UNITED METHODIST CHURCH WINCHESTER, ILLINOIS

Conference celebrates Loving Boldly
By Paul Black
The Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference gathered June 4-6 at the Peoria Civic Center
with the theme, Love Boldly, based upon John 13:34-35, the first of three expressions
focusing on the denomination’s new vision statement with a quadrennial theme of Rivers of
Grace.
The 2026 Annual Conference was the second for Bishops David Bard and Kennetha J.
Bigham-Tsai, who are jointly overseeing the Illinois Great Rivers Conference for the 2024
2028 quadrennium.
Bishop Bard, who also is Bishop of the Michigan Area, preached the opening worship on
and Bishop Bigham-Tsai was preacher for the Service of Ordination and Commissioning.
Rev. Rachel Gilmore, Director of New Faith and Vital Faith Communities for the Desert
Southwest Conference was the Memorial Service preacher and retiring IGRC Director of
Administrative Services, Rev. Mike Potts, preached the Retiree Recognition Service.
Reduction in the number of districts
One of the legislative matters that generated the most discussion was a proposal from the
Extended Cabinet to reduce the number of districts from five to four, effective Jan. 1, 2027
on a 394-222 vote.
The Book of Discipline gives the bishop the authority to set the number of superintendent.
The Annual Conference session determines the number of districts.
The Extended Cabinet has been working through various staffing models to help adjust the
size and roles of the Conference and District staff to keep up with the decreasing number
of churches, charges and pastors while right-sizing the Conference budget to keep within
the apportionment capacity of churches.
Prior to the closure of 67 congregations at annual conference, there were 646 churches
arranged in 422 charges within the Illinois Great Rivers Conference – a nearly 40 percent
reduction since the Illinois Great Rivers Conference was formed in 1996 with the merger of
the former Central and Southern Illinois conferences. Membership has also decreased
109,580 to 78,011 during this time with the average worship attendance of 23,065 being
less than the 1996 average worship attendance in the former Southern Illinois Conference.
Another factor regarding the reduction is the lack of ordained elders, primarily in the South
and West districts.
One of the key tasks of Districts is through the work of the District Committee on Ministry,
which oversees the early part of the candidacy process and meets with licensed local
pastors.
Following disaffiliation, the South District’s number of full elders shrank from 25 in 2022 to
12 in 2026 (which includes four retired elders). That means every elder in the district is
needed in order to fill out the committee’s roster.
The Jan. 1, 2027 implementation date also coincides with the announced retirement of
North District Superintendent, Rev. Michael Crawford, meaning that the remaining four
district superintendents would oversee the reconfigured districts.
Other legislation
In other action, the Annual Conference:

• Affirmed the allocation of $300,000 for the second of two years for Little Grassy
  Camp that was approved by the 2025 Annual Conference. The proposed Conference
  budget for 2027 was unable to include the funding and still meet the target of
  putting together a budget with a 10.8 percent assessment to local churches based
  upon its non-capital expenditures. Adding the $300,000 back into the budget, the
  2027 assessment will be 11.4 percent. The 2026 assessment is currently 11.25
  percent.
• Received a report from the Conference Board of Trustees requested by the 2025
  Annual Conference concerning the feasibility of selling the Conference Center in
  Springfield. A office building cost comparison evaluation by a commercial real
  estate broker concluded that the current facility compared favorably from a cost
  and operational standpoint to selling the facility and then finding leased space to
  replace it.
• Approved resolutions closing 67 congregations.
• Established a Special Conference Offering on Heritage Sunday, the proceeds of
  which would be used to finance the purchase of historical markers for conference
  historical sites.
• Approved a change to the standing rules, increasing the number of district at-large
  members from 10 to 25. At-large members are used to equalize the number of
  voting lay and clergy members of the conference. The proposal attempts to returns
  district at-large membership to previous levels of 100 total district at-large members
  (10 members for 10 districts previously, going to 25 members for four districts).
• Granted retired home missioners and retired deaconesses voting status. Active
  home missioners and deaconesses are at-large conference members by The Book
  of Discipline (2020/2024). However, that voting status is removed upon retirement.
  General Conference declined to allow retirees voting status in 2024. However, the
  Annual Conference, through its Standing Rules, can grant such status.
• Approved a resolution calling for a study to be conducted by the Sessions
  Committee regarding the location of future Annual Conferences. Makers of the
  motion are seeking to have the location move on a rotating basis throughout the
  Conference. Sessions Committee members already had planned to conduct such a
  study in anticipation of the end of current five-year contract with the Peoria Civic
  Center in 2028. Decisions regarding location would normally be a part of the 2027
  Annual Conference. The resolution calls for the report to be released no later than
  Jan. 1, 2027, so it can be studied prior to action being taken by the 2027 Annual
  Conference.
• Approved resolutions affirming the Conference’s health and welfare agencies;
  affirming the voting rights of Americans and a resolution calling for support of ethnic
  clergy and pastors in cross-racial/cross-cultural appointments.
  A Service of Ministry celebration celebrated the consecration of Home Missioner Curt
  Franklin; the recognition of four newly assigned lay supply pastors; 16 certified lay
  ministers; nine new local pastors; and five local pastors who have completed the Course of
  Study.
  Twenty-one pastors with a combined 481.55 years of service retired. Fifty-two clergy and
  clergy spouses and six lay members to annual conference were remembered at the annual
  memorial service. Included in the roll were three former conference presidents of United
  Methodist Women and its predecessor organization. Sixty-seven churches with 10,815
  combined years of ministry completed their mission in the past year.
  The Annual Conference approved a 2027 budget of $7,527,488 – a reduction of 1.08
  percent from the 2026 budget. The budget calls for $1,140,488 from conference reserves in
  order to reduce the burden on local churches’ apportionments with $6,387,000
  apportioned to the churches.
  The 2027 budget and its corresponding apportionment is roughly 11.4 percent of local
  church operational expenditures and the Conference Council on Finance and
  Administration is working to bring that total down to 10 percent in order to maintain a
  collection rate of 90 percent or greater. In 2025, collection rates dipped to 88 percent
  payment.

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