Annual Conference

Definition and Meaning

The Korean term yeonhoe (年會) means "a meeting held every year" and is a translation of the English "Annual Conference." It is distinct from the homophonous Korean word yeonhoe (宴會), meaning a banquet. In Methodist church polity, the term may refer either to the meeting itself or to the regional unit over which that meeting has jurisdiction.

Methodism holds that ministers belong not to an individual congregation but to an annual conference. The principle that churches are bound together in a single body and are mutually accountable is called "connexionalism." The annual conference is the central unit through which this principle is carried out in practice.

Biblical and Historical Background

Methodism does not present the annual conference as an institution directly prescribed by Scripture. Some, however, cite the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 as a precedent for the church reaching decisions through a council.

Historically, the annual conference is generally traced to a meeting of preachers that John Wesley convened in London in 1744. The meeting was held every year thereafter. As Methodism spread to America, the system developed into regional annual conferences, and Korean Methodism inherited this structure. In Korea, the churches descended from the Methodist Episcopal Church (Northern) and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South united in 1930 to form the Korean Methodist Church (Gidokgyo Joseon Gamnihoe).

Practice in the Korean Church

The Korean Methodist Church is organized as follows, from the lowest level to the highest:

• The charge conference, at the level of the individual church
• The district conference, comprising several churches (led by a district superintendent)
• The annual conference, comprising several districts (led by a bishop)
• The General Conference, at the level of the entire denomination

The denomination includes several annual conferences named after their regions, such as the Seoul Annual Conference, the Jungbu (Central) Annual Conference, and the Samnam Annual Conference.

Annual conferences usually meet each spring. Their members are ordained ministers in full membership and lay representatives. Their principal responsibilities include:

• Examination and advancement of candidates for ministry
• Ordination of ministers
• Oversight of clergy membership and appointments
• Processing of retirements
• Judicial proceedings
• Election of the conference bishop

Because ordination services take place during the conference session, the annual conference occupies a particularly important place in the career of a Methodist minister.

Other denominations handle these matters differently:

• Presbyterian churches: The ordination and membership of ministers are the responsibility of the presbytery.
• Holiness churches such as the Korea Evangelical Holiness Church: These operate primarily through district conferences and a General Assembly.

Thus, even bodies that perform the same functions differ in name and structure from one denomination to another.