Our Denomination

First United is a part of The United Methodist denomination, a conventional denomination.  Local UM churches are connected with each other and the denomination as a whole through a series of accountable relationships and meetings, or conferences. There is held each year, beginning at the local church level, a Charge Conference, District Conference, Annual Conference, Jurisdictional Conference, and General Conference. The yearly   Charge Conference is convened to evaluate Church-wide ministry and look to the future.  United Methodist pastors are directly accountable to a District Superintendent.  The District Superintendent, a UM pastor serving for six years in this special role, is responsible for all the local churches located in his or her district.  They work with the Bishop in appointing pastors to local churches, lead Charge Conferences, and conduct an Annual District Conference to report on the work of the district.  First United is part of the East Central District headquartered in Orlando. All the local churches in the nine districts in the Florida conference, which stretches from the Florida Keys to the Apalachicola River, make up the Florida Annual Conference.  The Annual Conference has offices in Lakeland and meets once a year, usually in a four or five day session.  The conference is comprised of pastors and lay delegates from local churches and deals with matters that affect the Annual Conference as a whole. The Florida Annual Conference is part of the Southeast Jurisdictional Conference, which has its headquarters and holds sessions in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina.  Jurisdictional Conference meets once every four years and has as its main task the election of Bishops.  General Conference also meets once every four years, at various cities normally in the US and is the only body capable of speaking for the denomination or changing church policy or church law.  The Book of Discipline, the law book of the UM denomination, is written or revised every four years by the General Conference.  Delegates to the Jurisdiction and General Conferences are elected once every four years by the Annual Conferences.  There are 1,000 delegates to the General Conference, half clergy and half laity.




Church Council

The leadership of First United is organized in a tiered structure under the headship of Jesus Christ to fulfill our purpose.  The broad central leadership body is the Church Council.   Composition of the Church Council includes persons serving in certain capacities as specified by the UM Book of Discipline and all people serving as leaders or teachers of groups, classes, and ministry teams.

The Church Council ordinarily meets monthly functioning as prescribed in the UM Book of Discipline and as a policy-making and direction-setting "board" for First United.

Management Team

Carrying out the policy and directions of the Church Council is the Management Team, which provides more detailed direction and guidance for the day-to-day, week-to-week operations of ministry for First United.  The Management Team is made up of the Appointed Pastor(s), Administrator, Church Council Chair, Trustees Chair, Staff-Pastor/Parish Chair, Treasurer, Lay Delegate to Annual Conference, Endowment Board Chair, Member-at-Large, and Secretary.

Staff-Pastor/Parish Team

This committee is comprised of three classes of Church members as specified in the UM Book of Discipline.  Each class has 3 members serving three year terms.  This team deals with matters relating to appointed pastors and paid staff, and acts as conduit for communication between pastors and staff and the congregation.

Board of Trustees

The Trustees likewise are Church members serving three year terms in classes of three persons.  Their duties are spelled out in the UM Book of Discipline and deal primarily with matters pertaining to church property, buildings, and equipment.

Committee on Lay Leadership

This team was formerly known as the Nominations Committee and consists of persons familiar with the congregants and participants in the life of First United.  They are also familiar with the needs and operations of the church so that they are able to recommend to the Charge Conference persons with the spiritual gifts needed to serve in the Administrative areas of responsibility mentioned above.