General Conference 2024

April 23 – May 3, 2024

Charlotte, North Carolina

About General Conference

General Conference meets every 4 years and is the only body that can make official decisions for the UMC. Some changes they approve will also then have to come before all Annual and Central Conferences to vote on during our annual meetings. If you’d like to learn more about what General Conference is and how it works this 4 minute video is a good summary: 

Join in Prayer

I invite all of us to be in prayer for our church and all our delegates. If you’d like to be more intentional in that prayer there is a prayer guide posted by the Upper Room specific to General Conference. Below is a link to the PDF of the English version: https://www.resourceumc.org/-/media/umc-media/2024/03/14/16/33/guidetoprayer_gc24_english-c.pdf

There is also an invitation to join in a prayer vigil for General Conference with other people of faith from our Rio Texas Conference deeply rooted in the foundation that God’s love is for everyone and everyone is welcomed in the church. https://signup.com/client/invitation2/secure/2918934500112/false#/invitation 

What to Expect at General Conference 2024

The first week will primarily be legislation, most of the voting will come towards the end of the conference. We obviously don’t know what will happen, but below are some of the issues we expect to be voted on.

~ Removing Discriminatory Language

As an inclusive congregation, of particular interest is what they vote on in regards to removing the discriminatory language barring gay and lesbian individuals from fully participating in the ministries of the church (ordained ministry and weddings). This language was added in 1972 and has been contentious since its addition. All of the current proposals are to remove the prohibitory language and then to allow pastors, churches, and conferences to make decisions within their own context. There are no proposals to require inclusion which is in the hopes of creating room for both “traditional and progressive compatibilists” to be the church together. 

Here is an article that outlines all the language being removed and some of the history (a warning that the video does not use affirming language but it is a helpful recap). https://www.umnews.org/en/news/general-conference-recap-how-did-we-get-here  

Here is a link to Reconciling Ministries and the ongoing work among our churches to create a more inclusive and affirming church for the LGBTQ+ community: https://rmnetwork.org/gc2024/ 

~ Regionalization Plan

Changing some of the structure of Annual and Central Conferences to be more equitable. Essentially trying to make it so that outside central conferences don’t have to vote on US centric matters. Creates four regions (US, Europe, Africa, and Philippines) that can vote on legislation unique to them. Video about proposal: https://vimeo.com/918155737#t=2849s

~ Compass Retirement Plan

Creating a new more individualized retirement plan that does not have the same long term liabilities for conferences and will continue to function as the church changes. Moving from a defined benefit to defined contribution plan. This protects conferences from fluctuations in clergy numbers and the financial market. Video about proposal: https://vimeo.com/918155737#t=9026s 

~ General Church Budget

Proposed decreased budget for apportioned funds in light of many churches having disaffiliated. Link to proposed budget: https://www.resourceumc.org/-/media/umc-media/2024/03/04/23/20/budget-gcfa.pdf

~ Revised Social Principles

These are non-binding statements of belief. They have been working on renewing them since 2012. The revision process aimed to create a more globally relevant and coherent document. More information and the text in various languages can be found here: https://www.umcjustice.org/who-we-are/proposed-revised-social-principles-for-general-conference-charlotte