FAQ’s

Why do we have annual church conferences?

“The Charge Conference shall be the connecting link between the local church and the general church (¶ 247)… The primary responsibilities of the Charge Conference in the annual meeting shall be to review and evaluate the total mission and ministry of the church, receive reports, and adopt objectives and goals recommended by the church council that are in keeping with the objectives of the United Methodist Church (¶ 247.3).”

What is the pastor’s responsibility regarding the church conference reports?

The pastor is the administrative officer of the local church (¶ 340) and is the sole person ultimately responsible for ensuring the completion of all church conference reports. However, it is best if the appropriate committee, chair, or member complete each of their respective reports as this ensures accuracy in reporting.

What is the purpose of the reports we are asked to submit?

To better understand the purpose of church conferences and of each report, please see here.

When is my church conference?

Your district’s church conference schedule can be found here.

What reports are due for the church conference? When are the reports due? 

Please see the church conference paperwork checklist here for a listing of all reports, their due dates, where they are found, and who typically completes each one.

How do I access the church conference reports?

The church conference reports can be found in Arena here.

Who received an Arena login?

The following church leaders received an email directly from Arena with their personal login information. If you are unable to log in, need assistance accessing your reports, or encounter any difficulties with Arena, submit a support ticket here to request assistance from the Arena database team that is ready to assist you.

• All pastors
• Church council chair
• Trustees president
• SPRC chair
• Lay leader
• Treasurer
• Finance chair
• Church administrator

Are all reports completed in Arena?

Most reports are completed in Arena. Some other reports, however, are completed by the local church and uploaded directly into Arena. The following reports are uploaded directly into Arena and are no longer submitted by email to your Regional Administrator. Instructions on how to upload these remaining reports can be found on the Arena homepage.

• 2025 Clergy Compensation Report
• 2024 Special Charge Conference Minutes, if applicable
• 2023 Church Conference Minutes
• 2023 Fund Balance Report
• 2023 Treasurer’s Report (a year-to-date profit and loss statement)

Why do the reports take a long time to open?

There is a delay of up to two minutes when loading the reports. This is due to the reports pulling in large amounts of data to create less manual inputting by the church. Please be patient as the page loads. Unfortunately, there is no way to speed up this process at this time. Different internet speeds may also affect loading times.

Why does my report not seem to be saving?

There is a delay of up to two minutes in saving the reports due to the large amounts of data being saved. Please click the “Save/Submit” button once and then allow the report the time it needs to save. Please do not click out of the report before it has finished saving to ensure your work is not lost.

Can I print the reports?

All Arena reports are printable. There is a print button located at both the top and bottom of each report. Once you click the “Print Page” button, you can print the report or download it to your computer for your convenience.

Does my church have to complete the forms from scratch?

No, most but not all of the information you provided last year will be in the reports already.

Should associate pastors complete the Report of Pastor?

No, only the senior pastor should complete this report. All pastors, however, should complete the Pastor Profile unless you are a deacon or in extension ministry, in which case you only need to complete the Deacon & Extension Ministry Report.

What is a Treasurer’s Report?

This is a year-to-date profit and loss statement that is created by the local church and then uploaded into Arena for submission. This report should include all church expenses and revenue (surplus and deficit) and is the same report that is generated for your church leadership. This report should cover the previous completed year as well as the current calendar fiscal year up to and including the month prior to submitting this report. For example, if your church conference forms are due in August 2023, the Treasurer’s Report should fully cover year 2022 as well as January to July of the current year 2023.

Should a Parsonage Evaluation be completed even if the pastor does not live there?

Yes, all church-owned parsonages must be evaluated even if a pastor does not reside there. If you need additional Parsonage Evaluation reports for more than one parsonage, please email arenasupport@gnjumc.org.

If I am serving more than one church, do I need to complete more than one Pastor Profile?

No, you only need to complete one profile.

How do pastors appointed to multiple appointments submit separate responses for each church in their Pastor Profile for the Self-Appraisal section?

Unfortunately, the system currently doesn’t allow for entering two different sets of responses, one for each church pastors are appointed to. Filling out the questions in the Pastor Profile’s Self-Appraisal section would lead to your response appearing in the Clergy Appraisal for each church.

We understand the occasional need for pastors to craft their responses separately for each church, so we’ve created an alternative option. You may fill out your responses for each church in separate Word documents, save them as PDF’s and send them to your SPRC Chairs. We’ve added an option in the Clergy Appraisal form for SPRC chairs to upload a PDF of your self-appraisal responses.

I received a new appointment on July 1st. I no longer see my Report of the Pastor that I completed prior to leaving my other church. Where did it go?

Although a pastor completes the Report of the Pastor, the report is connected to the church, not the pastor, as it reports on church-related information. The report remains connected to the church when you move appointments to a different church. When your new appointment takes effect, you will receive a new Report of the Pastor for your new church. If you already filled out the Report of the Pastor for your outgoing church prior to your new appointment taking effect, then you lose access to that report, and the new appointed pastor will have access to the report you completed.

How can I send feedback on the reports?

If you have feedback, please write us here.