Churches: Find-A-Church.org is the online directory of churches in the United States. Annual Conferences: A regional office of programs and ministries. Central Conferences: Geographical regions in Africa, Europe and the Philippines. Jurisdictions: Five geographic areas in the United States, each composed of several annual (regional) conferences. After receiving many requests to use clergy "nicknames" the decision was made to use nicknames in the directory. Please continue to send in any updates for the database and web directory. All active clergy of the Virginia Conference have been assigned conference email addresses that will be published in the Conference Clergy Directory. This. Rather than talking about retirement, Methodist presbyters and deacons (who are normally expected to be itinerant) ask permission ‘to sit down’, that is, they seek permission no longer to travel. In ‘sitting down’ the church believes that supernumeraries still have a ministry in which to engage, but by common consent they are no longer available to be stationed to the ‘active work’.