When?

7:00 PM on Sunday, August 20, 2023.  Check-in for the church conference will begin at 6:15 PM and conclude at 7:00 PM. If you arrive after 7:00 PM, we cannot guarantee that you will receive a ballot, so we advise everyone to arrive early.   If you need transportation to the conference or can provide transportation, please call or text Sharon Jeffers (770-519-2187) or email her at ssjeffers@bellsouth.net.

Where?

The sanctuary of Villa Rica First United Methodist Church.  Childcare will be provided.

Why?

To determine whether VRFUMC will remain affiliated with the United Methodist Church or disaffiliate and determine a new course for the congregation. 

Who gets to vote?

All professing members of Villa Rica First United Methodist Church who are physically present at the church conference. A professing member is someone who has been baptized and professed faith in Christ by taking the membership vows in front of the church. Individuals can become professing members by going through confirmation after being baptized as an infant, professing faith as an adult through baptism and reciting the membership vows, or transferring their membership from another church where they were professing members.

How do I vote?

When you arrive at VRFUMC on the 20th, you will check in with volunteers from the district who have received our membership rolls. A picture ID is required to check in. Once you check in, you will receive a paper ballot which you will need to keep with you until voting opens and ballots are collected. After the church conference begins, the district superintendent will explain the ballot, open voting, and ballots will then be taken up and counted by tellers from both the district and our local church.

If you vote “yes” you are voting for the church to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church. 

If you vote “no” you are voting for the church to remain part of the United Methodist Church. 

If you receive a ballot and do not check “yes” or “no” or do not turn a ballot in, it will be counted as an abstention. In order for the church to disaffiliate, 2/3s of the voting body must vote “yes.” Because an abstention is a vote and it is not a “yes” vote, it effectively counts as a “no” vote. For this reason, we encourage everyone who receives a ballot to submit their ballot and check either “yes” or “no.”

When will the results be announced?

The results of the vote will be announced that night during the church conference. We expect the entire church conference to last about 30 minutes.

What happens after the church conference?

If the church votes to remain United Methodist, nothing will change and the church will continue in ministry as it has in the past.

If the church votes to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church, the lay leadership of the church will be responsible for leading the church through fulfilling its end of the disaffiliation agreement (paying 12 months of apportionments, paying the unfunded pension liability, removing all UMC logos and language from the property, and other actions). 

All churches who vote to disaffiliate must be approved to do so by a majority of delegates at the called annual conference on Saturday, November 18, 2023. Upon annual conference approval, the lay leadership will lead the church through discerning its future affiliation status, hiring a new non-UMC pastor, and all the necessary steps to live into this new reality.