East Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church

OHIO EPISCOPAL AREA TASK TEAM

Bishop’s Prayer as We Develop a New Conference Identity

Task Team Explores Forming a New, Unified Ohio Conference of The UMC

In early 2025 Bishop Hee-Soo Jung announced the creation of the Ohio Episcopal Area Task Team which has eight members and two ex-officio staff members from each of the East Ohio and West Ohio Conferences. The role of the Task Team is to listen, discuss, and discern about forming a new, unified Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church.

Bishop Jung shared this message with the Task Team during its first meeting in March, saying in part, “Our work will be guided by the Holy Spirit, and we will rely upon the grace of God. We will focus on mission and the fruits of mission.”

Meet the Ohio Episcopal Area Task Team members.

Creating a New Culture and Identity

“Your ultimate goal is to create a new culture that is outward looking, missionally focused, spiritually grounded,” Rev. Doug Anderson, the Task Team consultant told team members at their March meeting.

In his presentation to Annual Conference 2025, Anderson said, “The decision to create a new annual conference is not made by the task team, the Cabinets, or the bishop. That decision will be made by the Annual Conferences themselves in 2027.”

Listening Sessions

In Spring, 2025, the Task Team hosted 17 listening sessions attended by 254 people representing East Ohio and West Ohio staff, and laity and clergy of rural, urban, and suburban churches of various sizes across multiple geographic areas. In advance of each session, those scheduled to attend were asked to consider these questions:

What excites you and makes you hopeful as you think about a new annual conference?
What are your concerns or what gives you pause?
When you think about a new conference what words or phrases would you use to describe your vision of what we could be?

Read the Task Team’s summary of the listening sessions.

Work Groups

Over the Summer of 2025, 19 work groups featuring Conference staff/leadership resource members and up to 10 clergy/laity representing both East and West Ohio were formed, with each group convened by a Task Team member. Since that time, most of the teams have been meeting regularly. The collaborative work being done is amazing. Because all teams are made up of similar numbers of individuals from both conferences, the meetings have offered an excellent opportunity to learn from each other while dreaming about a new future together.

View the list of work groups, conveners, and resources.

Next Steps

The Ohio Episcopal Area Task Team will meet on Saturday, January 31, to share progress reports. At that meeting Bishop Hee-Soo Jung will preview a visioning statement for the cooperative work of both conferences. He will share the visioning statement with clergy and laity during his scheduled Days in the Districts in the Spring of 2026.

As the work teams continue meeting in the Spring of 2026, the Task Team will create a written report and presentation to be shared at both Annual Conferences.