Annual Conference Administration
1606. Powers, Duties, and Responsibilities--1. The annual conference, on recommendation of the conference Board of Pensions, shall determine the admissibility and validity of service approved, or compensation entering the contribution base, for pension credit and the payments, disallowances, and deductions thereunder, subject to the provisions of the Discipline and the rules and regulations of the pension funds, plans, and programs of The United Methodist Church.40
2. a) Service rendered prior to January 1, 1982, by an ordained minister or local pastor in The United Methodist Church, including service rendered in either or both of the uniting Churches, prior to Church union shall be approved for pension credit in accordance with provisions of the Discipline in effect and applicable thereto or as subsequently amended, at the time such service was rendered. Pension for such service shall be provided in accordance with the past service provisions of the Ministerial Pension Plan.
b) Pension for full-time service rendered by an ordained minister or local pastor in The United Methodist Church prior to January 1, 1982, shall be not less than an amount based upon pension credit for service prior to January 1, 1982, and the benefit levels in effect on December 31, 1981; provided, however, that the pension of a clergy member whose membership was terminated prior to January 1, 1982, shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of the Discipline, pension funds, plans, and programs in effect at the time of such termination.
c) Pensions earned by bishops (elected by a jurisdictional conference), ordained ministers, and local pastors, and protection benefits for such bishops, ordained ministers, and eligible local pastors in The United Methodist Church after December 31, 1981, shall be provided in accordance with the provisions of the Ministerial Pension Plan and the Comprehensive Protection Plan.41
3. For service rendered prior to January 1, 1982, the following years of approved service in an annual conference of The United Methodist Church shall be counted for pension credit subject to the conditions stated in this paragraph:
a) By an ordained minister who is a probationary member or who is in the effective relation as an associate member or a member in full connection in the annual conference: (1) as pastor, associate or assistant pastor, or other ordained minister in a pastoral charge; (2) as district superintendent, presiding elder, conference president, conference superintendent, or other full-time salaried official of the conference; (3) under appointment beyond the local Church to an institution, organization, or agency which in the judgment of the annual conference rendered to it some form of service, direct or indirect, sufficient to warrant pension credit, or to a community church, or as a conference-approved evangelist; provided, however, that such institution, organization, agency, community church, or evangelist accepts and pays such apportionments as the conference may require, with the recommendation that this apportionment shall be not less than twelve times the annuity rate of the conference; and provided further, that pension related to such service may be arranged through one of the pension funds or plans administered by the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits; (4) as a student appointed to attend school, but only if the ordained minister serves subsequently with pension credit in an annual conference or conferences for three or more years under appointment other than to attend school, such credit as a student not to exceed three years; provided, however, that all years for which pension credit was given under legislation in effect prior to the 1972 General Conference, on account of appointment to attend school, shall be counted in determining the pension claim thereon; and provided further, that, if a clergy member is again appointed to attend school after having served under appointment for six consecutive years as an ordained minister in full connection with pension credit in an annual conference or conferences other than under appointment to attend school, pension credit shall be given for up to but not more than three additional years under appointment to attend school if the ordained minister serves subsequently with pension credit in an annual conference or conferences for three or more additional years under appointment other than to attend school; (5) as an ordained minister on sabbatical leave, provided that not less than five of the ten years just preceding the granting of such leave were served with pension credit in the annual conference which grants the sabbatical leave; and (6) as an ordained minister on disability leave subsequent to the 1968 Uniting Conference, not to exceed fifteen years.42
b) By a person classified by the board of ordained ministry as eligible to be appointed as a full-time local pastor, and by an approved supply pastor prior to Church union in 1968, as a pastor or assistant pastor of a pastoral charge in full-time service under appointment; provided, however, that such credit shall be conditional and subject to provisions hereinafter stated in this paragraph.43
c) By an ordained minister from another Christian denomination who has not attained the age of mandatory retirement for a conference clergy member, who has not retired from the denomination, and who is approved by the annual conference on recommendation of the board of ordained ministry as provided in 426.2, who renders full-time service under appointment as a pastor or assistant pastor subject to provisions hereinafter stated in this paragraph.
d) In calculating fractions of years of service for pension credit earned prior to January 1, 1982, the following formula shall be used:
(1) Any period of up to and including forty-five days shall not be counted.
(2) Forty-six days up to and including one hundred thirty-six days shall be counted as one quarter of a year.
(3) One hundred thirty-seven days up to and including two hundred twenty-eight days shall be counted as one half of a year.
(4) Two hundred twenty-nine days up to and including three hundred nineteen days shall be counted as three quarters of a year.
(5) Three hundred twenty days up to and including three hundred sixty-five days shall be counted as one year.
4. Concerning the normal conditions for pension credit and pro rata pension credit, the following provisions shall apply for service rendered prior to January 1, 1982, in determining approval for pension credit, eligibility for pension, and allocation of responsibility:
a) Normal Conditions--The normal conditions required of a clergy member or a local pastor for full pension credit shall be:
(1) That full-time service is rendered by a person appointed to a field of labor under provisions of 437.1;
(2) That this person not be attending school as a regular student except as provided in 1606.3a(4);
(3) That this person not be on leave of absence;
(4) That this person not be substantially employed in work other than that to which he or she is appointed by the bishop;
(5) That this person receive not less cash support per annum from all Church and/or conference-related sources than that provided in the schedule of equitable salaries adopted by the annual conference for those in this person's classification.
b) Proportional Pension Credit--Effective as of the closing day of the 1980 annual conference session, pro rata pension credit may be granted to persons appointed to less than full-time service under the provisions of 437.2 by a three-fourths vote of those present and voting in the annual conference session on recommendation of the conference board of pensions. Such pension credit shall be in one-quarter year increments; provided, however, that no one individual receives in excess of one year of pension credit per annum.
c) Full Pension Credit--Full pension credit may be granted for persons not meeting some or all of the above conditions by a three-fourths vote of those present and voting in the annual conference on recommendation of the conference board of pensions.44
d) Service as a chaplain on full-time duty prior to December 31, 1946, which previous legislation includes as eligible to be counted in determining the annuity claim on an annual conference, shall be so recognized.
e) Pension responsibility on account of the appointment of a clergy member of an annual conference to attend school prior to 1982 shall be allocated to the conference or conferences in which the ordained minister shall first thereafter render six years of service under appointment to a local Church, to conference staff, as a district superintendent, or to an appointment beyond the local church normally considered to be eligible for pension by the annual conference. This allocation procedure shall continue through December 31, 1987, at which time any unallocated years shall be assigned on a pro rata basis to the conference or conferences in which service under appointment to a local Church, to conference staff, as a district superintendent, or to an appointment beyond the local Church normally considered to be eligible for pension coverage by the annual conference totalled less than six years; provided, however, that such allocation shall not apply in cases where pension payments were in effect prior to January 1, 1985, on the basis of the allocation of responsibility under previous legislation.
f) Service of a local pastor prior to 1982 may be approved for pension credit only by vote of the annual conference, on recommendation of the conference board of pensions, after consultation with the district superintendents. If such credit is granted, it should be included under the Discipline question, "What other personal notation should be made?"
g) Upon recommendation of the conference board of pensions and by a three-fourths vote of those present and voting in the annual conference, pension credit may be granted to a clergy member of the conference on account of full-time service previously rendered as an approved local pastor or approved supply pastor to an institution, organization, or agency, which in the judgment of the annual conference rendered to it some form of service sufficient to warrant pension credit; provided, however, that such institution, organization, or agency shall accept and pay such apportionment as the conference may require.
h) On recommendation of the conference board of pensions and approval by the annual conference, appointments beyond the local Church shall be listed in the conference journal as follows: (1) with pension responsibilities on the annual conference or (2) with pension responsibility on the institution or agency served. If at any session the conference fails to make such listing, it may be done subsequently, whenever desirable, under the business of the annual conference question, "What other personal notation should be made?"45
i) In the event of retirement under 452.2b, the actuarially reduced pension or subsequent pension resulting from annuity rate increases for service rendered prior to January 1, 1982, shall be determined by multiplying the pension (years times rate) by a percentage factor; such percentage factor shall be the greater of 100 percent minus one-half percent per month or fraction of a month of age less than sixty-five years attained on the date the actuarially reduced pension is to commence (or the date of such annuity rate increase), or 100 percent minus one-half percent per month for each month of difference between the assumed date at which pension payments would have been permitted by retirement under 452.2c by completion of forty years of service under appointment and the actual date the actuarially reduced pension or annuity rate increase is to commence under 452.2b. Effective at the close of the 1988 General Conference, if retirement is granted in accordance with 452.2d, the actuarially reduced pension shall be calculated from the deferred retirement date. Such actuarially reduced pension shall be calculated by the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits and allocated pro rata to the annual conference or conferences which are charged with the pension responsibility.46
5. a) A pension shall be payable on account of pension credit for service prior to 1982 as a full-time local pastor or supply pastor if (1) the local pastor shall have been admitted as an associate or probationary member or member in full connection in an annual conference and has subsequently been placed in the retired relation by the conference, or (2) the local pastor shall have rendered no less than four consecutive years of full-time service with pension credit for service prior to 1982 or with full participation in the Comprehensive Protection Plan since 1981, or a combination thereof, in one annual conference and has been recognized by an annual conference as a retired local pastor.
b) On recommendation of the conference board of pensions, a pension shall be payable on account of pension credit for service prior to 1982 for an ordained minister from another Christian denomination who shall have rendered not less than four consecutive years of full-time service with pension credit for service prior to 1982 or with full participation in the Comprehensive Protection Plan since 1981, or a combination thereof, in one annual conference while qualified under 426.2, who has attained the age of voluntary retirement for a conference clergy member and who has been retired by the denomination, providing the ordained minister is not receiving a pension for the same period of service from another denomination. (See also [014]3c above.)
6. The annual conference, on recommendation of the conference board of pensions, shall have the power to revise, correct, or adjust an ordained minister's record of pension credit as set forth in the minister's service record. Prior to the revision of such record, the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits may be requested to review relevant data and report its findings thereon. Such revisions, corrections, and adjustments shall be published in the journal of the annual conference in answer to business of the annual conference questions and shall be reported to the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits by the conference board of pensions.47
7. The annual conference shall review annually the annuity rate for service rendered in the annual conference prior to January 1, 1982, for the purpose of adjusting the rate as appropriate, taking into account changes in economic conditions. Such annuity rate shall be determined each year without restriction, other than that contained in 1606.2b, but it is recommended that such rate be not less than 1 percent of the average compensation of the conference as computed by the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits. The annuity rate for approved service of local pastors shall also be determined by the conference each year and may be the same as the rate for service of conference members, but it shall be no less than 75 percent of that rate. A successor conference resulting from a merger involving a former Central Jurisdictional conference shall establish for all for whom it has pension responsibility the same rate for past service of conference members in the Central Jurisdiction as for service in a geographic former Methodist jurisdiction and the same rate for past service of local pastors regardless of the jurisdiction in which the service was rendered.48
8. Persons who have served full-time appointments beyond the local church under endorsement by the Division of Chaplains and Related Ministries are eligible for pension support for those years of service so served for which no other pension is provided. Such pension support shall be in accordance with the Chaplains Pension Fund or the Ministerial Pension Plan under arrangements agreed to by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry through its Division on Chaplains and Related Ministries and the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits.
9. The responsibility for pension for service approved for pension credit shall rest with the annual conference in which the service was rendered; provided, however, that in the event of mergers, unions, boundary changes, or transfers of Churches, such responsibility shall rest with the successor annual conference within whose geographical boundaries the charge is located.49
10. Pension for service approved for pension credit by an annual conference shall be provided by the annual conference under one of the pension funds, plans, or programs administered by the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of The United Methodist Church.
11. (a) An annual conference may not make any arrangement with a life insurance company for the purchase of annuities for the benefit of individual effective or retired ministers or take any steps to nullify, in whole or in part, the pension plans and programs of The United Methodist Church by making contracts with outside parties.50
(b) An annual conference may not make any arrangement with an insurance carrier or other such provider of health benefit coverage to nullify, in whole or in part, the health benefit plan provisions of The United Methodist Church as provided by UMCare.
12. Other Annual Conference Organizations--a) Annual conferences, hereinafter called conferences, are authorized to establish, incorporate, and maintain investment funds, preachers aid societies, and organizations and funds of similar character, under such names, plans, rules, and regulations as they may determine, the directors of which shall be elected or otherwise designated by the conference, where permissible under the laws of the state of incorporation, and the income from which shall be applied to the support of the pension program through the conference board of pensions.51
b) Distributable pension funds from all sources shall be disbursed by or under the direction of the conference board of pensions, excepting only such funds as are otherwise restricted by specific provisions or limitations in gifts, devises, bequests, trusts, pledges, deeds, or other similar instruments, which restrictions and limitations shall be observed.
c) It shall not be permissible for any conference or permanent fund organization thereof to deprive its beneficiaries who are beneficiaries in other conferences of the privilege of sharing in the distribution of the earned income of such funds through the clearinghouse administered by the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits.
d) (1) Prior to January 1, 1982, a conference subject to the laws of the state in which it is incorporated shall have power to require from its clergy members and local pastors who are serving with pension credit from the conference an annual contribution to either its permanent or reserve fund or for current distribution or to a preachers aid society for the benefit of its beneficiaries, subject to the following provisions:52
(a) The annual payment may be made in installments as provided by the conference.
(b) The making of such payment shall not be used as the ground of contractual obligations upon the part of the conference or as the ground of any special or additional annuity claim of a member against the conference; neither shall it prevent disallowance of a member's annuity claim by conference action.
(c) The conference may fix a financial penalty for failure of the member to pay.
(d) In case membership in the conference is terminated under the provisions of the Discipline, the conference may refund the amount so paid, in whole or in part, after hearing has been given to the member, in case such hearing is requested.
(e) Ordained ministers entering a conference shall not be charged an initial entry fee by any organization mentioned in [014]a above; furthermore, the annual contribution required from a clergy member of the conference or a local pastor shall not exceed an amount equal to 3 percent of the ordained minister's or local pastor's support.
(2) If an ordained minister is participating in one of the pension funds, plans, or programs administered by the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits, the minister shall not be required by the conference or by an organization thereof related to the support of beneficiaries to make any other contribution for pension purposes.
e) Each conference, on recommendation of its conference board of pensions or one of the organizations mentioned in [014]a above, may select a Sunday in each year to be observed in the Churches as Retired Ministers Day, in honor of the retired ordained ministers, their spouses, and the surviving spouses of ordained ministers in recognition of the Church's responsibility for their support. The bishop may request each conference in the area to insert a Retired Ministers Day in its calendar.
13. A conference board of pensions may make special grants to clergy members or former clergy members and to local pastors or former local pastors of an annual conference who have served under appointment in that conference; or to their spouses, former spouses, surviving former spouses, or surviving dependent children (including adult dependent children). A report of such special grants shall be made annually to the annual conference.
14. a) A former clergy member of an annual conference whose membership was terminated on or after January 1, 1973, and prior to January 1, 1982, after the completion of ten or more years of service with pension credit in an annual conference or conferences, shall retain the right to receive a pension beginning the first of any month following the date the former minister attains age sixty-two, based on the years of service approved for pension credit. Such former ordained minister's pension shall be based on all years of service with pension credit if the former minister had twenty or more such years. If less than twenty such years but at least ten years, the years used in the calculation of the benefit shall be a percentage of the approved service years; such percentage shall be determined by multiplying the credited whole years by 5 percent, resulting in 50 percent of such years for ten years of credited service and 100 percent for twenty years of such service. If pension begins prior to the age at which retirement under 452.2c could have occurred, then the provisions of 1606.4i shall apply.
b) A former clergy member of an annual conference whose membership was terminated on or after January 1, 1982, after the completion of ten or more years of service under appointment in an annual conference or conferences, shall retain the right to receive a pension beginning the first day of any month following the date the former minister attains age sixty-two based on the years of service prior to January 1, 1982, approved for pension credit. If pension begins prior to the age at which retirement under 452.2c could have occurred, then the provisions of 1606.4i shall apply.
c) Effective at the close of the 1976 General Conference, former clergy members of the annual conference whose membership was terminated on or after such date shall have any vested pension benefits calculated at the annuity rate in effect on the date such person's membership is terminated.
d) Clergy members in an annual conference who voluntarily withdraw from the ministry of The United Methodist Church to enter the ministry of another church or denomination, on the attainment of age sixty-two and on recommendation of the conference board of pensions and a three-fourths vote of those present and voting in any annual conference in which approved service was rendered prior to January 1, 1982, or the legal successor, may be recognized and granted pensions on account of approved service rendered in that conference. If pension begins prior to the age at which retirement under 452.2c could have occurred, then the provisions of 1606.4i shall apply.
15. The responsibility for providing pension on account of service rendered prior to January 1, 1982, in a missionary conference, provisional annual conference, or former mission within the United States or Puerto Rico, which has been approved for pension credit, shall rest jointly with (a) the missionary conference, provisional annual conference, or former mission concerned, (b) the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits with funds provided by the General Council on Finance and Administration, and (c) the National Division of the General Board of Global Ministries. The revenue for pension purposes covering such service shall be provided by the aforesaid parties in accordance with such plan or plans as may be mutually agreed to by them.
16. a) An ordained minister who has been granted the retired relation in a central conference or an affiliated autonomous church, shall be entitled to a pension from a conference or conferences in the United States or Puerto Rico for the years of approved service rendered therein upon attainment of the required age or the completion of the required years of approved service. Such minister shall notify the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits upon his or her retirement. The General Board of Pension and Health Benefits shall certify the years of approved service to each annual conference concerned. Payments due thereunder shall be collected from the conference concerned and forwarded to the claimant by the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits in such manner as it may deem most expedient and economical.
b) In the event of the death of such ordained minister prior to the annuity starting date, the spouse shall be eligible for a benefit equal to 70 percent (75 percent or 100 percent if elected by the applicable conference) of the ordained minister's formula benefit. If no spouse survives, the Service Annuity Accumulation will be paid in accordance with the provision of the Ministerial Pension Plan.
17. Pension and benefit contributions are the responsibility of the salary-paying unit of a participant in the Ministerial Pension Plan and the Comprehensive Protection Plan. Unless otherwise determined by vote of the annual, missionary, or provisional conference, the treasurer of a local Church or pastoral charge shall remit such contributions to the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits related to the participant's compensation which is provided from local Church funds. If compensation from the local Church or pastoral charge is supplemented from other Church sources, pension and benefit contributions related to such supplements shall be paid from that same source. If the entire compensation for a participant is from a salary-paying unit other than a local Church or a pastoral charge, the unit responsible for compensation shall remit the pension and benefit contributions to the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits. Nothing in this paragraph shall be understood as preventing an annual, missionary, or provisional conference from raising part or all of the annual contributions for the pension program of its pastors by an apportionment to the Churches of the conference, remitting payments to the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits on behalf of all the pastors covered; there is no time limit on this provision.
18. Actual compensation, limited by the denominational average compensation, is the basic contribution base of the Ministerial Pension Plan and Comprehensive Protection Plan. Other options setting the contribution base as actual compensation limited by 150 percent of the denominational average compensation, or actual compensation, may be elected by the annual conference or other participating groups as they may determine. The above limits do not apply to personal contributions or tax-deferred annuity contributions.
19. An annual conference may establish a pension support fund to be administered by the conference Board of Pensions. Local Churches may request pension assistance from this fund when special circumstances arise which result in nonpayment of pension contributions and/or apportionments for pension and benefit purposes. The board shall present its estimate of the amount required to the conference council on finance and administration which shall include it in its recommendation to the conference. If the amount is approved by the conference, it shall be apportioned as an item of clergy support.
20. The annual conference board of pensions in consultation with the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits shall have the responsibility to enroll ordained ministers and local pastors of the annual conference in the Ministerial Pension Plan and the Comprehensive Protection Plan in accordance with the provisions of such plans (see 407.5).
21. Optional provisions contained in the Ministerial Pension Plan and Comprehensive Protection Plan may be adopted by vote of the annual conference subsequent to the receipt of a recommendation from the conference board of pensions.
The recommended contribution rate for service rendered after December 31, 1985, for the Ministerial Pension Plan is 12 percent of the contribution base. However, for service rendered after December 31, 1985, the percentage of the contribution base that may be paid to fund the Ministerial Pension Plan in any one year will be limited to:
a) 12 percent, if the then current annuity rate is at least nine-tenths of 1 percent of the conference average compensation, as computed by the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits.
b) For the period January 1, 1986 through December 31, 1989, not more than 11 percent, if the then current annuity rate is at least eight-tenths of 1 percent, but less than nine-tenths of 1 percent of the conference average compensation as computed by the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits.
c) For the period January 1, 1986, through December 31, 1989, not more than 10 percent, if the then current annuity rate is less than eight-tenths of 1 percent of the conference average compensation as computed by the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits.
d) Effective January, 1, 1990, 11 percent, if the then current annuity rate is less than nine-tenths of 1 percent of the conference average compensation, as computed by the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits.
40See Judicial Council Decisions 81, 360, 379.
41See Judicial Council Decision 502.
42See Judicial Council Decisions 180, 219.
43See Judicial Council Decisions 73, 206.
44See Judicial Council Decision 386.
45See Judicial Council Decision 95.
46See Judicial Council Decision 428.
47See Judicial Council Decision 386.
48See Judicial Council Decisions 360, 389.
49See Judicial Council Decisions 203, 389, 523.
50See Judicial Council Decision 585.
51See Judicial Council Decision 218.
52See Judicial Council Decision 181.
General Conference Webmaster: Susan Brumbaugh
PETS Creator: John Brawn
1992 Book of Discipline: ¶ 1606
1996 United Methodist General Conference