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Apportionments Missionary Conferences

"A conference is a missionary conference because of its particular mission opportunities, its limited membership and resources, its unique leadership requirements, its strategic regional or language considerations, and min­isterial needs." Book of Discipline

We have two missionary conferences in our South Central Jurisdiction: the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference and the Rio Grande Mission­ary Conference. Both of these missionary conferences receive significant funding from the World Service apportionment dollars, in addition to the funds provided by their specific apportionments.

The Rio Grande Missionary Conference is centered in San Antonio, Texas. It is comprised of Spanish-language United Methodist congregations in the states of Texas and New Mexico. There are approximately 15,200 members in 87 churches, with the membership growing each year. Each Sunday, you can count on more than 35 percent of the members being present for worship. This missionary conference is nurturing Hispanic leaders who are making disciples for Christ among our growing Hispanic population.

The Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference has offices in Oklahoma City and works under the episcopal leadership of Bishop Robert Hayes Jr. It is made up of 89 Native American churches in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas. These churches are served by 45 full- and part-time pastors, repre­senting 25 tribes from across the United States. Only three of the churches are self-supporting. Our apportionment dollars are used to help pay salaries for the other 42 pastors, whose base pay is $21,050 per year. The average salary for all OIMC pastors is approximately $22,500. The support from the Oklahoma Annual Conference is their largest single source of support, with the exception of that received from the general church. They have a rich heritage and are the "parent" conference of the Oklahoma Conference. The first Meth­odist churches in Oklahoma were Indian Mission churches. We are privileged to now call them our "partner annual con­ference."