Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference

The Southeastern Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church is holding its quadrennial conference this week in Lake Junaluska.

It's primary objective is to elect new bishops. This year I understand there was only one vacancy. The Virginia delegation in an act of grace did not nominate anyone this year. You can check out the news about what is happening the conference here.

Paul Leeland from the North Caroline Annual Conference has been elected to the Episcopacy.

For those that do not know here is the basic structure of the United Methodist Church.

The local church- it holds a yearly charge conference.

The District- a geographic locality overseen by a Superintendent and holds a yearly District Conference. New Season is in the Ashland District. It is one of 18 Districts in the Virginia Annual Conference. Our Superintendent is the Rev. Mark Ogren.

The Annual Conference- made up of all 18 Districts and the churches within them. Each church sends their pastor and a lay person. It meets once a year. New Season is in the Virginia Annual Conference which is basically the whole state of Virginia except extreme Southwest Virginia. In United Methodism Annual Conference refers both to an annual meeting and to a geographic entity.

The Jurisdictional Conference- made up of proportional delegations of each Annual Conference in the jurisdiction that are elected by their respective Annual Conferences. New Season is in the South Eastern Jurisdiction. This group meets every four years and its primary order is to elect bishops.

The General Conference- the worldwide meeting of United Methodist that meets every four years. It is the only body that can officially speak for the church. It sets the agenda for the church as a whole and is charged with making changes to church law and polity as contained in the Book of Discipline.