Update from Wisconsin Annual Conference

Written by Mark Cupery

This year’s annual conference was held June 10-13 at the KI Center in Green Bay, however, it was also offered as a hybrid session so I attended virtually. It was mentioned about 2/3 or the delegates were in person, the other 1/3 via an online webinar. The conference vision was “Radical Inclusion and Racial Justice” and the theme of the conference was “Discerning God’s Will for All” based on Romans 12:1-2.

The conference opened with an impressive Drumming done by the Buffalo Creek Singers for gathering the spirit. We met together in a spirit of worship and acknowledged the Heritage of our Christian faith and the heritage of the First Nation People. We were reminded our Christian Faith is rooted in those who came before us. We also were reminded that we grieve division and violence and that Christian Conferencing can lead to justice and peace.

Several statistics were presented by Sara Schneider. She mentioned that this is the first year professing membership in the WAC dropped below 50,000. She also took us through how the budget was prepared and elaborated on the proposed 2023 budget. For 2023, she indicated most churches’ Apportionments will be the same or decrease - they will work with churches who don’t give 100% to increase their giving by way of stewardship campaigns, etc.

We also had a presentation by the leader of the Disaffiliation Task Force. It was formed as a 15 member special assignment to spell out steps for local churches in WI seeking to disaffiliate. We were encouraged to pray together for the church to be the salvation and hope of the world - to discern God’s will and live in solidarity and care for one another. We are to sing a new song of unity. Time for our church to show that the Methodist is a living church - being there for those suffering from disasters and poverty. Bishop Jung reminded us that no one needs to leave - we are to continue to work together - we are all one body one in Christ. Receiving unity is a gift from God. Discernment is at the heart of the process.

I enjoyed hearing from the various ministries of the United Methodist Church. Often there were presentations or videos during the time the ballots closed and time they ballots were tabulated. We heard from Wisconsin United Methodist Camps, United Women in Faith (formerly United Methodist Women), and many other ministries and were reminded that love in action can change the world.

We had devotional time with the President and General Secretary of the Council of Churches and were challenged to step away from societies’s expectation and that early Christians made choices to serve God and this choice met with real consequences. Paul’s message - fully commit ourselves to Jesus.

We had approximately 30 action items to vote on and were provided a code so we could vote from our computers or smart phones.

Several of the votes

• Discontinuance of United Methodist churches located in Hilton, North Prairie and Bloom City, Wisconsin

• Resolution approving the Disaffiliation and Discontinuance of the Waldo Trinity United Methodist Church

• Commitment to restorative healing - A Wisconsin Conference Resolution on Survivors and the Boy Scouts of America

• Resolution celebrating the ongoing sister conference relationship with the Dongbu Conference of the Korean Methodist Church and the Wisconsin Conference of The United Methodist Church

• A resolution formally requesting the Congressional delegation from Wisconsin to act on responsible Fire-Arm legislation.

• and more action items.

Bishop Jung concluded by thanking all who helped with the WAC to align our work on “Radical Inclusion and Racial Justice”.