Pastor Jan and Joyce and Tom Hein attended Annual Conference in Peoria June 5-7. There was an atmosphere of cheerfulness and celebration. Bishop Bard told us to “Splash in the Rivers of Grace” (Rivers of Grace was the theme of Conference). We missed many of our friends this year because they participated via Zoom, but Eric Swanson was there in person and sends his greetings. Four amendments to the United Methodist Constitution were voted on. These were approved at General Conference but need a 2/3 vote to be included in the Book of Discipline. Every Annual Conference in the World must vote on these so we won’t know if they passed until the end of the year. Lay people were encouraged to help the pastor do the work of the church. Three resolutions were passed to better care for our pastors: the minimum salary was raised 2.5%, health insurance allowance was raised to $20,000, and 2 weeks of leave when a pastor moves to a new charge was given. A Conference budget of $7.3 million was approved. The budget is planned to be lower each year so each local church can have more for its own ministry. Little Grassy Camp was voted $300,000 for improvements. A resolution was passed to explore selling the Conference office in Springfield to find smaller headquarters. There were services of Memorial, Retirement (14 churches closed), and Ordination and Commissioning (4 full elders and 4 provisional elders including Connor Morrison were ordained). Pastor Jan has been appointed to us for another year, and James Fielder has been appointed as the new West District Superintendent. Hopefully you were able to watch some of the live stream of Conference. Everyone is invited to attend Annual Conference as a guest or to take a turn as a voting member. There are copies of The Current, the Annual Conference issue of the Conference magazine on the little table at the top of the stairs for anyone to take.

Joyce Hein, Lay Member, Illinois Great Rivers Conference