2025 Journal-Yearbook

Illinois Great Rivers Conference 2025 Journal-Yearbook

tation with district leadership. • One person between the ages of 12 and 17. • Three youth from each district elected by their district council on youth ministries (or equivalent structure) • One person between the ages of 18 and 30. • Chancellor of the Annual Conference • Assistant to the Bishop (if lay) • At-large members of the Connectional Table (if lay) • Chairpersons or presidents of conference boards, councils, and com- missions, committees (if lay) • Lay persons serving on any General Board or Agency • Lay delegates to General and Jurisdiction Conferences for the four years subsequent to their election. 4. All lay members shall have been, for the two years preceding their election, members of The United Methodist Church and shall have been active participants in The United Methodist Church for at least four years preceding their election. 5. Equalization of lay and clergy members: a) Each pastoral charge shall have one lay member. Each charge served by more than one clergy member shall be entitled to as many lay members as clergy members under appointment. b) The conference secretary shall determine the number of lay members needed for equalization by subtracting the number of lay persons under C.2. from the number of clergy in C.1. c) Allocation of the balance of equalization members needed shall include: i) Ten (10) additional members-at-large from each district deter- mined by the superintendent in consultation with district lead- ership. The district members-at-large shall include lay Wesley Foundation Directors. Special consideration should be given to lay persons who are district officers of United Methodist Women or United Women in Faith , United Methodist Men, and United Methodist Youth. Consideration shall also be given to lay rep- resentatives of any annual conference agencies and institutions within the district. ii) Additional members, who are assigned to the larger local churches (one each), in order of decreasing size, who have paid 100% of their annual conference apportionments in the previous year. d) Lay members of the annual conference elected for the purpose of lay/ clergy equalization shall serve to the end of the quadrennium as long as the congregation continues to pay 100% of their apportionments. e) The annual conference secretary will determine if any local churches have failed to pay 100% of their apportionments in the prior year and adjust the equalization members so that all of them represent local

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