About Annual Conference

When you hear the term “annual conference,” it could be referring to any one of three things. The annual conference is a regional body, an organizational unit AND a yearly meeting. To learn more about the Indiana Conference as a regional body/organizational unit of The United Methodist Church, click here.

The Indiana Annual Conference Session

Each year an equal number of clergy members and lay members attend the Indiana Annual Conference Session to worship, fellowship, and to conduct the business of the Conference on behalf of the local church. Annual Conference is typically held in June over the course of 3-4 days and presided by our resident bishop, Julius C. Trimble.

Each year this is our collective opportunity to tell the story of the Connection, the Conference, and most importantly the local church. Annual Conference offers us the ability to celebrate good work in ministry, as well as launch vision for who we aspire to be in our witness, as United Methodists, to the world. Ministries are invited to offer reports in a narrative style that showcase how we are making disciples at the local church level and transforming the world throughout the Connection.

Annual Conference is also the place where we celebrate clergy and clergy spouses who have transitioned into the Church Triumphant, retire clergy, commission and ordain deacons and elders; elect delegates (quadrennial) for General and Jurisdictional Conference; set programmatic and budgetary resources; charter new churches, lift up new ministries, and more.

The Annual Conference is also a time where new vision, goals, and strategic focuses for the future are cast for our people and our churches to achieve alongside each other. In 2018 we received a charge, which we now know as our Wildly Important Goal (WIG) to be fully missional by 2020 and we will continue striving to serve God by leaning forward to our mission.

As the Indiana Conference, we have committed to continue to hone in on a narrative of celebration and missional ministry and have been intentionally leading this way throughout our past few conferences. Click here to learn more about our most recent Annual Conferences!