This Week in Texas Methodist History   August 24

Answers to Most Common Questions About Methodism
The visibility of weekly columns of This Week in Texas Methodist History results in a great many requests for research assistance and/or explanation of Methodist terminology.  Most of the requests are from genealogists and begin something like “Great-great grandfather was a Methodist preacher in ______.  Can you help me find church records about him?”    I feel blessed to be of service to these descendants of Methodist clergy and do my best to answer their questions. 
I often find myself explaining and answering two questions:   What is a conference?  What is a Methodist preacher? 

Those of us who learned Methodism as children think nothing of such questions, but they can be confusing to others who were not so blessed. 
What is a conference?  --That’s harder than it looks since it is and has been one of our favorite words.  How many can you name?  Quarterly Conference, Charge Conference, General Conference, Church Conference, Annual Conference, Jurisdictional Conference, District Conference, Sub-district Conference—the list goes on.  The confusion continues with several definitions of Annual Conference, the basic organizational unit. 
An annual conference is a geographic area but not a fixed geographic area.  For example Jefferson was in the Texas Conference, then the Eastern Texas Conference, then the East Texas Conference, then the Trinity Conference, then the North Texas Conference, then the East Texas Conference, and finally back in the Texas Conference.  During that same time span, it was in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church South, the Methodist Church, and the United Methodist Church.  After emancipation it also a church in the Methodist Episcopal Church.   

In addition to a geographic area, an annual conference is also an event.  For example, Houston has hosted more sessions of the Texas Annual Conference than any other city.  As the name implies, the event is usually held once per year, but special sessions can and have been called. 
An annual conference is also a legal entity with the ability to hire employees, hold real property, sue and be sued, and enjoy the other privileges of corporations. 
An annual conference is also a membership organization with criteria for obtaining and retaining membership.

It is this last definition of conference that leads us to the second most popular question.  What is a Methodist preacher?  A great many terms were used in the 19^th century to describe Methodist officials.  Some were preachers and some were not.  One finds the terms exhorter, class leader, local preacher, travelling preacher, elder, deacon, presiding elder, bishop, in the 19^th century documents.  The term “local preacher” is particularly confusing to the naïve researcher.  Sometimes “local preacher” was a step on the path to becoming a travelling preacher.  Sometimes a local preacher intended to retain that status permanently.  Equally confusing is the fact that a travelling preacher could “locate,” but still retain the honors of full ordination. 
I have had to explain the distinction between these offices many times.  I sometimes use Sprague’s  Annals of the American Pulpit (1856 and later editions)  In my opinion, it offers the simplest explanation of both church offices and conferences as they existed in mid-19^th century Methodism.  

The Government of the Church is Episcopal, The Society includes

 all the members

 of the Church in any particular place. The Class, which

 originally consisted 

of about twelve persons, but is now often much 

larger, holds weekly meetings for devotional exercises and m

utual edification.

 The Class leader who is appointed by the Preacher, has charge

 of the class,

 and it devolves on him to have a personal interview with 

each member of his class once a week in regard to his spiritual 

interests,

 and to receive whatever he may be able and willing to contribute 

for the 

support of the Church and of the poor. The Stewards, who are 

chosen by the

 Quarterly Meeting Conference, on the nomination of the 

Ruling Preacher, have charge of all the money collected for the 

support

 of the ministry, the poor, and for Sacramental services, and 

disburse it 

as the Discipline directs. The Trustees have charge of all the

 Church property, 

to hold it for the use of the members of the body. 

\These are elected by the people, in those States where the Law 

so provides —  

 other States, according to the direction of the Discipline. 

The Exhorters receive their license from the Quarterly Meeting 

Conference, 

and have the privilege of holding meetings for exhortation and 

prayer. 

A Preacher is one who is licensed to preach, but is not

 authorized to

 administer the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 

A Local Preacher

 generally follows some secular calling for a livelihood, 

and preaches on 

the Sabbath, and occasionally at other times, without any

 pecuniary compensation, 

except when he supplies the place of a Travelling Preacher.

 A Travelling Preacher 

devotes himself entirely to the work of the ministry, and is 

supported by the 

people among whom he labours. A Supernumerary Preacher is

 one who is disabled 

for full effective service, but still has an appointment and 

labours according 

to his ability. A Superannuated or worn out Preacher is one 

who, on account 

of enfeebled health or old age, is compelled to retire from 

active service 

altogether. A Deacon is ordained by the Bishop, and besides 

officiating as 

a Preacher, he may solemnize the rite of marriage, bury the 

dead, baptize, 

and assist the Elder in administering the Lord's Supper. It 

is his duty also 

to look after the sick and poor, and administer to their comfort.

 An Elder 

 receives ordination from a Bishop, assisted by several Elders, 

and has full

 authority to administer all the ordinances 

of God's house. A Presiding Elder, though of no higher order 

than an Elder,

 has charge of several circuits and stations, called collectively 

a District;

 and is appointed to his charge by the Bishop. It is his duty 

to visit each 

circuit or station once a quarter, to preach, to administer the 

ordinances,

 to call together the Travelling and Local Preachers, Exhorters,

 Stewards 

and Class-leaders of the circuit or station for the Quarterly

 Meeting Conference;

 and, in the absence of a Bishop, to receive, try, suspend, 

or expel Preachers,

 according to the Discipline. 

A Bishop is elected by the General Conference, and is 

consecrated to his 

office by the imposition of the hands of three Bishops; 

or by a Bishop and 

several Elders; or, if there be no Bishop living, by any 

three of the Elders

 who may be designated to that service by the General 

Conference. It is his

 duty to travel through the work at large; to superintend 

the temporal and 

spiritual affairs of the Church; to preside in the Annual 

and General Conferences; to ordain such as may be elected

 by the Annual 

Conferences to the order of Deacons or Elders, and to

 appoint the Preachers

 to their several circuits or stations. The Bishop is 

responsible for his

 official conduct to the General Conference. A Leader’s 

Meeting is composed 

of the Class-leaders and Stewards, in any one circuit or 

station, in which 

the preacher in charge presides. Here the weekly class 

collections are paid 

into the hands of the Stewards, inquiry is made into the

 state of the classes,

 delinquents are reported, 

and the sick and poor inquired after. A Quarterly Meeting 

Conference is composed 

of all the Travelling and Local Preachers, Exhorters, Stewards,

 and Leaders,

 belonging to any particular circuit or station in 

which the Presiding Elder presides, or in his absence the 

Preacher in charge. 

Here Exhorters and Preachers are licensed; Preachers are 

recommended to an 

Annual Conference to be received into the travelling 

ministry; Local Preachers are recommended to the Annual 

Conference as suitable 

persons to be ordained Deacons or Elders; and appeals 

are heard from any member 

of the Church who may be dissatisfied with the 

decision of a Committee by whom he may have been tried for 

any delinquency.

 An Annual Conference is composed of all the Travelling 

Preachers, Deacons and 

Elders, within certain territorial limits. By this body the 

character and conduct

 of all the Travelling Preachers are examined once a year;

 applicants for 

admission into the travelling ministry are admitted, continued o

n trial, or, 

as the case may be, dropped; appeals of Local Preachers are

heard and decided; 

and those who are eligible to Deacon's or Elder's orders are 

elected. An Annual

 Conference possesses an original jurisdiction over all its 

members, and may 

therefore try, acquit, suspend, expel or locate any of them, 

as the Discipline i

n such cases provides. The General Conference is composed 

of a certain number of 

delegates elected by the Annual Conferences, and has 

power to revise any part of the Discipline, or to introduce 

any new regulation

 within certain prescribed limits. It is the highest judicatory

of the Church, 

and meets once in four years.