From the Great Plains Annual Conference:
After several delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic around the world, The United Methodist Church is finally prepared to convene its General Conference from April 23 to May 3, 2024, in Charlotte, North Carolina. This meeting of delegates — equal numbers of clergy and laity — from around the world is where legislation will be considered that may impact the polity and governance of the denomination.
Officially, this next meeting is known as the 2020 General Conference because the worldwide body — which is the only group that can speak on behalf of the denomination — has not met since a special session in 2019 in St. Louis. The last meeting as a regular session came in 2016 in Portland, Oregon.
The long-awaited regular session set for spring 2024 comes after an era of disaffiliation of congregations related to concerns over human sexuality policies and full inclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals in the life of the church. Some of the petitions anticipated to be considered by the delegates involve removing language from the Book of Discipline that has forbidden same-gender marriage conducted by United Methodist clergy and on United Methodist properties, as well as language that has forbidden “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals” from serving as pastors.
More can be found at http://www.greatplainsumc.org/UMCGC. Please pray for the delegates to General Conference, especially those from the Great Plains Annual Conference.