One of our Conference’s Missional Priorities as discerned by the CMT last August concerns “Collaborating for Connection in Community.” As a first step, the CMT work group focused on that priority created a survey to be completed at charge conferences. The survey results provided a lot of useful information.

There are some expressed comments/concerns that we can respond to pretty quickly, some that require a bit more effort and planning, and some which we’re delighted to say that we’ve addressed in the recent past or are doing so currently. The survey also asked what the local church can do for the Conference. Below you’ll find the responses in each of these “buckets.”

What we’re already doing:
• Lay leader training – a Zoom meeting was held on March 22nd to inform local church lay leaders of their responsibilities and offer training.
• Church Finance Training – Tax Expert, Ruth Tribou held trainings last year in El Paso and ABQ for finance chairs, bookkeepers, and anyone else who wanted to know more about church finance.
• Frequent Lay Servant & CLM classes – some across Conference lines
• Conference Staff read a number of church newsletters, but we’ll subscribe to more
• Clergy in transition training – Right Start & Onboarding
• The cost of church insurance is a huge issue for churches everywhere. Last year premiums increased by 17%. Our Board of Trustees sent checks to all of our churches to cover the 17% increase. This year they provided a provision to allow churches to opt-out of property insurance payments.
• Posted an Instagram series on a week in the life of the Annual Conference Office
What we can do fairly quickly:
• Review charge conference & other forms before August & delete or shorten forms to only include info we actually use
• Information on how to navigate the Conference website
• Post technology grants on the website
• Use charge conference info to subscribe church leadership to the Conference newsletter and allow people to opt out if they don’t want to receive it. Send targeted emails as necessary.
• Post more local church stories in the newsletter. We’re starting to receive more stories from churches.
• Share a compilation of video clips at AC25 sharing a week in the life of the Annual Conference Office.
Possibilities that will take more planning:
• Improved connection between local churches and Bishop, DS’s & staff
• Collaborative opportunities – youth, singles, food insecurity initiatives, mission work, Wesleys…
• Help with legal issues & “weird situations”
• Offer targeted trainings either via webinar or in-person throughout the Conference
• Communications training webinars/in-person workshops – social media, websites, AI, storytelling in various mediums…
What can the Conference Expect from the local church?
• Report when they’re doing awesome things – share stories
• Participate in Conference-wide gatherings
• Make disciples of Jesus Christ
• Prayerful support of staff and Bishop
• Serve God
• Timely & accurate reporting and tithing
• Serve on Conference committees
• Serve their mission fields.

We want you to know that this isn’t a one-off. We consider that this is the beginning of a longer conversation. We appreciate any further comments, suggestions, and/or questions that you may have about how local churches and the Conference as a whole can improve two-way communication and work in a more integrated fashion. If you have any feedback, please contact our Communications Director, Alli Newsom at alli@nmconfum.com.