General Conference 2024
Dear friends,
Toward the end of this month, you will likely notice the United Methodist Church appearing in news media in connection to General Conference. Every four years, General Conference convenes as the legislative body for the entire United Methodist denomination. Delegates from around the world, elected by their respective Annual Conferences, will gather April 23-May 3 in Charlotte, North Carolina for this important conference.
General Conference is the only body that can speak for the entire United Methodist Church and it edits our Book of Discipline, which governs our life as a denomination. General Conference has an enormous job. Thousands of pieces of legislation will be taken up by legislative committees before consideration by the entire body. Legislation related to human sexuality and regionalization will undoubtedly be the news media’s focus. I’ll unpack these two issues further in a series of Tidings over the next few weeks.
For now, I ask you to keep a few things in mind:
The secular media has little understanding of how the church works and even less understanding of how the United Methodist Church works. If something you see in the news sounds wrong, it probably is.
Know that anyone posting on social media has a viewpoint from which they speak. Social media is also rife with misinformation.
Be wary of sources to which you pay attention. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me or any of our clergy team with your questions or concerns.
This link will take you to the official General Conference website: www.resourceumc.org/en/. I am researching other reliable sources and will share those with you as General Conference draws closer.
Technically, this year’s General Conference is a rescheduled meeting of General Conference 2020, which did not take place due to Covid. As such, official sources will refer to this as General Conference 2020. (Yes, I know it’s confusing.)
In the meantime, I call on us all to do two things. First, let us resolve to pray. Let us pray for our bishops and denominational leaders, for the delegates who will gather in Charlotte, and for the entire United Methodist Church. Second, let us focus on mission and ministry. God has given Central work to do in this time and this place. Anything that distracts us from faithfully fulfilling God’s mission for Central thwarts the work of God in our community.
I am convinced that if we do our best to be faithful to God, who is always faithful to us, we will be spiritually enriched and God will glorified. Let us therefore pray and focus on the work God has for us to do, confident in God’s faithfulness.
Yours in Christ,
Thomas