Report On 243rd Virginia Annual Conference

The 243rd Virginia Annual Conference was held in Roanoke, Virginia at the Berglund Center from 12-14 June 2025. I, along with Pastor Brian, Melanie Souder, Larrisa Luma and 2 of our youth, Ferdinand and Tony Clement attended. The theme of the conference was “Movement of the Heart”. This focuses on how God transforms us and how God molds and shapes us and allows us to be agents of change in and around our community.

Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson’s opening sermon was drawn from the book of Ezra. This was the time when the people of Israel had returned from exile in Babylon and were rebuilding the Lord’s Temple. Many of the people were charting a course for the future while many others were longing to return to the times of the past. The Bishop stressed we are also at a time like that in the lives of the church, and that we need to quit looking back and longing for the way things were. We need to move forward in this new era in the United Methodist Church with joy and anticipation of what is to come. Following her sermon we celebrated communion.

The afternoon session began with remarks by Scott Erickson who is better known as Scott the Painter. The remainder of Thursday was taken up by reports of the various committees.
Friday’s morning session continued with committee reports as planned.

The Friday afternoon session began with a Memorial Service delivered by our retiring District Superintendent the Rev. Dr. Charles Ledlam-Bates.

The primary business of this conference was accomplished next as we voted on the four constitutional amendments passed at last year’s General Conference. These four amendments dealt with regionalization, inclusiveness of the church, racial justice and clergy delegates elected to the General Conference. These amendments are intended to shape the future of the United Methodist Church and were a very important part of the business we needed to accomplish this year. Constitutional  amendments must be supported by 2/3 of the total voting members of all the conferences combined – this process could last until 2026.

The Saturday session continued with reports and ended with a Service for the Ordering of Ministry and Fixing of the Appointments. Following that the 243rd Virginia Annual Conference was adjourned.

All of the session videos may be viewed at https://vaumc.org/ac2025/.