Each district is lead by a superintendent who works with the bishop to oversee programs and administrative operations in your region. An annual conference is the territory covered by and the legislative body of a given geographical region. Sixty-six conferences are in ministry in the United States and 51 are in Europe, Africa and the Philippines. Annual conferences approve programs and budgets for their respective areas, elect delegates to General and jurisdictional conferences and approve candidates for ordination. Elected for life, bishops appoint clergy annually to churches and other assignments.
Some bishops have more than one conference under their supervision.
The region a bishop oversees is called an episcopal area. The only body that can speak for the entire denomination is the General Conference. It is our highest legislative assembly, with up to 1,000 lay and clergy delegates. The assembly also develops statements on contemporary social issues and compiles them into The Book of Resolutions. Voting delegates praying before voting at the 2000 General Conference, the church's top law-making assembly.