Charge Conference Technical Updates for 2023

By: Chris Hampton, Director of IT Services

It's Charge Conference season again. We've added a Creation Care form, but other than that, the paperwork remains the same. We've made it easy for you, and here are some key points to help. Remember to submit compensation, local church leaders, and the fund balance report through the respective module in Brick River, and charge conference forms through "Submittable Forms" in the Church Dashboard. Contact IT Services at (704) 464-0994 or it@wnccumc.org if you encounter technical issues. For questions about the forms, get in touch with your district.

Charge Conference Forms

• To find your church's Charge Conference online reports/forms, you will go to your Church Dashboard, click on Submittable Forms, and then "2023 Charge Conference Forms."
• You must open and save each form, regardless of whether you make any changes.
• We have moved the fund balance report to a module. For written and video instructions, please visit this page: https://www.wnccumc.org/detail/fund-balance-2022-16609726
• *Reminder* -  You can now access your church dashboard from your clergy dashboard. If you are at a multi-point charge, you can open multiple church dashboards simultaneously without logging out of the previous one. Just click on the "Church Dashboard" link in your Clergy Dashboard.
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• *Reminder* - Please read the instructions carefully. Please also note that your district may have additional instructions to supplement the official instructions. 
• *Reminder* - We copied over ALL of your data from last year to help speed up this process. Instead of "Start this form," you will see "Edit Form." When you click edit, you will be taken to the NEW form with last year's data entered. You may change whatever data you need, then click save at the bottom. 
• *Reminder* - Forms now say "Save" instead of "Submit Form." This helps remind you that you must fill out each form, save it, and then "officially submit" your charge conference forms. Please note that each district varies on what needs to be submitted when and the approval process for each form.
• Please check out this video for more instructions on filling out a form and officially submitting your documents.
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Fund Balance 

• Our Fund Balance module replaces the Fund Balance form you used in your Charge Conference paperwork. This new module is more user-friendly and shows all the funds in a more natural grid-like way, making it easier to update and view your funds' information from year to year. Even better, it handles all the calculations and is easy to print and keep for your records!
• For written and video instructions, please visit this page: https://www.wnccumc.org/detail/fund-balance-2022-16609726.

Clergy Compensation 

Important - Clergy Compensation will not be available until mid-September. We will send out an additional email at the time of its release.

• Clergy compensation can be accessed from both the church and clergy dashboards. You can click either the "Start" button inside the 2022 box or the "Start New Compensation" at the top of your screen. 
• *Reminder* - Select 1/1/2024 as your comp start date. If you do not, it will not calculate correctly.
• *Reminder* -  Every new report starts your service time at "Quarter Time." This automatically updates as you enter your compensation and select the effective start date.
• *Reminder* - Do not enter the signatures until after you have completed your charge conference AND your district has approved it. Each district will provide instructions for accomplishing this.
• *Reminder* - We will continue using Clergy Compensation 3.0, which was released last year. Please check out this video to see what changed last year: Clergy Comp 3.0 - YouTube

Church Leaders

• *Reminder* - Do not enter an end date if the person serving is not ending. If you select an end date and then they continue serving into the next year, it may report that your church has no leaders for that position. Please keep the end date blank unless they serve for one year or have a specific end date.
• *Reminder* - Even if you have no changes and the end dates are blank, you must still report that you have completed the church leaders module. It is also important to check contact information. We used that information each year to send out important information, such as Annual Conference information, so verifying that your contacts have valid addresses and emails is essential. If everything has been verified, you can click the blue "I am done" button.
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• Please check out this video for more instructions:

The annual charge conference report is essential for advancing our conference and ministry. Our streamlined process makes it easy for you to focus on your important work. Contact IT Services at (704) 464-0994 or it@wnccumc.org if you encounter technical issues. For questions about the forms, get in touch with your district.