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).”

All paperwork is due September 30^th 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. Please check the Paperwork Checklist for specific instructions.

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 have access to Brick River:

• 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.

All completed church conference reports are available for printing and downloading in Arena. 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