This Week's Current Week in Review

The Current Week in Review

August 12, 2022

NCJ Committee on Episcopacy recommending a nine-member

College of Bishops

The North Central Jurisdiction College of Bishops is recommending that the NCJ College of Bishops remain at nine members and that the Minnesota and Dakotas Area be under the oversight of one bishop, effective Jan. 1, 2023.

The Jurisdictional Conference will meet Nov. 2-5 in Fort Wayne, Ind., at which time they will consider the committee's recommendation and a compatible resolution from East Ohio setting the number at nine for the College of Bishops.

Currently, the jurisdiction is being served by six active bishops and two retired bishops with one active bishop on medical leave. Should this pass, there will be at least elections of two new bishops.

Also, this week, the Rev. Jacques Conway, a district superintendent in the Northern Illinois Conference, became the ninth episcopal candidate in the NCJ field.

READ THE RESOLUTION

SEE INFORMATION ON EPISCOPAL CANDIDATES

Participate in NCJ Committee on Episcopacy survey

In preparation for the upcoming election of bishops, The North Central Jurisdiction Committee on Episcopacy (NCJCOE) has created an assessment to gather data about each annual conference. This information helps the committee to understand the needs, strengths and opportunities of our annual conference prior to assigning bishops to particular annual conferences within the jurisdiction.

The IGRC Committee on Episcopacy is reaching out to a cross-section of IGRC leaders to respond to this survey. Your participation is vital in providing this feedback. There are only six questions and the survey should not take longer than 15 - 20 minutes. Please complete the survey as soon as you can. All responses are anonymous.

Closing date is Aug. 30.

PARTICIPATE IN THE SURVEY

2013 equalization members announced

Annual Conference Secretary Ethan Carnes has announced that 162 congregations will have an additional lay member to annual conference to equalize the number of clergy and laity members for the 2023 Annual Conference session.

The equalization formula is set by the Standing Rules of the Annual Conference III.C. The purpose of equalization is to ensure an equal number of laity and clergy at the annual conference. Clergy members of the annual conference consist of all active and retired deacons and elders in full connection, provisional members, and associate members. Local pastors under appointment are included, as well. (2016 Book of Discipline, ¶32). Each charge in the conference elects one layperson for each pastor appointed to the charge.

Churches which paid 100 percent of their apportionments in the previous year (in this case, 2021) are to be granted one "equalization member.” Eligibility will be granted to the 198 largest churches according to membership who have paid 100 percent of their 2021 apportionments. Equalization members are elected to serve to the end of the quadrennium if the congregation continues to pay 100 percent of its apportionments.

"Please notify your district office if you have not filed your equalized member with your 2022 Charge Conference paperwork," Carnes said. "I have a Equalization Lay Member Change Form on my website: www.igrc.org/secretary. Please file this appropriately. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me."

DOWNLOAD EQUALIZATION LAY MEMBER UPDATE FORM

2023 Apportionments released

Apportionments for each congregation of the Illinois Great Rivers Conference were released this week by the Finance and Administration office. Copies of the listing were included in the monthly remittance statements sent to church treasurers.

The 2023 apportionment calculation is from the 2021 Table II year-end report that every church completes. Lines 39-47 are used for the calculation. The total dollar amount from lines 39-47 from your church year-end report is divided by the total dollar amount from lines 39-47 from all of the IGRC churches year-end report. This percentage is the church’s share of the 2023 IGRC budget.

DOWNLOAD 2023 APPORTIONMENT LIST

Charge conference forms online

Forms for charge conferences which will be held in the fall are now available through your Church Portal Page.

To access the documents, click on Church Portal on the IGRC Homepage or go to: https://www.igrc.org/churchportal to find the log-in page. Select your District from the dropdown menu. This will trigger a second drop-down menu where you select your Church. The passcode is the church's six-digit GCFA number which can be found on the monthly remittance form for apportionment payments.

In preparation for charge conferences in the fall, the Finance Office has prepared two pages of information that will assist you in your budget building for 2023.

A document outlining the Clergy Benefits and Costs for 2023 includes action taken by the 2022 Annual Conference with regard to minimum salaries for full-time elders and full-time local pastors.

A second document Important Numbers for Charge Conference provides additional information and background. The Apportionment calculations and the Charge Conference forms will be published in the next few weeks.

GO TO CHURCH PORTAL LOG-IN PAGE

VIEW IMPORTANT NUMBERS FOR CHARGE CONFERENCE

VIEW CLERGY BENEFITS AND COSTS FOR 2023

Blickensderfer retires Aug. 15

Christy Blickensderfer has announced her plans to retire from the Illinois Great Rivers Conference staff Aug. 15.

Christy has served as the Assistant to the Director of Connectional Ministries since the year 2000. Over those 22 years, Christy has been a key connection point for information about missions, scholarships, disaster response, spiritual formation, lay leadership training, and Conference committees.

Rev. Dr. Curtis Brown, Director of Connectional Ministries, shared, “Christy has been an integral part of the Illinois Great Rivers Conference for over two decades. She has been consistently helpful and supportive of our lay and clergy leaders, providing them with information, encouragement, and hospitality. She leaves with us a legacy of excellent administration and superb friendliness. She is already missed, but we’re celebrating her ministry with us. I hope you’ll join me in praying for her ongoing health and for God’s blessings on her and her family.”

Christy announced her retirement due to illness, and she has already begun her medical leave prior to her retirement date. Cards and notes of appreciation can be sent to the Christy Blickensderfer at the IGRC Conference Center to be forwarded. All additional questions and communications should be directed to Curtis Brown at cbrown@igrc.org or 217-529-2442.

Reach 1000 event Sept. 9-10 at Washington: Crossroads

Registration continues for the Reach 1,000 events Sept. 9-10 at Washington: Crossroads.

Keynote speakers for the events include Nicole Reilly, Michael Beck and Trey Wince.

Rev. Nicole Reilley is a United Methodist minister with 30 years’ experience growing congregations and making disciples. She has served in the local church as lead and teaching pastor in congregations from 60 to 500. She has given leadership at the Conference level as Director of New Ministries, where she equipped pastors to start and vitalize local congregations.

Michael Beck is currently the Director of the Fresh Expressions House of Studies at United Theological Seminary and Fresh Expressions UM Strategist for Path 1, Director of Re-Missioning for Fresh Expressions US, and Cultivator of Fresh Expressions for the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. He serves as the co-pastor of Wildwood UMC and St Marks UMC with his wife Jill, where they direct addiction recovery programs, a jail ministry, a food pantry, an interracial unity movement, and house a faith-based inpatient treatment center. Wildwood and St Marks are traditional congregations AND a network of thirteen fresh expressions that gather in tattoo parlors, dog parks, salons, running tracks, community centers, burrito joints, and digital spaces.

Rev. Trey Wince is a United Methodist elder whose ministry includes being a member of the Ministry Incubators team.

Trey never met a project he didn’t try to scale. His first job was a window washing enterprise that he started just so he could have his own business cards and pizza money. He has launched and led faith communities in Oklahoma, Tennessee, and New Jersey, and somewhere along the way he decided that pastors tend to be better at ministry when they aren’t busy struggling to pay the electric bill.