The Northern Illinois Annual Conference approved more than a dozen pieces of legislation at the 2022 session as well as a total budget of $6,073,451 for 2023, a 1.3% decrease from 2022.

The Conference Council on Finance and Administration  (CCFA) worked the apportionment amount received in 2021,  just over $4.7M, as the anticipated apportionment participation to prepare the 2023 budget.  Expenses essentially remain flat for the coming year but CCFA included room in the budget for a 3% increase to lay staff salaries. For budget explanatory materials, click here.

The General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) calculates General Church apportionments based on the conference’s annual expenses and for 2023 we are expecting a decrease of $179,868 for a total of $1,643,688.  Any and all payments that are received by the Annual Conference and designated for the seven General Church funds are sent to GCFA.

Learn more about apportionments

Approved legislation

After legislation passed in 2021 calling for legislative sections to provide more opportunities for conversation, they were brought back this year after more than a decade without them. Annual Conference members were randomly selected to participate in one of five sections to consider legislation to put on the consent calendar. Legislation needed more than 80% of yes votes to either adopt or defeat. Matters with fewer than 80% of the votes (one way or the other) in these sessions were referred to the entire body. 

Three resolutions providing the spiritual framework for the path forward for the UMC passed:

• Affirming “A Call to Grace," prepared by a grassroots movement of the UMC and affirmed by the North Central Jurisdiction. (Document 700.02)
• Narrative for “Continuing United Methodist Church,” released by the Council of Bishops and affirmed by the North Central Jurisdiction. (Document 700.03)
• Affirming the “Covenant to Build a Beloved Community,” adopted by the North Central Jurisdiction. (Document 700.04)

The Annual Conference also passed a resolution supporting the “Christmas Covenant” legislation that was written primarily by United Methodists from Africa, Europe and the Philippines (Document 700.11) and provides for reorganization of the denomination into separate Regional Conferences, including a Regional Conference for the United States.

Several pieces of social justice legislation passed including:

• “Help us find our Shawnee Children” acknowledges the harm done to the Shawnee people at the Shawnee Methodist Mission and Indian Manual Labor School. It pledges to support finding missing victims, and prayer and education in local churches about the history of Indian boarding schools. (Document 700.07).
• “Let’s Overcome Christian Nationalism” condemns the use of Christian symbols and prayers by participants in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, disavows lies about the 2020 Presidential Election that incited the mob to carry Christian symbols and attack Congress, and calls on pastors and lay leaders to lead studies of Christian nationalism. (Document 700.09)
• “Resolution for Korean Peace” calls for prayers in worship for Korea’s peace, bible study and education, at the NIC and local church levels, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the armistice of the Korean War in 2023. (Document 700. 13)
• “Supporting the Rights of Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers to Justice, Equity and Right to Counsel” calls for clergy, lay leaders and members of local churches to educate themselves about the plight of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees attempting to enter this country,  support legal advocacy for those persons,  provide hospitality, childcare and other resources, and call upon state and federal legislators to enact legislation protecting these persons and to make better decisions for their health, welfare and security. (Document 700.15)
• “Supporting the Right to Free Speech and to Engage in Nonviolent Actions” calls for clergy and laity to support the right to engage in nonviolent resistance, including the use of boycotts and divestments. Urges its clergy and laity to educate themselves about the damage anti-BDS laws have done to free speech rights and other nonviolent actions. Urges its clergy and laity to consider the dangers posed by an Illinois statute that penalizes companies for engaging in actions critical of Israel, even when those actions 16 are taken out of concern for human rights. Urges its clergy and laity, on their own behalf to contact (write, call, or meet) their State Representatives and Senators to urge them to review Illinois ’anti-BDS law and proposed U.S. legislation and consider whether these efforts to protect the State of Israel justify the chilling of and actual infringement on free speech, and chilling the efforts of 21 companies to comply with international law and human rights. (Document 700.16)

Annual Conference members passed a  final piece of legislation that was lifted from the Consent Calendar that calls for elections for General Conference. The current delegation to the 2020 General Conference and North Central Jurisdiction Conference was elected at the NIC Annual Conference in 2019. The legislation authorizes new elections to be held in 2023 unless Judicial Council rules that the current delegation must be seated for the postponed 2020 General Conference (Document 700.12). 

Failed legislation

Annual Conference members by a large majority rejected a separation resolution for local churches authored by retired clergy Rev. Scott Field that called for clear, transparent, fair, and collaborative guidelines for congregations considering leaving the Northern Illinois Annual Conference (Document: 700.14).

The author of document 700.08: Identifying and Opposing Apartheid in the Holy Land determined more information and research are needed after questions arose over the word apartheid and withdrew the document from consideration this year.

Find the legislative documents at umcnic.org/AC2022docs.