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The 2008 South Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church

As your elected delegates from the Bluffton United Methodist Church to the 2008 South Carolina Annual Conference we bring you greetings in the name of the Lord.  The theme of this conference was “Dare to Change the World”.  Next years conference will also be held in Florence from May 31 –June 3. 

The following are highlights from our notes, conference materials and our observations while attending this conference.  You are encouraged to review any topic further by visiting the conference website at http://www.umcsc.org.  Other specific links which pertain to a topic are also included in the report.  -- Al & Dian Litster

This year the South Carolina Annual Conference was again held at the Civic Center in Florence SC.  This facility accommodates the large number of attendees and provides very good accessibility.  The theme was  Dare to Change the World.  The logo which represent the conference theme is shown here.  You will probably see it proudly displayed on our Tee shirts throughout the coming year. 

Click here to read the 2008 Annual Conference Report:
There is additional information available describing the proceedings and many other materials which you may find useful.  They can be accessed by visitng  http://www.umcsc.org




Florence Civic Center


2008 Conference Theme logo


Great Day of Service
One of the highlights of the conference was the Great Day of Service where members of the Annual Conference participated in community activities such as helping those in need, sending letters to the troops in Iraq and visiting the ill and nursing homes. We all wore red T-shirts emblazoned with the conference theme and logo. That got everyone’s attention and many people in the hotel asked what we were doing and wanted to know about the United Methodist Church.


To put things in prospective it would be helpful to briefly describe the structure of the Annual Conference and its relationship to the Methodist Church.

  • The Annual Conference is a regional body, an organizational unit and a yearly meeting - presided over by an elected bishop.  It is the connectional unit between the Local Church and the United Methodist Church and is described in the church’s Book of Discipline and the “basic unit” of the church.  The South Carolina Annual Conference includes the entire state, while other conferences may include several states or parts of states in the US and similar divisions throughout the world.  The US has 63 annual conferences, supervised by 50 bishops and there are 59 annual conferences throughout the world supervised by 18 bishops.  The Annual Conference has a central office and staff that coordinate and conduct the business of the Annual Conference.  The SC Annual Conference is presided over by Bishop Mary Virginia Taylor.
  • The Annual Conference is separated into districts presided over by a district superintendent.  The districts are made up of churches in a geographic area that provide spiritual and pastoral leadership and oversee the ministry of the districts clergy.  The BUMC is in the Walterboro District which is presided over by Reverend Dr. Ernest C. Etheredge.
  • The organization of the United Methodist Church creates a structure for connectionalism and is decentralized and democratic in nature.  Clergy and laity alike help determine the ministry and workings of the UMC through the petitions and resolutions they send from the Annual Conferences to the General Conference.  Bishops are elected at the Jurisdictional Conferences.  Each Annual Conference elects delegates to the Jurisdictional Conference and the General Conference of the United Methodist Church   This year 20 laity and 5 alternates and a similar number of clergy were elected to both the Jurisdictional Conference and the General Conference alike from some 60 of each laity and clergy candidates.  Click on the following link for more information regarding the United Methodist Church Structure.


As your delegates to the South Carolina Annual Conference we participated in the Great Day of Service in Florence SC
A Great Day of Service
with Lena Mae & Sydney


We all had tears in our eyes after helping Lena Mae and Sydney cut up a fallen tree and tidy up their yard in the corridor of shame.  Sydney, in his 80’s picked up a rake and helped us finish.  It was difficult to see surrounding homes which had been abandoned or were falling apart without feeling a sense of gilt and shame

Lena Mae & Sydney
We raked . . .

We cut up a fallen tree  . . .
We collected a lot of trash . . .

Sweated a lot...


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