by Rev Eric Folkerth

Dear Church Friends:

A reminder that KPUMC will host two important meetings on Sunday, November 19th:

Church/Charge Conference: Immediately following worship in our sanctuary
Metro District Conference: at 2 pm, also in our sanctuary.

A bit of explanation for both…

Church/Charge Conference: Just After Church

Our District Superintendent, Dr. Edlen Cowley, will be with us for worship and as we hold a “Church Conference” to vote on the “Simplified Accountable Structure.” This is the structure that, if approved, will reduce our administrative committees from four (Church Council, Staff Parish, Finance, and Trustees) down to one leadership group.

Hopefully, you recall the information that’s been shared about this at the summer potluck and in other small groups early this year. (August 31 newsletter).

Please look for a separate email today that will remind you of this process and why we are undertaking it now.

Your church leadership requested that we hold this required in-person vote immediately following worship so that we can have the greatest possible participation by our membership.

There will be an allowance for absentee voting for any member physically unable to be present that day. Please do let us know if you believe that will apply to you and we will communicate an absentee-vote process to you in coming weeks.

Also, very soon we will circulate the specific resolution to be voted on that day.

All adult members of KPUMC are welcome to be present and vote on the resolution.

Metro District Conference: 2 pm

After the conclusion of this meeting, KPUMC will welcome representatives of the 80+ United Methodist Churches from the “Metro District.” (Roughly: Dallas County…).

Our understanding is that this will be a one-agenda meeting to approve a budget for the Metro District, which was intentionally postponed during Annual Conference back in the summer so more information could be gathered as to the affects of disaffiliations.

The voting members of the Metro District Conference consist of each clergy serving in the district and one lay member for each of them (50% lay. 50% clergy delegates).

This meeting will *not* include any churches who disaffiliated from the UMC over the past year.

Therefore, the presence of the entire Kessler Park membership will not be required at this meeting. But if you would like to help us be gracious hosts of our sister UMC churches, we’d welcome your presence.

I often describe such meetings as these as “Inside Baseball for Methodists;” in that outside the cozy confines of United Methodist circles very few folks understand their purpose. Frankly, even *inside* the UMC, folks are often confused too!

Our system is not designed to revolve around the personality of any one pastor, Bishop, or powerful layperson; but instead, to encourage broad participation whenever possible. Therefore, I hope you’ll see it this way: In the United Methodist Church there is always an effort made to include an equal number of clergy and laypersons.

The formal nature of these meetings signifies our commitment in our polity to this vision. Therefore, even if you find all these meetings confusing, I hope you can consider this lens through which to see them. And always feel free to ask questions if you wish.

Make plans to be with us now as we take part in these necessary steps in our congregational journey.