General Information

Cynthia Fierro Harvey
Resident Bishop

Kathryn Enix Moore
Executive Administrator to the Bishop

October 7, 2020 Friends,

We find ourselves at a unique time in the life of the church and the world. The word unprecedented has been used more than ever before. I have looked for synonyms but find none more appropriate.

We have faced multiple crises this year: COVID-19, economic crisis, crisis of racial injustice, disasters, political crisis. Any one of these would have been enough; all at the same time have put a stress on our already stressed systems and have forced us to think differently about everything we do in our lives and in our ministry. Pastors and laity, you have adapted to new ways of worship, you have learned all about Zoom, you have changed how you interact with people, how you learn and how you go about your daily life. It has wearied you, but you have persevered.

Three years ago, when we chose our theme who would have ever imagined we would find ourselves here - preparing for a virtual Annual Conference.

We are in unprecedented, unknown and uncertain territory. YET, of one thing we remain certain, God is with us. God was with us yesterday, is with us today and will be with us in all of our tomorrows - day after day after day……

I beg your patience as we live into this virtual Conference. It will be like none before. I will miss seeing you in person and taking our annual photos together and sharing a meal with you, but I am confident that our time together will be rich and formative as we continue to shape the United Methodist Church in this unique time. What an opportunity we have before us!

We will care for the essentials. We will celebrate in worship and commission and ordain those who have looked forward to this day for a long time.

It will be different AND God will be with us on November 21 and every day before and every day after - day after day after day after day. . . . .

Grace and Peace,

Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey
Resident Bishop, Louisiana Area
The United Methodist Church
CFH/km

Agenda

The Agenda for 2020 Annual Conference

Below is a look at the agenda for our 2020 Annual Conference.

We will gather on ZOOM, Saturday November 21, 2020 beginning at 8:45 am with pre-conference music.

Pre-Conference Music
Opening Worship/Episcopal Address
Memorial
Call to Order/Setting the Bar/Opening Motions/Rules
Nominations Report
CFA Report
Board of Trustees Report
Pensions Repor
Board of Ordained Ministry Report
Closing Worship

Amendment of the 2021 Budget Form

2020 Conference Journal Ordering Information

2020 District Offices

Acadiana

District Superintendent: Rev. Dr. Tom Dolph – tdolph@la-umc.org
703 Lee Ave. Suite 401 Lafayette, LA 70501
337-235-2904
acdistrict@la-umc.org

Baton Rouge

District Superintendent: Rev. Jan Curwick – jancurwick@la-umc.org
(effective until Oct. 31) 3117 22nd Street Suite #4 Metairie, LA 70002
(effective Nov. 1) 5875 Canal Blvd. New Orleans, LA 70124 OR P.O. Box 24964 New Orleans, LA 70184
(physical address) 527 North Blvd. Baton Rouge, LA 70802
504-835-6330
brdistrict@la-umc.org

Lake Charles

District Superintendent: Rev. Karli Pidgeon – kpidgeon@la-umc.org
2727 Jackson St. Alexandria, LA 71301
318-528-8797
lcdistrict@la-umc.org

Monroe

District Superintendent: Rev. Dr. Wybra Price, II – wprice@la-umc.org
P.O. Box 41188 Shreveport, LA 71134–1188
318-869-5729
mndistrict@la-umc.org

New Orleans

District Superintendent: Rev. Jan Curwick – jancurwick@la-umc.org
(effective until Oct. 31) 3117 22nd Street Suite #4 Metairie, LA 70002
(effective Nov. 1) 5875 Canal Blvd. New Orleans, LA 70124 OR P.O. Box 24964 New Orleans, LA 70184
504-835-6330
nodistrict@la-umc.org

Shreveport

District Superintendent: Rev. Dr. Wybra Price, Il – wprice@la-umc.org
P.O. Box 41188 Shreveport, LA 71134-1188
318-869-5729
shdistrict@la-umc.org

Statisticians 2019 Condensed Report

Note: As of this printing we are still collecting and correcting data from some of our churches.

A corrected and updated report will be included in the 2020 Conference Journal.

Rev. Dr. Tom Dolph, Statistician

Table 1

Membership	2018	2019
Total professing members reported at close of last year	114,626	111,959(1)
Received by Profession of Faith through confirmation	668	538
Received by Profession of Faith other than confirmation	572	491
Total Professions of Faith	1,240	1,029
Membership restored by Affirmation of Faith	64	80
Added by correction	156	111
Transferred in from another United Methodist Church	969	1,061
Transferred in from a non-United Methodist Church	797	726
Removed by Charge Conference Action	1,947	1,382
Withdrawn from Professing Membership	346	370
Removed by Correction	1,200	1,198
Transferred out to another United Methodist Church	887	487
Transferred out to a non-United Methodist Church	283	330
Deceased	1,210	1,132
Total Professing Members at the close of this year	111,840	108,904

(1)This includes members on the Conference Roll that were not reported in the 2018 total in the previous column

Ethnic Make-up
Asian	324	342
Black	13,255	12,725
Hispanic/Latino	363	385
Native American	267	272
Pacific Islander	99	55
White	97,290	94,870
Multiracial	244	303
Total Membership Ethnicity	111,842	108,952
Gender
Female	64,890	63,418
Male	46,952	45,534
Total Membership Gender	111,842	108,952
Worship
Average Attendance at all weekly worship services	34,624	32,958
Number of persons who worship online	44,338	38,109
Baptisms
Number of persons baptized this year ages 0-12	752	686
Number of persons baptized this year ages 13 or older	193	278
Total number of persons baptized this year	945	964
Total baptized members not professing members	8,682	8,564
Number of other constituents of the church	16,683	16,863
Christian Formation
Number of CFG participants and leaders (ages 0-11)	8,208	8,256
Number of CFG participants and leaders (ages 12-18)	5,103	5,085
Number of CFG participants and leaders (ages 19-30)	2,248	2,168
Number of OTHER ADULT CFG participants and leaders	21,024	21,310
TOTAL Christian Formation Group Participants	36,583	36,819
Total enrolled in confirmation preparation classes this year	783	658
Average weekly attendance (all ages) in Sunday Church School or other weekly education classes	13,731	13,801
Number of participants in Vacation Bible School	18,958	17,640
Number of ongoing Sunday Church School Classes offered	1,519	1,435
Number of ongoing small groups or classes offered (other than Sunday Church School)	1,476	1,474
Number of support groups or small groups offered for a short term only	1,061	972
United Methodist Men
Membership in United Methodist Men	2,761	2,461
Amount paid for projects (UMM)	293,518	158,667
United Methodist Women
Membership in United Methodist Women (UMW)	5,019	4,706
Amount paid for local church and community work (UMW)	308,724	306,484
Community/Helping Ministries
Number of UMVIM teams sent from this local church	55	40
Number of persons sent out on UMVIM teams	418	316
Total Number of community ministries for outreach, justice, and mercy offered by church	2,320	2,564
Of the ministries, how many focus on global/regional health?	550	1,119
Of these ministries, how many focus on engaging in ministry with the poor/socially marginalized?	1,681	1,603
Number of persons from your congregation serving in mission/ community ministries	24,209	24,181
Number of persons served by community ministries for outreach, justice, and mercy	587,022	631,366

Table 2

Property & Other Assets
Market value of church-owned land, buildings, vehicles and equipment	921,581,394	849,281,269
Market value of financial and other liquid assets	118,984,811	121,927,050
Debt secured by church physical assets	26,248,996	24,668,531
Other debt	1,994,671	2,459,069
Apportionments
Apportioned to the local church by the Conference	7,517,284	7,426,725
Apportioned to the local church by the District	687,302	685,704
Paid by the local church by the Conference for all apportioned causes	6,984,951	6,696,973
Paid by the local church to the District for all apportioned causes	629,167	651,855
Benevolences
General Advance Specials (funds paid through the conference treasurer)	64,436	91,215
World Service Specials	0	0
Annual Conference Advance Specials	62,847	80,720
Youth Service Fund	2,745	3,186
All other funds sent to Conference for connectional mission and ministry	45,742	33,924
Total Annual Conference Special Sundays Offerings	2,695	1,594
Human Relations Sunday	5,627	7,147
UMCOR Sunday (formerly One Great Hour of Sharing)	55,107	24,498
Peace with Justice Sunday	6,026	5,547
Native American Ministries Sunday	8,998	6,891
World Communion Sunday	8,731	7,987
U.M. Student Day	5,882	4,412
Given directly to United Methodist causes (not sent to Conference)	693,107	446,395
Total amount given to non-United Methodist benevolent and cha	21,155,237	21,084,359
Local Church Expenditures
Clergy
Total paid for direct-billed clergy pension	2,279,286	2,181,758
Total paid for direct-billed clergy health benefits	2,911,994	2,811,954
Base compensation paid to/for the Senior Pastor	11,309,374	11,198,340
Base compensation paid to/for all Associate Pastor(s)	1,595,204	1,490,973
Base compensation paid to/for any Deacons not included above	170,231	256,541
Housing benefits paid to/for Lead Pastor	2,987,574	2,795,047
Housing benefits paid to/for all Associate Pastor(s)	614,929	553,437
Housing benefits paid to/for any Deacons not included above.	74,946	86,457
TOTAL HOUSING BENEFITS PAID for All Pastors	3,677,449	3,434,941
Total amount paid to/for all pastors for accountable reimbursements	1,268,047	1,206,020
Total amount paid to/for all pastors for any other cash allowances.	0	0
Non-Clergy Expenses
Total amount paid in salary and benefits for all other church staff.	22,208,962	21,961,281
Total amount spent for local church program expenses	3,613,958	3,887,579
Total amount spent on all other current operating expenses.	12,861,527	12,652,617
Amount paid for property insurance premium	6,336,000	5,175,104
Total amount spent for other local church operating expenses	19,197,527	17,827,721
Total amount paid for principal and interest	4,051,209	4,904,901
Total amount paid on capital expenditures	8,825,772	11,730,383
TOTAL AMOUNT PAID BY THE LOCAL CHURCH	110,775,365	111,985,190

Table 3

Received for Budget Expenditures
Number of giving units	33,832	32,888
Amount received through pledges	43,722,992	43,373,517
Amount received from non-pledging, but identified givers	31,246,301	30,893,061
Amount received from unidentified givers	2,710,229	2,670,353
Amount received from interest and dividends and/or transferred from liquid assets	1,198,728	1,596,965
Amount received from Sale of Church Assets	385,617	68,638
Amount received through building use fees, contributions, and rentals	2,301,477	2,950,495
Amount received through fundraisers and other sources	9,690,483	10,463,527
Total income for annual budget/spending plan	91,255,827	92,016,556
Received for Capital/Special Project Expenditures
Capital campaigns	5,363,526	6,996,954
Memorials, endowments, and bequests	2,733,084	3,344,634
Funds from other sources and projects, including sale of buildings	5,568,528	6,781,579
Amount received for Special Sundays, General Advance Specials, World Service Specials, Conference Advance Specials and other forms of directed benevolent (charitable) giving	1,147,765	845,532
Total income for designated causes including capital campaign and other special projects	14,812,903	17,968,699
Received From Other Sources
Equitable Compensation Funds received by Church or Pastor	33,477	36,210
Advance Special, apportioned, and connectional funds received by church	121,462	97,404
Other grants and financial support from institutional sources	336,426	937,195
Total income from connectional and other institutional sources outside the local church	491,365	1,070,809
TOTAL AMOUNT RECEIVED BY THE LOCAL CHURCH	106,560,095	111,056,064

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General Information

From the Bishop

Agenda

Amendment of the 2021 Budget Form

2020 Conference Journal Ordering Information

District Offices

Statisticians Condensed Report 2019