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BY MELISSA LAUBER
UMCONNECTION STAFF

In 1784, a roomful of faithful men met in Baltimore and created the Methodist Church in America in order 'to reform the nation and spread scriptural holiness throughout the land.' Almost 1,600 of their spiritual descendants will gather May 24-26 to continue that mission at the 223rd annual session of the Baltimore-Washington Conference.

Clergy and lay members from 689 United Methodist churches will meet for three days at the Wardman Park Marriott Hotel in Washington, D.C. The theme of the conference session is 'Developing Our Faith: In the Potter?s Hands:.'

Filling much of the members? time will be the election of eight clergy and eight lay delegates to the 2008 General Conference, the legislative body that sets the policies and priorities of the denomination every four years, and the same numbers of clergy and lay delegates to the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference, which elects and appoints bishops every four years.

The agenda currently calls for the taking of 13 voting ballots.

At this session of annual conference, eight people are expected to be ordained as Elders and two as Deacons during a worship service Saturday, May 26, at 2:30 p.m., at the hotel.

Conference members will also consider several resolutions. Among them:

? A petition to General Conference to formally include Bermuda as part of the Northeastern Jurisdiction. This inclusion will be the final action needed to fully incorporate the Marsden First and Centenary United Methodist churches in Bermuda as part of The United Methodist Church within the Baltimore-Washington Conference.

? A recommendation from the conference Board of Ordained Ministry and the Commission on the Status and Role of Women that 'every local church shall develop and implement a safe sanctuary policy for protecting children and youth' from sexual abuse.

? A request to petition the General Conference to delete the sentence, 'The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching,' from paragraph 161 of the Discipline.

? A resolution that calls on denominational agencies to determine which corporations that United Methodists have invested in have profited from the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and to divest from those corporations if this profiting does not cease.

? A petition to be submitted to General Conference to add a new resolution to the Book of Resolutions that calls for a comprehensive approach to peacemaking as an essential task of the church.

In the financial arena, members will be asked to consider resolutions that request 'that all retired pastors with at least 30 years of service pay the same basic rate for health insurance;' and that 'the assigned apportionment for a local church may not increase by more than 5 percent from one year to the next.'

Members will also vote on a 2008 operating budget of $33,028,578. The targeted benevolence factor, which determines apportionments, is 22.5 percent. This is a full three-quarter percent decrease from the previous year and continues the movement toward a 19 percent benevolence factor.

The complete texts of these resolutions and a narrative budget is online in the Pre-Conference Report on the conference Web site (www.bwcumc.org). A FAQ sheet on the Safe Sanctuary report is also available online.

In other plans for the annual conference: Bishop Sally Dyck of the Minnesota Area will preach at the opening worship service; Bishop Schol will deliver a State of the Church address Friday evening; Bible study will be led on Friday morning by Hot Metal Bridge, an innovative congregation that was started in a tattoo parlor, and on Saturday morning by the Rev. Kevin Smalls and young adults of the conference.

A memorial service will be held Friday, May 25, at 2:15 p.m. Small group and Bible study leaders, along with Sunday School teachers from throughout the conference, will be recognized Saturday at 9:30 a.m. And the conference will celebrate the ministry of 22 retiring pastors and the contributions of the former, racially segregated Washington Conference.

The conference will also spotlight the after-school ministries of Casa del Pueblo UMC in Washington. Tours of this ministry will be offered from 4-6 p.m., May 23, and financial donations are being accepted to further this ministry.

Special guests to the conference session will include Bishop Ki Bok Lee, his wife and eight clergy members with two of their spouses, all from the Methodist Church of South Korea.

SIDEBAR:
Monitors to observe Annual Conference sessions

The Commission on the Status and Role of Women (COSROW) will provide monitors during the plenary sessions of Annual Conference and at both the clergy and laity sessions.

Though a traditional function of conference chapters of COSROW throughout the nation, it?s the first time the Baltimore-Washington Conference has provided this service.

The purpose of the monitoring process is to 'see how inclusive we are,' said the Rev. Iris Farabee-Lewis, who chairs the commission. 'We?re not here to point fingers, but to observe who?s being recognized and who?s speaking.'

Two monitors will observe each plenary session. They will monitor whether speakers are male or female, white or a person of color, older adult, young adult/youth.