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BY LINDA WORTHINGTON
UMCONNECTION STAFF

In an initiative aimed at better allocating conference resources to help all churches become Acts 2 congregations, the Baltimore-Washington Conference is proposing to move from nine districts to eight.

The district realignment will give the conference's four regions roughly an equal number of churches, and allow all the districts to determine what will be the best fit for them in terms of needs, geography and shared ministry.

The new strategy will also save the conference approximately $200,000 a year.

The plan was supported by Council on Finance and Administration and the Discipleship Council and unanimously approved by the Connectional Table. The proposal will go to the annual conference session in May for final approval.

The Connectional Table is composed of leaders and members of all conference boards and agencies. It meets twice a year. About 75 people attended the March 1 meeting, held at the Conference Center, when the strategy was approved.

According to the Book of Discipline, the annual conference sets the number of districts, the bishop sets the district boundaries.

If approved, the plan will go into effect July 1.

Currently, all regions, except Baltimore, include two districts. Baltimore has three. The plan is to have four regions, eight districts and five staff people in each region.

Four of these staff people would serve as Guides, working as coaches for individual pastors and churches. The guides include the district superintendents, who also coach pastors.

At present, the workload of the guides varies significantly in each region and district. Some guides work with 20 pastors, while others work with more than 30. The plan would equalize the load to about 25-30 pastors per guide.

This change would enable guides to meet more regularly with their assigned pastors and build better relationships with each, according to the Rev. T. R. Chattin, the chair of the realignment committee and director of the Western Region.

"The need for realignment was recognized through a recent capacity study around the deployment of our conference staff," Chattin said. "Through the study, it became clear that there were enormous inequities with the number of churches and pastors being guided and the number of guides. This strategy goes a long way towards rectifying that."

Several different plans were identified to address capacity issues and effectively align churches and resources. Some of these included increasing from nine to ten districts or increasing to as many as 20 districts with a guide overseeing each new district. These two proposals would increase the budget and administration. Eight districts was overwhelmingly supported as being the long term best interest of the conference.

The boundary changes will require some churches to be located in a new region. For example, the Washington-Columbia district boundaries would be changed to a more "logical" configuration. As one district is eliminated, reconfiguring its current boundaries would necessitate changes in the other eight districts.

As the task force continues to look at boundary changes, it will look to the Baltimore Regional leadership team to help determine where the boundaries would be, Chattin said.

"We want to maintain the diversity in the districts in the Baltimore Region," she said.

One concern raised is that realignment would create a segregated district of congregations of color in the Baltimore region, Chattin said. There is no desire to create a segregated district, Chattin said. It is anticipated that one of the districts will have 30 African-American churches, 42 white churches and one or two Korean and Hispanic congregations.

The timing of the proposed realignment also coincides with the retirement of the Rev. Eugene Matthews, who will be stepping down as superintendent of the Baltimore North District, Chattin pointed out.
Chattin acknowledged that there would be challenges, as there is with any new initiative, but she anticipates that challenges will be minimal and worth the effort.

"There will be changes in Discipler groups and Guides," she said. "But some of the disruption is inevitable anyway, because of routine changes in Guides and Discipler Groups as pastors move.

"But in the end, our Guides will form better relationships with their pastors and we can continue the work of making 600 Acts 2 congregations by 2012. The realignment strategy moves us in that direction."

Shaun Lane contributed to this story.