A Note from Pastor Bruce - October 15, 2026
Dear Church Family:
As many have noted, Methodists are a people who gather in conferences. We “confer” about every aspect of our life together in service of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This goes back to the beginning. Early in the history of the Methodist revival in England, John Wesley gathered the Methodist Circuit Riders (traveling preachers) to consider the message they were to share, the means of delivering it, and how they were to live as disciples of Jesus Christ on a mission. As the movement grew, soon they were meeting quarterly. That pattern of regular conferencing together has continued ever since.
Today, United Methodists have a conference for every level of our church’s life. Think of it in terms of concentric circles. The outer circle is represented by the General Conference, a quadrennial gathering of clergy and lay representatives from all over our connection to make decisions about matters of concern to us all. The results of the General Conference are reflected in the church’s Book of Discipline. Moving in, the next circle is the Jurisdictional Conference. Lay and clergy delegates from across the jurisdiction (or region within the worldwide church) meet every four years to elect bishops who will serve in the various areas of the jurisdiction. The next circle is the Annual Conference (there are approximately 50 annual conferences within the US church). . As the name implies, delegates from every church (one clergy, one lay) within the annual conference meet each year to consider our shared calling and ministry and to make decisions that will help to lead and express our ministry in Christ. Pender UMC is part of the Virginia Conference within the Southeastern Jurisdiction of the UMC. Also represented at the annual conference are district delegates (the next circle inward). Pender is part of the Northern Virginia District of the Virginia Annual Conference. Because of willing and faithful servants, Pender has had anywhere from 2-4 district delegates to the annual conference for the past several years. In the inner most circle is the Charge Conference. Each local church (or “charge,” if multiple churches are yoked together) in the annual conference holds its own annual meeting that is one part business (approving a budget and slate of lay leaders for the coming year) and one part celebration of the congregation’s ministry in the year past.
This year, Pender’s Charge Conference will take place immediately following our worship on Sunday November 15 (yes, this is a change from a prior announcement). After the dismissal from worship, we will invite everyone who is able to stay and participate in the Charge Conference that will start a few minutes after the service is concluded. By participating in the Charge Conference, each of us can get to know the workings of the church better. Most important, we will encourage each other by sharing stories of Pender’s mission and ministry in the past year. We will keep the business to a minimum so that we can spend most of the Charge Conference giving testimonies and reports of Pender’s life in service to Christ and others.
I want to encourage you to attend our Charge Conference on the 15th because I believe you will find it inspiring and encouraging for us all in this time. Also, if you have a particular area of ministry that you are involved in and that your church family needs to hear about, please write a summary report for 2025-2026 and turn it in to Vicki to be included in our official Charge Conference record. Then, as you feel led, please consider giving your church family a brief verbal report at the Charge Conference itself. No one will be called on to share, but all may have opportunity. Whether or not you have a report to give, I believe each of us will be blessed and strengthened in our service of Christ and his church at Pender UMC as we conference together.
In a world where too many people and parties talk only past each other or about each other, it is good to be part of the body of Christ that prizes face to face meetings and conferences. May the Lord bless our time of conferencing together.
Pastor Bruce
From the October 15, 2026 edition of This Week at Pender newsletter
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