Annual Conference(s) (ACs): the basic organizational unit(s) of the UMC that include(s) all UM churches in a geographically defined area; also a gathering of representatives from all the churches in the AC that meets once a year and is responsible for the program and budget for UM activity within the AC. Lay and clergy members have equal rights, but only clergy members vote on ordination matters. ACs are responsible for approving persons for ordination as clergy and consecration as diaconal ministers. There are 65 annual conferences in the United States and 54 conferences outside of the territorial United States.

Appointment: an annual assignment by the Annual Conference to a field of service, which may be a local church or special appointment beyond the local church, such as chaplain, counselor, to attend school, etc. All ordained clergy are guaranteed appointments with the exception of those who are retired, on sabbatical leave, disability leave, or other leave of absence. Appointment considerations are discussed by the Bishop and his/her cabinet; the Bishop makes the appointment.

Baptism: a Christian sacrament marked by ritual use of water and admitting the recipient to the Christian community. In the UMC, infants are baptized by sprinkling of water and parents vow to raise the infants in the Church. Some families wait until children are grown and can make their own decision to be baptized. Baptism is a requirement for UM membership.

Bishop: a general superintendent of the UMC who supervises a specific geographical area of the church and appoints all ordained clergy in that area. The bishop is responsible for seeing that the rules, regulations, and responsibilities developed by the General Conference are understood and carried out. Bishops are ordained elders (see elder) in the UMC and are elected for life; they are appointed to four-year terms and are limited to two four-year terms in a given area.

Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church: the official, authoritative "rule book," or book of law, of the UMC, commonly referred to as ‘the Discipline;’ contains the rules and laws governing the UMC as determined by the quadrennial General Conferences; also defines the organizational structure of the denomination and its churches. It is revised every four years based on changes approved at General Conference. It also contains information about the church's history, theological statements, the Social Principles, and the Social Creed.

Cabinet: the resident bishop and the district superintendents of an Annual Conference acting together as a body

Charge Conference: the local church administrative body to which clergy and deacons appointed beyond the local church report; also an annual meeting in which local church officers are elected, reports are received, and the mission and ministry of the local church are reviewed. The Charge Conference recommends candidates for ordained and diaconal ministry. Members of the Charge Conference include members of the local church’s Administrative Council (or Board) and all clergy appointed to the church. Deacons appointed beyond the local church and/or those appointed outside of their own Annual Conferences relate to Charge Conferences in the areas in which they are serving.

Chargeable offence: in the UMC, any of 12 specified acts, including "practices declared by the UMC to be incompatible with Christian teaching"

Clergy: ordained members of the UMC (and other denominations). There are 44,539 full- and part-time UM clergy in the United States and 3857 in other countries. UM clergy are members of annual conferences and not of local churches.

Communion, Holy Communion, Lord’s Supper: One of the sacraments of The United Methodist Church. Communion elements of bread and wine (as symbols of the body and blood of Christ) are taken as reminders of Christ’s death and God’s grace. (In the UMC, the word wine is used but grape juice is commonly served in place of wine.) Communion in the UMC is open, meaning that persons do not have to be members of the UMC to take communion.

Confirmation: rite performed when young persons decide to become a member of a local church; an act of reaffirming vows taken on their behalf by parents at baptism. Most UM churches conduct confirmation or membership classes in the spring. Age of confirmation varies from church to church but generally ranges from 12 to 14. During the confirmation service, the young persons accept a pledge to serve God and the UM church with their prayers, presence, gifts and service.

Congregation: the local unit of a religious body

Connection, connectional: a basic principle of the UMC that all leaders and congregations are connected in a network of loyalties and commitments that undergird but extend beyond local concerns; a network of interdependent relations among persons and groups on local, regional, national and international levels

Council of Bishops: all active (67) and retired bishops; meets twice a year. In 2000, there were 50 active bishops in the in the US and 18 in the Central Conferences (Angola, Germany, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Norway, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe).

Covenant Ceremony, Holy Union, or Union Ceremony: a ceremony conducted to recognize, honor, and bless a covenanted relationship of same-gender couples; often held in churches and conducted by clergy; in many instances, similar to marriage ceremonies; topic of controversy within the UMC. Many BLG couples want to have such ceremonies in their churches and to have them conducted by their pastors; the UM Discipline says this is not allowed.

Credentials: papers showing that a UM pastor is ordained by the UMC as a full member of the annual conference and is authorized to conduct rites and services such as baptism, communion, weddings. When a UM pastor is discontinued, when discontinuance is recommended, when annual conference membership is terminated, or when membership with the UMC is severed in any way, his/her credentials must be surrendered. When this occurs, the person in question can no longer exercise his/her ordination credentials (perform clergy duties).

Deacon: an ordained minister in full connection; a servant-leader whose ministry is to teach and nourish disciples. Deacons are appointed by a bishop, but do not itinerate. There are many possible appointments for deacons including but not limited to local church pastors, counselors, hospital chaplains, attending school, working in the community. Deacon has been a permanent status since 1996. Prior to 1996, a deacon was an ordained minister who had progressed far enough in preparation for ordained ministry to be an associate or probationary member of an Annual Conference, and who had been ordained deacon. There are still some deacons who entered the UM ordination process prior to 1996.

Defrocked: deprived of the right to exercise the functions of office, or removed from the ordained position. Although not used frequently in the UMC, a clergy person whose credentials have been surrendered could be referred to as defrocked.

Denomination: the United Methodist Church as a whole

Discipline: the familiar reference to the operating manual/book of law of the UMC. The full title: The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church. For fuller description, see Book of Discipline.

District(s): geographic area(s); specifically, groups of UM churches within defined geographic areas. There are 518 UM districts within the United States.

District Superintendent (DS): an ordained UM elder who oversees the work of churches within a geographic region called a district. DSs are members of the bishop's cabinet within an annual conference.

Doctrinal standards: basic tenets (beliefs) of the UMC; i.e., the Methodist Articles of Religion and the Evangelical United Brethren Confession of Faith. Both were accepted as doctrinal standards for the new body formed by the merger of the two denominations. The preface to the Wesley’s Sermons and Notes is also understood to be included in UM standards of doctrine. Specifics are spelled out on pages 59-104 of the 2000 Discipline.

Elder: one who has completed preparation for the ministry, has been elected into full connection by the clergy members of an Annual Conference, and has been ordained "to a lifetime ministry of service, word, sacrament, and order" and authorized to "preach and teach God’s word, to administer the sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion, and to order the life of the church for mission and ministry." An elder is available for appointment by the bishop to any place at any time. An elder is a full member of the annual conference and is not a member of a local church. All UM elders in good standing are guaranteed an appointment within the denomination, and all UM churches are guaranteed an appointment.

Episcopacy: the system of church polity in which bishops serve as general superintendents and exercise certain authority within the denomination

Episcopal area: the annual conference or conferences to which a bishop is assigned by the Jurisdictional Conference; the specific area where UM bishops live and serve. Bishops preside over the work of one or more Annual Conferences in the episcopal area and appoint pastors to churches in that area.

Extension ministries (ministries beyond the local church): ministries to which UM elders may be appointed that extend UM efforts further than the local United Methodist Church. Such appointments could include hospital chaplains, campus ministries, counseling agencies, nursing and/or retirement homes, etc.

General agency, or agencies: generic reference to any UM council, board, commission, committee, or other unit established to carry out the work of the UMC. General agencies are accountable to the General Conference.

GBGM, or General Board of Global Ministries: "a missional instrument of the UMC, its annual conferences, missionary conferences, and local congregations in the context of a global setting;" the division of the UMC that enables congregations and ACs to participate in mission activity at home and abroad. Goals of the GBGM are to "witness to the Gospel for initial decision to follow Jesus Christ; strengthen, develop and renew Christian congregations and communities; alleviate human suffering; and seek justice, freedom, and peace."

GC: see General Conference

General Conference (GC): the top legislative body of the United Methodist denomination. GC meets every four years and has equal numbers of lay and clergy delegates who are elected by their respective Annual Conferences. It is the body to which church-wide agencies are primarily accountable. GC meetings are presided over by bishops who do not have the privilege of voice or vote in deliberations. The primary responsibility of the GC is to define and establish the powers and duties of the clergy, the conferences, and bishops. GC also establishes the conditions for membership, provides for a judicial system within the church, establishes the budget for the denomination, and establishes legislation governing the work of the local church and general agencies.

General Council on Ministries (GCOM): a general UM agency that facilitates UMC programming, coordinates and supports the work of the general agencies to minimize overlapping and conflicting approaches, coordinates funding efforts for UM ministries, maintains connections with annual conference leaders, and establishes processes for coordinating and funding UM programs

General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns (GCCUIC): a general agency of the UMC that works toward Christian unity in all aspects of the church; advocates for establishing and strengthening relationships with other faith communities and dialoguing with people of other faith communities and cultures

Honorable Location: an appointment option for UM clergy in good standing in their Annual Conferences who request to be withdrawn from the itinerant appointment system. Clergy on Honorable Location are not members of Annual Conferences but of Charge Conferences of local churches. They may continue to serve some clergy functions, but must submit reports of all functions they perform. If they fail to submit such reports to Charge Conferences for two consecutive years, their ministerial credentials can be terminated. Clergy on Honorable Location may be appointed as local pastors, or they can request the status of retired.

Join, or joined, the church: rite of membership in which adults or teens become members of a local church; formally known as confirmation when referring to teens. In the membership ritual, persons becoming members of the church vow to serve God and to support the church with their prayers, presence, gifts and service.

Judicial Council: the highest judicial body or "supreme court" of the United Methodist Church. The Judicial Council is made up of nine members elected by the General Conference. Its primary task is to determine the constitutionality of acts or proposed acts of the General, Jurisdictional, Central, and Annual Conferences. In general, the Judicial Council follows procedures established in the Discipline and rules on whether acts of other official bodies of the denomination conform to Discipline. The Judicial Council cannot create legislation; it can only spell out, clarify, and/or define legislation.

Jurisdiction, Jurisdictions: large geographical regional divisions of the United Methodist Church within the United States established in 1939. Jurisdictions are composed of the annual conferences within their boundaries, which are determined by the UM Constitution. Jurisdictional Conferences, attended by lay and clergy delegates elected by annual conferences, meet concurrently every four years as called by the bishops. There are currently five jurisdictions within the US: Northeast, North Central, Southeast, South Central, Western. In 1939, when the jurisdictional plan was created, there was a sixth jurisdiction (the Central Jurisdiction), a racially segregated jurisdiction that consisted of all African American UM churches and annual conferences in the US. The Central Jurisdiction was dissolved in 1968, and all African American churches and .conferences were transferred to the appropriate geographical jurisdictions.

Lay person, Laity: comes from laos, meaning "people of god;" a baptized and confirmed member of a local church; not ordained; is frequently used to refer to members of a congregation or parish.

Lay leader: a local church official elected by the charge conference; serves as the primary lay representative of that local church. The lay leader has specific responsibilities detailed in The Discipline and is a member of the administrative bodies of the local church. Districts and annual conferences also elect lay leaders to serve as the primary representatives of the lay membership.

Local church: a specific group of members that identifies with a specific building and/or community. It is the fellowship of persons who have "professed their belief in Christ, have been baptized and have taken the vows of the membership of the United Methodist Church." There are 35,609 local UM churches within the territorial United States.

Local pastors: persons licensed by the bishop to perform all pastoral duties (including baptism and Holy Communion) while appointed to a particular church. They are clergy members of the annual conference and have limited voting rights while under appointment as full- or part-time local pastors. They do not itinerate, and they are not available for appointment to other churches by the bishop.

Location: elders whose membership is within a local church and no longer in an annual conference, such as honorable location, administrative location

Members/membership: individuals who have taken vows of membership in the United Methodist Church; affiliation with the UM church. UM memberships can be transferred from one UMC to another, and persons can withdraw their membership from a local congregation. The UMC does not deny membership to anyone, and members cannot be required to withdraw their memberships. There are specific procedures that must be followed if long absent members are removed from a UMC’s membership rolls.

Methodist Church: forerunner of the United Methodist Church. The Methodist Church merged with the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1968 to form the United Methodist Church. See United Methodist Church (UMC).

Ordination: the act of conferring ministerial orders; presided over by a bishop; the authorization of the UM church for the practice of "Word, Sacrament and Order." Ordination is for life, but credentials can be removed.

Probationary Member: a clergy member of an annual conference on a "trial membership;" one who has not been ordained as a full member of an annual conference and is preparing for full membership. A probationary member is on trial as to character, preaching ability, and pastoral effectiveness.

Profession of faith: describes action taken to become a member of a UMC; statement of a person’s belief in Christ and his/her vow to serve God and support the local church with prayers, presence, gifts and service

Quadrennium: the official four-year period beginning January 1 following each UM General Conference, during which The United Methodist Church implements General Conference legislation

Quadrilateral, or Wesleyan Quadrilateral: Weslyan approach of using scripture, tradition, experience, and reason to assist in living out Christian faith and making decisions; a summary of how Methodists understand theological authority. "Scripture is primary, and always interpreted in the light of the other three (tradition, experience and reason)."

Reconciling Conference, Reconciling Agency, Reconciling Community: an annual conference, UM agency, campus ministry, Sunday School class or other group that supports/is working for the acceptance all persons, regardless of sexual orientation, as full participants in the life of the UMC. There are 25 Reconciling Campus Ministries and 19 other Reconciling Communities and Ministries.

Reconciling Congregation(s) (RC, RCs): UM church(es) that have studied the issue of homosexuality and has declared itself open and welcoming to all persons, including GLBT persons. In 1998, the Judicial Council ruled that local churches could not use the term ‘reconciling’ with their name, but many RCs continue to identify themselves as Reconciling. There are 187 Reconciling Congregations.

Reconciling Congregation Program (RCP): a grass-roots non-profit organization of United Methodists working for full inclusion of all, including homosexuals, in the life of the UM Church. In 1984, RCP was started by Affirmation, the gay UM caucus. In 2001, in recognition of different types of constituents (individuals, churches, parents, etc.) involved in the program, RCP officially changed its name to Reconciling Ministries Network.

Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN): a network of UM-related groups working for full inclusion for all persons in the life of the UM church; an unofficial UM organization founded in 1984 as the Reconciling Congregation Program. In 2001, the name was changed to Reconciling Ministries Network to cover a broader base of supporters. In addition to Reconciling Congregations and groups, the Network includes United Methodists of Color for a Fully Inclusive Church (UMOC), Parents Reconciling Network (PRN), MoSAIC (Methodist Students for an All Inclusive Church), the Clergy Alliance, Church Within A Church.

Reconciling United Methodists (RUMs): persons who may or may not belong to a Reconciling Congregation or group but who support the full participation of all people in the United Methodist Church and have asked to be included among the persons supportive of the program. There are over 17,000 RUMs.

Self-avowed practicing homosexual: a UMC term that identifies a person who openly acknowledges to a UM bishop, district superintendent, district committee of ordained ministry, board of ordained ministry, or clergy session that he/she is a practicing homosexual

Social Principles: document setting forth the basic position of The United Methodist Church on important social issues. The Social Principles document is reviewed by each General Conference and is printed in full in The Discipline. It expresses the mind of a majority of the GC delegates at a given time in history.

Structure of the United Methodist Church: similar to that of the U.S. Government. Checks and balances are built into all aspects of church life. The top legislative body is the General Conference. A nine-member Judicial Council is the "supreme court". The Council of Bishops is similar to the executive branch of government.

Sub-district: a subdivision of districts within the UMC. In the 1950s when this author was growing up in the South, there were organized sub-district MYF events for study and worship for teens from a number of local churches. District events often combined youth from a number of sub-districts.

Summer camp, or church camp: one- to two-week periods in the summer when Methodist children and youth from different UMCs in an annual conference can attend camp with other Methodist children and youth

Sunday School: a 45-minute to one-hour time on Sunday mornings during which classes are offered for children, youth, and adults to study and learn about the Bible, Christianity, church history, Christian behavior in daily living, and various other topics. Some Sunday Schools use UM curriculum published by the United Methodist Publishing House in Nashville; others use non-denominational materials; still others use secular materials.

Surrender of credentials: term used to describe what happens when ordination credentials are deposited with the annual conference; can be a voluntary or required surrender; also giving up ministerial office when withdrawing from an annual conference

Suspension: removal (of pastor) by the bishop from all clergy responsibilities but not from an appointment; action taken in order to protect the well-being of a complainant, the church, and/or clergy; may not exceed 60 days. Salary, housing, and benefits continue during suspension.

Termination of AC membership: disciplinary action taken when clergy are found to be in disobedience to the Discipline; also removal of ordination credentials; may be voluntary or required

Theological pluralism (theological diversity): historic openness of the Methodist Church to divergent theological traditions and beliefs; said to have been added to UM beliefs in 1972; liberalism. The UMC’s "theological spectrum . . . ranges over all the current mainstream options and a variety of special interest theologies as well" (Discipline, 1988). It also asserts that doctrinal guidelines allow for (and encourage) "variety in UM theologizing;" expresses the diversity of beliefs and experiences found within historic Christianity. At present, theological pluralism is under challenge (an "ill-conceived guideline," Heidinger) from those who believe the UMC should have one unified set of beliefs.

United Methodist Church (UMC): the protestant denomination resulting from the merger of the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren Churches; the second largest protestant denomination in the US (Glenmary)

United Methodists (UMs): members of the United Methodist Church. According to 2000 membership figures released by the Department of Statistics, General Council on Finance and Administration, there are 8,292,809 lay members and 44,539 clergy members (total of 8,337,348 UMs) in the United States. There are also 1,325,270 preparatory members (persons who have been baptized as children but who have not yet actually joined the United Methodist Church). (Note: these numbers may not be representative of active members due to laxity of individual churches in keeping up-to-date membership rolls.) Outside the US, there are 1,508,847 lay members and 3857 clergy members (1,512,704 total).

United Methodist Men (UMM), General Commission on United Methodist Men (GCUMM): mission: "to assist men to know Jesus Christ, to serve Him, to grow spiritually and seek daily to do his will." Many UM churches have chartered UMM groups whose activities include promoting scouting, 4-H clubs and Camp Fire programs as local church ministries for children, youth, and young adults. Although there have been organized men’s units in UMCs for over 50 years, the GCUMM is a new agency that began in 1997. "UMMen is at the leading edge of renewal of men within mainline denominations."

United Methodist Women (UMW): organized groups of women within local UM churches that have active connections with other UM groups across the country; historically (since 1869) associated with mission work and mission societies at home and abroad; formerly known as Women’s Society of Christian Service (WSCS) or Weslyan Service Guild. UMW programming advocates for the "oppressed and dispossessed" with special attention given to needs of women, children, and youth, building a supportive community among women, fostering growth in the Christian faith, mission education, and Christian social involvement. The UMW has a history of being a leader in addressing poverty, child labor, immigration, migrant labor, family life, women’s rights (including full clergy rights and the Equal Rights Amendment), racial discrimination, sexuality education. It operates under the auspices of the General Board of Global Ministries. UMW is currently targeted for needing reform by UMAction