I was born and raised in Methodism and constantly heard the words “connection” and “connectionalism.” I didn’t understand what it meant at first, but when I started to get involved in the life and mission of the church, I realized that we are a connectional church, a church that works together to support one another, share resources and carry out our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. This is a historic core value of our denomination, yet one of the hardest to define.  

Fellowship of Asian-American Pastors gathering

The United Methodist Book of Discipline ¶608 calls the director of connectional ministries to work with the bishop, cabinet, and elected conference leaders to fulfill four primary responsibilities: 

• to serve as steward of the vision of the annual conference, including the development, clarification, interpretation, and embodiment of the vision; 
• to serve as leader of the continuous process of transformation and renewal necessary for the annual conference to be faithful to our Christian identity in a changing world; 
• to ensure alignment of the total resources of the conference to its vision; 
• to ensure the connections among the local, district, annual conference, and general Church ministries for networking, resourcing, and communicating their shared ministry. 

NIC Hispanic/Latinx Pastors at the Entre Nos gathering in Phoneix, AZ.

To live out our connectionalism means that every local church is linked to each other and an interconnected network of organizations that join in mission and ministry, allowing us to accomplish far more than any one local church or person could alone. 

Cross-Cultural/Cross-Racial/Multicultural Pastors from Wisconsin and Illinois shared experiences at the Facing the Future gathering in Atlanta.

In our Northern Illinois Conference 

• We experience our connectionalism when the Fellowship of Asian-American Pastors gather to celebrate their ministries, support each other, and pray together.  
• We experienced our connectionalism when Hispanic/Latinx pastors traveled to Phoenix, AZ, to attend “Entre Nos” (“among us”), a national gathering where participants shared ideas and discussed how the COVID pandemic and church disaffiliations affected their lives and communities. 
• We experienced our connectionalism when clergy in cross-cultural/cross-racial/ multicultural ministries attended “Facing the Future,” a denominational gathering in Atlanta that affirmed and equipped those clergy to be effective change agents in their ministry in the world.  
• We experienced our connectionalism when 200 people from 53 US conferences joined at the U.S. Mission Partners Consultation organized by Global Ministriesl to reflect about our practices of mission.
• We experienced our connectionalism when Northern Illinois United Methodists from across the conference got together at five different sites to discuss a film that addressed an aspect of racism in America. The series helped to increase our cultural competency and provided opportunities for dialogue about the contexts, causes, and impacts of racism. 
• We experience our connectionalism when churches offer other churches help with ministries with migrants and refugees. 

Many UMC leaders, including the Directors of Connectional Ministries, Global Ministries Secretaries, Disaster Response Coordinators, and several Bishops, gathered at the US Global Ministries Consultation in Atlanta to discuss the mission work in our denomination. Photo by Adam Bowers.

Through these interactive relationships and connections, we strongly prove that we can do so much more together than we can alone.  

The United Methodist Church is connectional. Your congregation can live out this connectionalism when you join your efforts with others to carry out our shared mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.