S.C. readies for Annual Conference
By Jessica Brodie
GREENVILLE—South Carolina United Methodists will head to the Greenville Center June 8-11 to pray, worship and conduct the business of the church.
“I pray each of you will come to Greenville with a new sense of hope and a willingness to plant spiritual gardens, and see what new things God has in store for the People called United Methodist in the South Carolina Annual Conference,” South Carolina’s Resident Bishop Leonard Fairley wrote in his Annual Conference welcome letter, urging attendees to receive and give witness to God’s presence through holy conferencing.
Sunday’s celebration
Annual Conference kicks off Sunday, June 8, at the Florence Center with packet pick-ups, clergy session, lay member orientation and other matters before one of the more anticipated services of the multiday session—the Commissioning, Ordination and Retirement Recognition Service. Presided and preached by Fairley, the evening expects to ordain three full elders, ordain one full deacon, commission eight as provisional elders and commission two as provisional deacons. As well, it will recognize the orders of one who was previously ordained in another Methodist denomination and will now be a full member of the South Carolina Annual Conference, and recognize one who was previously ordained in another Methodist denomination and is now being received as a local pastor of the South Carolina Annual Conference.
It also will recognize 32 retiring clergy.
Business starts Monday
The business of Annual Conference begins Monday, June 9. After an opening worship led by Fairley, business will start around 10:15 a.m. with the official call to order, greetings, organizational motions and consent calendar.
The theme of this 54th session of Annual Conference is “See the Possibilities, the Promise of a Seed,” drawing from Jeremiah 29:5-7. Fairley said the theme calls us to appreciate the ways United Methodists in South Carolina come together in connection despite the difficulties the church experiences.
“We have seen firsthand the beautiful seeds of hope, healing and love being sown in so many areas of our life together as South Carolina United Methodists,” Fairley said. “It is our prayer that even in this season of conflict, grief and uncertainty, we will continue to plant gardens that bring glory to God. It is and will always be God’s plan to give us a future with hope.”
Various committees will present reports, including the committees on Standing Rules, Nominations, and Resolutions and Appeals.
This year, the body considers five resolutions (read full text in Section 5 at https://www.umcsc.org/ac2025): LGBTQIA+ Inclusion in Ministry; Our Responsibility for Personal Health; Upholding the Dignity of All Mothers; Supporting South Carolinians Living with Dementia; and Recommit to Collegiate Ministry as a Priority of the Church.
Also on Monday, the conference Council on Finance and Administration will introduce the first reading of its recommendation of a proposed $10.3 million budget for 2026. That amount is down 11.8 percent from the $11.7 million budget for 2025.
The recommended budget for 2025 is reduced by almost $1.4 million and is estimated to be 11.76 percent of average net funds.
“This significant reduction is to reflect the apportionments estimated to be sustainable by the conference’s remaining churches,” CF&A said in their written report to annual conference.
Tuesday: Amendments and more
The biggest event Tuesday is slated for after lunch, when the body will join conferences around the world to vote on regionalization and three other amendments to the UMC constitution.
The amendments were all passed by the required two-thirds vote at the 2024 General Conference. But because they will change the United Methodist constitution, they require ratification by at least two-thirds of the total voting members of all the annual conferences combined. To clarify, that does not mean a two-thirds vote at each annual conference is needed but rather two-thirds of all 127 annual conferences around the world. The results won’t be known until after all annual conferences—in the United States as well as in Europe, Africa and the Philippines—have held a vote.
Votes are expected to be finished by October. Then, in November, the Council of Bishops is expected to tally all votes and certify any ratifications.
The four amendments are worldwide regionalization; expanding gender and disability inclusion in church membership; standing against racism and colonialism; and clarifying requirements for clergy-delegate elections. (See https://advocatesc.org/articles/amendments2025 for a full breakdown.)
The language of the amendments cannot be changed. Votes will be simple “yes” or “no” votes on four ballots.
Also Tuesday, the body will hear a report from the Ministry Advisory Team, which has been working since November through the bishop’s four Jeremiah Teams to assess and then transform how the conference is structured, how it operates and how it aligns with its stated priorities. The four teams are Missional Priorities, Strategy for the Black Church and Ethnic Ministries, District Alignment, and Conference Staff Alignment.
Also on the agenda Tuesday is a report from the Commission on Equitable Compensation, which is proposing a cost-of-living increase of 2.5 percent to clergy members’ minimum salary in 2025, as well as a report from the Board of Pension & Health Benefits, Conference Connectional Ministries and Committee on Nominations elections.
Tuesday evening will feature a memorial service preached by the Rev. William F. Malambri, pastor of Belin Memorial UMC, Murrells Inlet. That service will celebrate the lives of clergy and spouses who died over the year.
Wednesday’s finale
Wednesday is the last day of Annual Conference.
Business will include voting on the 2026 conference budget, adoption of the consent calendar, resolutions for church closings and charge line changes, and the announcement of the date and location of the 2026 session of annual conference.
Fairley will preach the sending-forth closing service before the fixing of the appointments.
See a full list of special events, reports and details at https://www.umcsc.org/ac2025. Among those special events is the Advocate Press’s Meet the Author/Book Signing, slated for 12-2 p.m. Tuesday in the Aldersgate Special Needs Ministry Hospitality Room (202C).
Also on that website are hotels with special rates, restaurants, kids camp information, volunteer opportunities, how to change an elected lay member, journal preorders and more.