Officiating bishop: Bishop Robert Farr
The Missouri Annual Conference met June 12-13 in Springfield, Missouri. The conference theme was ABUNDANT: Mind + Body + Spirit. Given the past year, the annual conference session teams wanted to remind all that God’s hope and promise that we may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10). The conference session celebrated the abundant life given to all through Christ Jesus.
The conference was conducted primarily online, with all conference votes taken that way. Prior to annual conference session there was a pre-conference briefing that involved many reports, the clergy session and several information sessions, all of which were conducted online. A few hundred people attended physically, masked and socially distanced. Those invited to attend in person included conference and district staff, worship leadership, presenters, select conference and district leaders as well as the guests of those being honored through our memorial service.
Bishop Robert Farr presided. The main action taken was approval of a plan for district realignment, which will reduce the number of districts from nine to five. This plan was approved with 93% of the members voting in favor.
Five local churches disaffiliated from the conference. There were 19 churches that closed in the past year.
There were 13 people ordained, with an average age of 42. Five people were commissioned, with an average age of 34. One 65-year-old person was received as an associate member. Twenty-nine clergy retired.
Membership in Missouri’s United Methodist churches stands at 140,195, down from 144,544 the previous year. Worship attendance stands at 56,871, down from 65,650 in 2019. Church school attendance stands at 16,129, down from 21,896. Professions or reaffirmations of faith were 610, down from 743 in 2019. Adults in small groups for 2020 was 52,633, down from 66,819 in 2019. Worshippers engaged in mission for 2020 was 29,852 down from 47,736 in 2019.
In 2022 the Missouri Annual Conference will be conducted June 11–12 in Branson, Missouri.
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