Restructuring FAQ

(Updated following the Town Hall, Feb. 11, 2025)

Where can I learn more about Vital Change and where can I find Vital Change resources?

Learn more about Vital Change
See Vital Change resources
See the updated overview on Implementing Collaborative Hubs and Connecting Churches

In brief, what is the new BWC restructuring plan that supports vital change?

All churches will be part of a collaborative hub,
Each hub is made up of five to 12 local churches in a shared, geographically-based mission field with a designated Connecting Church that facilitates collaborative work and vitality,
All hubs will be part of six instead of eight geographic districts, and
Non-mission-related, specialized administrative duties will be centralized to support churches, rather than requiring each district to provide these services.

Collaborative Hubs

What happens to those churches that did not participate in the 2024 collaborative hub survey of pastors and congregations? Does a church's failure to submit the survey result in automatic disqualification for participating in a hub?

Every church will be assigned to a collaborative hub. If a church did not respond to the survey, that church is not eligible to be a Connecting Church. Connecting Churches will facilitate collaborative work within the hubs. Some of the criteria for selecting Connecting Churches are connectionalism and engagement. All churches will be assigned to a hub.

How many churches responded to the 2024 collaborative hub questionnaire?

416 churches out of 570 churches, or 73% of the total churches in the Conference, completed the 2024 collaborative hub survey. The congregations who completed the survey represented the full diversity of the conference (e.g., size, context, ethnicity).

Will churches in a hub be required to support each other financially? For example, if a church has large maintenance building expenses, will the churches in the hub be required to help the struggling church financially?

No. Each church in a hub will be financially independent, and responsible for their own budgets and financial planning and management. As churches work together on building transformational, outward-facing, community-driven ministries, they may agree to contribute funds and resources to these shared ministries. Any sharing of funds or resources must be mutually agreed upon among the parties involved.

Is it expected that individual church administration, such as trustees, administrative council, finance committee, etc. will be changed

There is no expectation of this unless a local church wishes to change it. A local church isn’t required to mirror the conference’s centralized administrative structure.

In this new configuration, will churches be able to maintain their autonomy regarding their internal and external processes and structures?

Yes, as long as they comply with the denomination’s Book of Discipline. And, we are encouraging churches to be connectional and collaborative instead of disconnective, insular and competitive.

How much of the new hub structure will involve just pastors connecting, rather than all church members connecting?

The strength and effectiveness of each hub will depend on God’s grace and the efforts of all the clergy and lay people in each church in the hub. A collaborative hub is a community with shared values and diverse resources, experiences, and expertise. This combination of shared values and diverse perspectives provides fertile ground for growth, learning, experimentation, and successful innovation. This fertile ground is more likely to yield fruit when the many diverse gifts of the people in the congregations and communities of the hubs are fully engaged.

Will all laity be invited to participate at the hub table or just selected members? Will clergy and elected lay leaders (through the Church Conference) be expected to participate in hub gatherings?

Pastors should invite all laity to be part of Vital Change and to be part of their collaborative hub. All church members and leaders are encouraged to actively participate in the collaborative hub. Please also, see the answer above.

I wonder if there has been any consideration given to experimenting with a hub that includes non-United Methodist congregations, particularly in the heart of our urban centers — literally bringing together congregations that are within a few blocks of each other?

Collaborative hubs support our values of Love in Action, Strength Through Connection and Partnering with Purpose. So yes, we would expect that collaborative hubs will partner with organizations in their communities, including churches of other denominations, governmental agencies, non-profits, etc.

What happens if you are already in a charge of two or three churches? Have you thought through how itinerancy impacts pastors and the Connecting Pastor?

In the vast majority of cases, charges will be kept together within a collaborative hub so that a pastor doesn’t have to attend multiple hub meetings. This does not preclude churches from working with churches outside of their hub. A part of the reason why laity involvement is critical is because of our itinerant system. The Connecting Church designation was more than just a decision about a particular pastor but also about the relative health and vitality of the congregation.

What happens to churches that are in cooperative parishes? How will this hub culture affect them?

Current cooperative parishes and other collaborations that are experiencing vitality will not be interrupted. Some cooperative parishes are small and join in a hub with other churches. Other cooperative parishes are the maximum size of a hub so will continue to operate as a cooperative parish and will be including the hub process as a part of their existing ministry. What is going to prevent certain hubs from being all one ethnicity? How do we not resegregate the conference? While certain hubs – from the nature of geography – may be one particular ethnicity, as hubs are formed, we will seek to keep our value of diversity in mind – even if that means drawing the geographic circle a bit wider.

Connecting Churches and Pastors

Will there only be one Connecting Church in a hub or more than one? Will the Connecting Churches be evaluated on an annual basis to remain the Connecting Church of a hub, or are they permanent?

There will be only one Connecting Church in a collaborative hub. Each hub will include 5-12 churches. One of those churches will be the connecting church. The Connecting Church role is not a permanent assignment. All pastors will meet regularly with their superintendent to discuss their work in the collaborative hub. Participation in the hub will be part of the annual performance and feedback process for clergy. Periodically, each hub will also take stock of what is working and what is not working and make appropriate adjustments. Based on ongoing feedback and assessments, changes in assignments will be made as needed. All churches have equal voice and accountability in their collaborative hub.

Are there any plans for financial compensation for the work of a Connecting Pastor or a Connecting Church?

United Methodists are expected to be engaged in connectional work and disciples are expected to serve. Hubs are one example of that. Connecting churches will be reimbursed for expenses incurred by the hub as a part of their work. All pastors will meet regularly with their supervisors to discuss their work in the collaborative hub and any tradeoffs that must be made in their connectional workload.

One of the key concerns that has been lifted is how will this restructuring impact a leader’s workload when they already feel stretched too thin. These feelings of being stretched too thin are exacerbated by the current climate of political discord and the fear and anxiety many vulnerable people are experiencing. How does Vital Change fit with all this? How can it help us deal with this stressful situation?

Vital Change is being undertaken in response to changes in society and in our communities. We have been struggling to remain relevant. Church membership is declining, church attendance is declining, and interest in religion is declining. Many United Methodists have been asking, what can we do to address these challenges? A consensus has coalesced around a bold, brave idea. What if we stopped trying to keep doing what we have been doing, what if instead we rethink what we are doing and refocus on transformational, outward-facing, community-driven ministry, and do so in a collaborative manner consistent with our shared values? What if we work together collaboratively and use our shared values to guide our actions and our decision-making? Taking this approach is more likely to help us be more relevant and have more impact in our communities, especially among the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.

Given the current political climate and the speed of change threatening our society, our communities, and vulnerable people, Vital Changes is needed now more than ever. How will this work, and how will it affect workloads? It will require collaboration, pooling of resources, and making tough decisions. Each church and each collaborative hub will need to consider the challenges they are facing, and use whichever tools and resources are available and best fit their situation, to make decisions and take actions while being guided by prayer and our shared values. We may have to stop doing some things so that we can start doing new things, things that fit our current political, social, and economic environment, things that make us relevant to the times we are in. Each of us will need to question our assumptions, be open to new ideas, and reflect deeply on what we need to let go of so that we can be the hands and feet of Christ in the community, responding to the needs of our time.

Vital Change is the work of figuring out how to be relevant in our communities and how to live out “Love in Action” in today's environment. To quote Bishop LaTrelle Easterling: our work is “an unrelenting focus on disciple-making, nurturing our maturity in Christ, and outward-facing, community-driven ministry that transforms lives and communities. In other words, we do not gather to benefit ourselves, we gather to continue the movement begun by Jesus Christ.” We all have limited time, money, and resources, so we will need to use our shared values to help us decide how to bear the most fruit, given the limitations we face.

Districts, Vitality Strategists and Conference Superintendents

Why did the members of the Annual Conference only vote on the number of districts?

The Book of Discipline requires a vote when an Annual Conference changes the number of districts. The overall plan was built on deep listening and input from members of the Baltimore-Washington Conference. The plan recasts a vision of how we might better work together to develop disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Members from the Discipleship Council and Connectional Table – which are composed of an equal number of lay and clergy from across the conference – selected a plan to be brought before the Annual Conference after much lively discussion. Since the plan is a departure from our current district structure, the full plan is needed to understand how moving from eight districts to six districts with Connectional Hubs and Vitality Strategists provides more connection and support, not less.

Why are we shifting to calling our superintendents, conference superintendents instead of district superintendents? Will there be more than one conference superintendent assigned to a geographical district?

Conference superintendents will be responsible for one district. The change in name reinforces that all superintendents, and all of us, are one body in Christ. It helps allow us to not become diocesan or be stymied in our thinking. Getting back to superintendents serving across the Area helps us expand our focus, and allows gifts and graces to be shared in a broader context.

Initially, in the planning, districts were not going to be geographical but population-density-based. Could you talk a bit about why this was changed?

Restructuring is a dynamic work-in-process, and as we worked through the details of having geographically based hubs and non-geographically based districts, we realized that the complexity of “matrixing” hubs and districts would take away from the deep relationship-building people longed for and require more effort than the benefits sought. Hubs and districts will be geographically based, reducing complexity while encouraging relationship-building and collaboration. We will seek to gain the benefit of networking and learning from those in similar but geographically separate contexts through other means.

How will district and conference ministries like District United Methodist Men, United Women of Faith, and Scouting be affected by the structural changes?

The goal is for all these ministries to continue and grow stronger. Some adjustments may need to be made as change occurs. The leaders of these ministries and the many leaders involved in planning for change will work together to address any issues that may arise.

How will district committees, such as DCOM and Church Buildings and Locations, be handled?

Transition plans for major district committees (e.g., DCOM, CBL, District Boards of Lay Servant Ministry, etc) are being worked on. Most district committees will relate to the two administrative regions. The bishop has issued assurances that the process of those currently involved in the candidacy process will not be interrupted by restructuring. We have a current example of a regional board of Church Buildings and Locations with representation from two districts. We do have existing examples of district committees combining to form a regional committee.

The three Vitality Strategists seem to be critical to making this work. What will be the interview and selection process to hire them? What is the process for applying for the vitality strategist position? How many districts will each work with?

The standard hiring practices for the Conference will be followed, including posting and advertising the job description and opening and a fair, merit-based selection process. Please share the opening with your networks and encourage qualified people to apply. Each Vitality Strategist will support two districts.

Centralized Administration

Can you provide more clarity on centralized administration? What are a few examples of district administrative functions that will be shared? Initially, I heard chatter that this would help us with the local church administration. Is that still in the plan?

Non-mission-related, specialized administrative duties, which include things like church statistics, church conference forms, property and personnel questions, and other matters, will be centralized to support churches, rather than requiring each district to provide these services. This will ensure that these non-mission-related specialized administrative duties are executed efficiently and effectively when needed. The centralized administration will be led by qualified conference personnel. Details of how this will be done will be announced as plans are finalized.

Restructuring FAQ

Collaborative Hubs

Connecting Churches and Pastors

Districts, Vitality Strategists and Conference Superintendents

Centralized Administration

Other Questions