United Methodist churches are connectional, meaning that each congregation or charge holds an Annual Church or Charge Conference at which the mission, ministry, and business of the church are discussed. If additional business comes up throughout the year that would need approval of the church or charge, additional church or charge conferences may be called.

In addition, each larger annual conference of The United Methodist Church gathers all the churches in that conference on an annual basis to discuss the mission, ministry, and business of the larger annual conference. The Iowa Annual Conference for 2018 will be held June 9-11 in Des Moines.