Gathering in Hope Together
Clergy and lay members will gather June 14–16 in Schaumburg for the Northern Illinois Conference’s 187th Annual Conference, centered on the theme “Practicing Hope.” With inspiring worship, engaging…
Theme Information
Bishop Dan Schwerin selected the theme to encourage conference members to focus on something that nurtures our spirits before turning to business matters. In fact, it complements his theme for all of 2025: “A Year of Grace.” (See his column.)
“The number-one thing I hear when I talk about grace is, ‘What is grace?’ That tells us we have teaching to do,” the bishop observes.
One need not use a theological exposition to explain the concept.
“How can we teach this? By telling a story about how grace impacted you,” he says. “How many of us would be changed if we told our grace stories?”
Both Northern Illinois and Wisconsin conferences will delve into this theme, and he looks forward to what those explorations will inspire.
What is an Annual Conference Session?
Each year an equal number of clergy members and lay members attend their conference's annual conference session for worship, fellowship, and to conduct the business of the conference, which may last 3-5 days. These sessions include reports of past and ongoing work; adoption of future goals, programs and budgets; ordination of clergy members as deacons and elders; and election of delegates to Jurisdictional and General Conferences (every 4 years). The bishop presides over these meetings. (From umc.org) Learn more.
Who is required to be there?
- Clergy: Includes ordained elders, deacons, provisional members, and associate members.
- Lay members: Elected representatives from each local church, required to meet specific membership criteria (see the list of number of Lay Members to AC from each church for 2025). Lay membership also includes diaconal ministers, active deaconesses and home missioners, chairs of conference boards and committees and others as listed in the Book of Discipine. Click here for guidelines and tips for Lay members.
* Note: If the lay membership should number less than the clergy members of the annual conference, the annual conference shall, by its own formula, provide for the election of additional lay members to equalize lay and clergy membership of the annual conference. The NIC Eualization formula can befound in the standing rules.