See the Possibilities, Live the Promises
Registration open for Annual Conference June 8-11
By Jessica Brodie
GREENVILLE—Registration is now open for this year’s Annual Conference, set for June 8-11 at the Greenville Convention Center.
While many of the details have not yet been released, such as ordination and memorial service preachers or the official conference agenda, leaders for the South Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church urge people to start making plans now.
“We encourage everyone to go ahead and register online and get their rooms,” Conference Secretary the Rev. Mel Arant said.
The conference’s website (https://www.umcsc.org/ac2025) now has online registration open, along with a list of hotel rooms with discounted group pricing for the gathering.
There is also space for exhibitors to submit an application, people to preorder the conference journal and information on an annual conference Kids Camp, which will be hosted by the new church start Open Hearts UMC in Greenville.
Many parents and grandparents are excited that Kids Camp is returning to Annual Conference.
Jana Clack, director of discipleship for Open Hearts UMC, said that the church where camp will be held is convenient to the convention center, only four miles away.
“We recognize how difficult it is for clergy families and lay delegates to find childcare that is safe and affordable so that they can attend Annual Conference and be fully present,” Clack said. “We are blessed with exceptional, qualified staff and volunteers at Open Hearts, which made it logistically possible for us to plan and offer a connectional experience for ‘Conference Kids.’ We are excited to host Kids Camp this summer, facilitating meaningful camp-style activities for kids across the conference in a fun, safe, Spirit-led environment. We are happy to offer this affordable option for folks who are traveling to Greenville with elementary-aged kids, or to locals who need childcare coverage during sessions.”
Space is available for 20 children in rising first through sixth grades, and registration closes May 15 or when slots are filled.
This year’s Annual Conference theme is “See the Possibilities, Live the Promises,” which draws from Jeremiah 29:5-7. Those verses reference the word God gave the prophet Jeremiah about thriving and prospering as God’s people: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:5-7 NIV).
It is the first Annual Conference event Bishop Leonard Fairley will conduct for the South Carolina Conference as resident bishop; Fairley took the helm in South Carolina Sept. 1.
While full information about Annual Conference will be released later, and reports expected to be posted sometime in May, one thing South Carolina United Methodists can expect is information from the Bishop Fairley’s new Jeremiah Teams. The Jeremiah Teams are four newly created teams tasked with helping transform how the conference is structured, how it operates and how it aligns with the conference’s “Our 4 Priorities.”
Fairley appointed 34 lay and clergy leaders from across the conference to the four teams, which include the Missional Priorities Team, the Black Church and Ethnic Ministries Strategy Team, the District Alignment Team and the Conference Staff Alignment Team, and the conference will hear reports from them at Annual Conference.
See next month’s Advocate for more on Annual Conference.