On June 10, 2015, the Detroit and West Michigan Annual Conferences the vote to create one unified conference in the Michigan Area was announced.
This decision was approved by the North Central Jurisdictional Conference convening in Peoria, IL in July of 2016. The new conference will be formed by January 2, 2019.
We are eager to follow this journey and ask for your prayers as we move forward in new ways. We trust that the God who brought us here will continue to guide us into that new future with hope, excitement, and joy!
To learn about the process of creating a new annual conference in Michigan, please visit Design.MichiganUMC.org.
Detroit Conference
Founded in 1969, the Detroit Conference is made up of 442 churches, 723 clergy members, and over 90,000 lay members. The conference is headquartered in Flint, Michigan.
West Michigan Conference
The West Michigan Conference represents six districts with 400 churches and approximately 60,000 members. The Conference Center is located in Grand Rapids.
Meet the Michigan Area Bishop
David Alan Bard was elected to the episcopacy in July 2016 by the North Central Jurisdictional Conference and has been serving as the Michigan Area Bishop since September of 2016.