Online Archives

More than 1,500 people attended the 224^th Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference May 21-24, under the theme, "Poured Out. Serve Like Christ."

The conference members listened to and voted on various motions.

Conference District Realignment is Approved
The Baltimore-Washington Conference overwhelmingly passed a proposal to move from nine districts to eight. The plan will go into effect July 1, 2008.

COSROW to Evaluate Women in Ministry
A motion was passed for COSROW to determine what progress has been made since the 2003 study that researched women in ministry in the Baltimore-Washington Conference.

Conference Nearly Halfway to Acts 2 Congregations Goal
Bishop Schol announced that the conference has 272 Acts 2 churches, a 200-percent increase since 2005.

Hope Fund Receives a Boost
Members of annual conference raised $74,379 in a special offering for the HOPE Fund.

Episcopal Endorsement
The Rev. Peggy Johnson of Christ UMC of the Deaf in Baltimore was overwhelmingly endorsed by the Baltimore-Washington Conference as its candidate for the bishop.

Regional Dialogue for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) will Continue
Annual Conference members voted to continue to facilitate regional dialogue teams that will explore issues related to the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people within the life of The United Methodist Church.

Adjourned Session
An adjourned session of annual conference will be held later this year to discuss apportionment and stewardship issues.

Stewardship Report was Approved
Conference members adopted a 2009 budget of $18,829,745. Members also voted to decrease the benevolence factor a half of a percent, from 22.5 to 22 percent.

Ordination
Eighteen women and men were ordained as Elders and one woman was ordained a full member Deacon.

Next Annual Conference
The next session of annual conference will be held June 4-6, 2009 at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel in Baltimore.