About Charge Conferences
Charge Conferences are annual meetings with church leaders and their district superintendent or a presiding elder to review the business and mission of the local church. Each conference will review the previous year of ministry, complete essential church business, and affirm goals for the coming year.
“The Charge Conference shall be the connecting link between the local church and the general church (¶ 247)… The primary responsibilities of the Charge Conference in the annual meeting shall be to review and evaluate the total mission and ministry of the church, receive reports, and adopt objectives and goals recommended by the church council that are in keeping with the objectives of the United Methodist Church (¶ 247.3).”
What's New This Year?
This year, we’re excited to announce that all reports, including the Clergy Compensation Report can be completed in Brick River. The Cabinet and Data team have worked hard to streamline the process and avoid asking duplicate questions across forms.
Paperwork Deadline for all Churches
All paperwork is due September 30th or two weeks before your scheduled Charge Conference, whichever is sooner.
We encourage you to log in to Brick River and look at the reports ahead of time and try to start early. All reports are submitted in Brick River.
View the directions for creating your Brick River login here
Brick River Access
Brick River is the online database where reports are submitted by clergy and church leaders. Different leadership roles grant access to different reports depending on the report you are responsible for completing. Accessing Brick River requires a username and password that is specific to each individual logging in.
The following church leaders will receive access:
- Clergy
- Church administrator
- Church council chair
- Finance chair
- Lay leader
- Treasurer
- Trustees chair
- SPRC chair
If you are unable to log in, need assistance accessing your reports, or encounter any difficulties with Brick River, submit a support ticket here to request assistance from the database team. They will be happy to assist you.
For Lay Servant Ministry Report questions, please contact:
- Lorelei Toombs: ltoombs@epagnj.org
- Megan McKay: mmckay@epagnj.org
Training Videos & Resources
- Brick River Training video (90 mins): watch here
- Email containing Important Notes about Forms and Reports: read here
- Create your Brick River login (3 min): watch here
- Nominations Report (9 min): watch here
- Access your charge conference reports (8 mins): watch here
- Additional videos can be found on the Brick River homepage once logged in.
Agenda
2026 Charge Conference Agenda
What to Print for Charge Conferences
All completed charge conference reports are available for printing and downloading. For your charge conference, only certain reports need to be printed. Please bring enough copies of the reports for your members attending the conference and one additional copy for the presiding elder.
The reports that need to be printed for the charge conference are:
- Nominations Report (Formerly Directory of Officials)
- Report of Pastor
- Clergy Compensation Report(s)
- Previous Year Charge Conference Minutes
- Special Charge Conference Minutes
Please Note
- All reports are due on September 30 or two weeks prior to your conference. Instructions for each report can be found in Brick River (reminder: only the reports listed above need to be printed for the charge conference).
- The Parsonage Evaluation has been significantly shortened.
- The Fund Balance Report is now in the Finance Committee Report and is no longer uploaded separately.
- The SPRC Consultation Form is the report formerly called Church Profile (completed by the SPRC chair).
- The Ministry Reflection is the report formerly called Clergy Appraisal (completed by the SPRC chair and the pastor).
- The Lay Servant Ministry Report is now an online report for both conferences and can be found with the church’s other reports.
- The Clergy Compensation Report will be available later this month. More information to follow.
A CLM question received during the training:
Question: If I am a CLM (CSM or Lay Servant) serving a church in the pastor role, do I need to complete the Lay Servant Ministry Report?
Answer: Yes, please complete both the clergy reports for the church you are serving as the lay supply pastor (SY), as well as the Lay Servant Ministry Report for your home church where your membership is held. This fulfills the requirement to complete an annual Certified Lay Minister Report and Certified Lay Servant report as per par. 268.4.a. or 266.4.a in the 2020/2024 Book of Discipline.