General Conference 2022 and 2024

This decision was made based on many factors including the backlog for visas and passports for brothers and sisters from other countries that would prevent them from obtaining the necessary documentation to travel to the United States.  As part of the decision-making process, the commission received a report from the U.S. State Department that visa applications are backlogged in some countries for up to 800-plus days and the visa process also includes a complex interview process which is also backlogged and delayed.  As such, many delegates from outside the United States would not be able to participate in person at the General Conference. Learn more at the link.

 Not only are the visas and passports causing travel issues, there are also issues with vaccinations for COVID-19 for many delegates in other countries. Some delegates from other countries are not as blessed as people in the United States with available vaccines for COVID-19. The health and safety of all of the delegates and other attendees is of utmost importance.

Equity and fairness in participation of this body is vitally important as the General Conference is the only body that can officially speak for The United Methodist Church. This body is made up of 862 voting delegates with 55.9 percent from the United States, 32 percent from Africa, 6 percent from the Philippines, 4.6 percent from Europe and the remainder from concordat churches with close ties to the denomination.

The Judicial Council in Decision Number 1451 (December 12, 2022), stated “Annual conferences are permitted to hold elections to fill vacancies in the General Conference delegation due to death, resignations, or otherwise, up to the maximum number of allocated delegates, provided vacancies cannot be filled with reserve delegates.” Virginia delegation meets the criteria and no elections will take place in 2023. 

This is information that will have to be further clarified. At the end of February 2022, the Judicial Council, the top court of the UMC, said any postponement of the General Conference would reset the submission deadlines for proposed legislation. Learn more at this link.

The commission has since specified that the next General Conference is scheduled for April 23-May 3, 2024, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Yes. Churches who want to learn how to disaffiliate from the conference need to communicate this desire to their district superintendent. The district superintendent will then begin this process with a time of discernment with the local church. Find the complete list of the district superintendents at the link.

On March 8,2022,  the Council of Bishops requested a declaratory decision from the Judicial Council on whether an annual conference can separate from the denomination under the provision of the Book of Discipline. The bishops are asking for an expedited ruling so that there is consistency among the annual conferences and to avoid action by individual annual conferences that may violate the Discipline. Learn more at the link.

This will depend in part on the legislation before the General Conference body. Normal General Conference sessions include a week of legislative committees prior to the General Conference body meeting together as a whole.