Central Pennsylvania United Methodists

Vote to Restore Former Conference Name

            The United Methodist Church includes three distinct denominational traditions: the United Brethren Church, the Evangelical Church, and the Methodist Church.  Within United Methodism, the Susquehanna Conference was created November 14, 1964, by the union of the Pennsylvania Conference of the former United Brethren Church and the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the former Evangelical Church.  In 1968 that ecclesiastical body became the Susquehanna Conference of the United Methodist Church.

            On October 18, 1969, the Susquehanna Conference of the United Methodist Church joined with other mid-state United Methodist congregations and voted to become the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church.  The name of the new conference and the date of the union were deliberately chosen to coordinate with statewide efforts to reorganize the denomination's structure and ministry in Pennsylvania.  The previous week on October 11, 1969, congregations to the west voted to join and become the Western Pennsylvania Conference.  The following week on October 25, 1969, congregations to the east voted to join and become the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.  In addition to organizing the United Methodist Church for efficient ministry in the state, this coordinated action provided more accurate and consistent conference names in place of the ones that had been used in the past by the United Methodist Church and its predecessors – such Allegheny, Eastern, Erie, Genesee, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Susquehanna.

            On June 4, 2009, the Central Pennsylvania Conference voted overwhelmingly to recommend returning to the name Susquehanna Conference.  The change was prompted by the union of the conference with the Pennsylvania congregations of the Wyoming Conference [named for the Wyoming Valley in northeastern Pennsylvania].  While the Discipline specifies that "Changes in the number, names, and boundaries of the annual conferences and episcopal areas may be effected by the jurisdictional conferences," annual conferences traditionally have been given the authority to choose their own names.  In this instance, the Central Pennsylvania Conference chose to disregard a recommendation against the name change by the Northeastern Jurisdiction Commission on Archives and History.  Because the proposed name may not adequately identify the conference within national and global contexts, the tentative logo for the new conference's letterhead and website explains that the Susquehanna Conference is "A Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church."

            The final vote to make the name change official is scheduled for the June 12, 2010, special session to formally unite the Pennsylvania congregations of the present Wyoming Conference and the congregations of the present Central Pennsylvania Conference.  That session will be held in Williamsport PA at the Cultural Arts Center and will include the ordinations of Pennsylvania candidates approved by the Wyoming and Central Pennsylvania Conferences.