
From our pre-conference journal: The proposed amendments to the Constitution of The United Methodist Church were approved by the 2020/2024 General Conference and must now be voted upon by the members of the annual conferences. It is required that each one must pass with an aggregate 2/3 approval from all voting members as canvassed by the Council of Bishops.
The votes will not be counted until all annual conferences have completed voting. I expect us to know the results by mid-2026.
Here are some highlights in Josh’s words:
In addition to my ordination as a deacon in full connection at this year's Annual Conference session, I was privileged to serve with my ordination class in several other services. On Thursday, we celebrated those clergy who were retiring from their labors. This service included a passing of the mantle from retirees to ordinands. I was blessed to stand before Rev. Jim Polk, who for the last 12 years served as Assistant to the Bishop in our Annual Conference as the culmination of a fruitful pastoral ministry, when he handed me his stole and said that the mantle was being transferred to our new generation of ordained clergy. My response was to look him in the eyes as I received the mantle and to pray for a double portion of his spirit, the spirit of a servant-leader, bridge-builder, and peacemaker filled with the Spirit and with wisdom. We also had a time of remembrance and celebration of the lives of clergy and clergy spouses who moved into the church eternal over the past year, in which we celebrated these saints and came to the table to celebrate communion as an Annual Conference.
Friday of Annual Conference included several business items and acknowledgements. I was nominated and approved to serve on our Annual Conference Board of Church and Society as the Peace with Justice Coordinator. This role will empower the justice and humanitarian ministries which we have here at Springdale First United Methodist Church, as well as serving churches across our Annual Conference and participating more fully in the Peace with Justice work of the General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church. I am thankful for this connectional ministry opportunity and look forward to the season of ministry and fruitfulness ahead of us. Our church was also the recipient of the Arkansas Conference Board of Global Ministries 5 Star Church Award, which we earned by:
- Paying 100% of the Arkansas Tithe Initiative
- Contributing to UMCOR Sunday
- Contributing in each of the following FIVE mission categories:
- One UMCOR Project (see list below or https://umcmission.org/all-advance-projects/)
- One national Advance project outside the bounds of the South Central Jurisdiction (see list
below or https://umcmission.org/all-advance-projects/)
- One international Advance project (see list below or https://umcmission.org/all-advance-
projects/)
- Attend Mission U or participate in Ingathering
- Support a Global Ministries missionary
We were also given the Accessibility Award for having completed an Annual Accessibility Audit for United Methodist Churches, celebrating ways that our church building and ministries make space for people of all lived experiences and abilities. These two awards are ones that we can celebrate as together we gather in worship, grow in discipleship to Jesus Christ, and go into the world in mission. They also serve as a summons for us to press on further into this work that God has called us to locally and within the connection both of our Arkansas Annual Conference and the General Conference of The United Methodist Church.
If you would like to know more about the polity and structure of the UMC and how we work with other churches in our area, please sign up to attend Pastor Daniel’s “Next Steps” class this fall.
With gratitude,
Pastor Daniel
Pastor Josh
