United Methodist General Conference will meet in April

Once every four years, United Methodist leaders from all over the world come together for worship and policy making.  This highest body of the church makes decisions that then are published in the The Book of Discipline and The Book of Resolutions.  They determine what the priorities, theology, social principles, budgets, and organization of the denomination will look like for the next four years.

In 2012, the General Conference will meet between April 24th and May 4th, in Tampa, Florida.  Of the 988 delegates elected to attend, 606 will be from the United States, 282 will be from Africa, 48 will come from the Philippines, and 42 will come from Europe and Russia.  Half the delegates will be clergy, and the other half will be laity.

One of the big issues that will come before the General Conference this year is a proposal to restructure the denomination.  The hope is that by streamlining our church government, we can make decisions more quickly and with less cost.  The General Council on Finance and Administration will be recommending a budget that is six percent less than the budget for 2009-2012.  This will be the first time a smaller budget has been proposed.

The longest petition that will be reviewed by the General Council has to do with revisions to the clergy retirement program.

The 2012 General Conference will process approximately 1200 petitions.  Each proposal for change originates with a petition sent to General Conference by individual members, local congregations, annual conferences, or general agencies.

The 988 delegates will be divided up into 13 legislative committees.  Each group will work through 70-80 petitions.  The committee’s recommendation on each petition will then be sent to the full assembly for final action.

A majority vote in a plenary (full) session makes most proposals church law.  Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds vote by delegates, followed by a two-thirds affirmative vote of the aggregate members voting in annual conference sessions.

One other item of business will be “An Act of Repentance toward Healing Relationships with Indigenous People”, during which the church will express contrition for harm done to native people in the U.S. and other countries.

Along with our delegates from the Cal-Pac Annual Conference and Western Jurisdiction, both Bishop Beverly Shamana and Rev. Allison Mark will be attending General Conference 2012 in Tampa, Florida in April. As United Methodists, we invite you to be in prayer for the people and polity of the United Methodist Church. Join the Upper Room's "50 Days of Prayer until General Conference": 


More information on the United Methodist Church here.

Sourced from Wesley UMC, Pueblo Colo., Charlene Reichert, and Rev. Allison Mark