2023 Business Session

Wednesday morning and afternoon (July 12) have been set aside for the Business session. There will be reports from various denominational leaders, along with proposals for revising the Discipline.

Delegates

Every UB church can send at least one layperson as a voting delegate, and most actively-serving UB ministers also have voting status. The requirements are spelled out in ¶503 of the UB Discipline.

Lay Delegates. For this conference, the formula is based on the average attendance in 2021: one lay delegate for the first 150 persons, and an additional delegate for each 100 persons after that.

Clergy Delegates. Ministers are eligible if they hold a Specialized Minister or National Conference license, and are employed by a United Brethren church in the US National Conference. That covers most ministers. A few other requirements are spelled out in ¶503.1.

Business Agenda

The delegates will elect four members of the Executive Leadership Team. The ballot will be presented by the Nominating Committee, which is currently at work composing the ballots.

Reports from each of the departments will be given verbally (Finance, Education, Pastoral Ministry, etc.).

The Task Force on Human Reproduction will offer proposals for revising the UB Discipline.

There will probably be other proposals for revising the Discipline.

Delegates to the National Conference

All of the information about delegates is spelled out in ¶503 of the UB Discipline.We’ll summarize it here.

The voting members of the United States National Conference are:

1. The US bishop (Todd Fetters)

2. The national directors (currently 6 in number).

3. The ministerial delegate(s) from each congregation.

4. The lay delegates chosen by each congregation. Churches are eligible to send lay delegates if they have a signed National Conference Covenant on file with the national office.

Clergy Representation

Ministers are eligible to serve as voting members if they meet both of these conditions:

1. They hold a Specialized Ministry license, a National Conference license, or are ordained elders in the United Brethren church.

2. At the time of the National Conference, they are employed by a UB church in the US National Conference, serve in an appointed or elected position in the US National Conference, or hold a leadership position in a non-UB ministry recognized by the Executive Leadership Team (such as a UB missionary serving with a mission organization).

Lay Representation

Each local church can send at least one layperson as a voting delegate. This is based on the official statistics at the end of 2022. Churches have one delegate for the first 150 in average attendance, and an additional delegate for each 100 persons above that. For instance:

1-150 attendance: 1 delegate
151-250 attendance: 2 delegates
251-350 attendance: 3 delegates
etc.

Each church determines the method it uses for selecting lay delegates.