GC2020 Schedule
Pray for the UMC
NAC Delegates
Guide to GC2020
Important Updates from General Conference
During the final day of General Conference, delegates set the budget that will fund the ministries of the denomination for the next four years, a budget significantly lower than the one it set in 2016.
By a vote of 647 to 31 (a 95% majority), this year’s delegates approved a 2025-28 denominational budget of $373.4 million. That total is contingent on collection rates being at 90% or more for the next two years. If giving is below that percentage, the budget bottom line will be $353.6 million. The budget will be between 38% and 41% lower than the one set by the 2016 General Conference.
Delegates also approved a plan for distributing 32 bishops across the U.S. — which represents a reduction from the 39 active bishops currently serving.
This General Conference could be argued that this was the most consequential General Conference since the 1968 assembly that created The United Methodist Church. The church going forward from here is different than it was just a few weeks ago. Not all agree with the more inclusive stance the delegates took, but the passage of worldwide regionalization ensures all may continue ministry in their own context while remaining part of the connection.
During the 10 days, delegates considered more than 1,000 petitions. Among other actions, they approved a new retirement plan for clergy, granted deacons authority to offer Holy Communion and conduct baptisms in their ministry setting, celebrated church milestones, agreed to a full communion relationship with the Episcopal Church, and approved the departure of four Eurasian annual conferences that plan to become the autonomous Christian Methodist Church.
The final action was a 324-338 vote against reconsidering an earlier petition that would have added fossil fuels to the list of companies in which Wespath is prohibited from investing.
Day 10 of General Conference’s plenary session saw lengthy debate regarding the denomination’s 52-year-old stance that “the practice of homosexuality… is incompatible with Christian teaching.” By a vote of 523 to 161, the language was removed from the Book of Discipline. In the same vote, delegates affirmed “marriage as a sacred, lifelong covenant that brings two people of faith (adult man and adult woman of consenting age or two adult persons of consenting age) into a union of one another and into deeper relationship with God and the religious community.”
General Conference delegates also adopted the entire slate of revised Social Principles submitted by the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, the denomination’s social witness agency. The Social Principles represent the denomination’s public stance on issues of the day and are not church law.
The May 2 morning worship also marked the commissioning of 16 Global Ministries missionaries. Twenty-two missionaries were trained for service to attend this commissioning, but six were unable to obtain a visa for travel to the U.S. They will be commissioned at a later time.
In the afternoon, General Conference passed new legislation granting authority to deacons to preside at the sacraments in their ministry settings. This means deacons can now offer Holy Communion and conduct baptisms where they have been appointed to serve, whether that is a church, outreach ministry or mission. Deacons and elders are considered clergy in The United Methodist Church, but deacons are ordained for ministries of word, service, compassion and justice — serving as a bridge between the church and the world. Elders are ordained for ministries of word, sacrament, order and service. Rev. Robert Mercer, a deacon at Asbury UMC will be able to preside over sacraments beginning in 2025.
General Conference elected more than 175 people to a variety of commissions and councils, including the Commission on the General Conference, University Senate, John Street Church trustees and Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters. Delegates also elected 650-27 on one simple yes ballot a slate of people nominated by the Council of Bishops for the denomination’s general boards and agencies.
Day 9 of General Conference’s morning plenary session addressed one of the sources of heated, often painful, dispute at General Conference for the past 40 years: The denomination’s ban on ordaining “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” that was added to the Book of Discipline in 1984. After a vote of the plenary, this language was removed.
Additional petitions were passed that removed other rules prohibiting clergy from officiating same-sex weddings or churches from hosting them. Nothing passed by General Conference or under consideration would compel churches to receive a gay pastor. The Judicial Council released a decision affirming and solidifying each local church’s Board of Trustees has the sole authority to limit what weddings or events occur within the church, regardless of the pastor’s preferences. Another vote ended the policy thousands of churches had used to leave the denomination, but created a pathway for churches wishing to return. North Alabama Conference’s Trustees have committed to providing a pathway for congregations wishing to leave the denomination after General Conference decisions that will run through 2024.
A new retirement plan for United Methodist clergy in the U.S. won approval overwhelmingly at General Conference, by a vote of 658-64. The plan is called Compass, and was conceived and championed by Wespath, the denomination’s pension and benefits agency. Wespath retirement plans going back generations have offered U.S. clergy a monthly pension benefit for life, but Compass is a defined contribution plan — more like a 401(k) offered by corporate employers.
Additional action by the General Conference included electing the Judicial Council through 2028, electing new members for General Conference 2028 leadership and planning committees, and other actions related to the administrative workings of the United Methodist Church.
Day 8 of General Conference saw a full day of voting as delegates fast-tracked a large number of items via the consent calendar. The morning consent calendar was passed by a vote of 667-54.
Because consent calendars often contain dozens of items voted upon at once, sometimes it is hard to keep track of what was actually approved. Some items within the consent calendar included logistical committees and processes to support worldwide regionalization, structures and processes related to the appointments, retirements, and oversight of bishops, and other administrative committee structures, memberships, and organizations. Today’s consent agenda also included some items that eliminated parts of the Traditional Plan that was passed by a vote of 438-384 during the 2019 Special Called General Conference. This removed punitive language that added restrictions on same-sex marriage and “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy.
Full Communion with the Episcopal Church
One other item of note was the approval to enter into full communion with the Episcopal Church. If the Episcopalian Church affirms the agreement, which might not happen until meetings scheduled for 2027, it will mean that the two denominations recognize each other as “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church in which the Gospel is rightly preached and taught.” One practical benefit of full communion would be that pastors could serve in the churches of the other denomination. In a time when some rural and even urban communities have no Christian churches, there would be an opportunity for a joining of forces as a remedy
Reduced Funding Model Approval
Delegates voted to reduce a key component of calculating apportionments — the portion of church giving requested to fund the general-church budget. During an afternoon session on April 30, delegates passed the new base rate for The United Methodist Church’s apportionment formula in the most contested plenary vote so far at this year’s General Conference. As a result, conferences will shift from their current base rate of 3.29% to a base rate of 2.6% for 2025 and 2026. Then, if the apportionment collection rate is 90% or higher in those years, the base rate will jump to 2.9% for 2027 and 2028.
Bottom line: U.S. annual conferences will be asked to pay lower apportionments compared to what delegates passed at the 2016 General Conference. Also, denomination-wide ministries that rely on those apportionments — including general agencies and episcopal leadership — will need to be budgeted with those cuts in mind. General Conference will vote on the full denomination-wide budget on its final day, May 3.
More revised Social Principles pass
The United Methodist Church has now approved almost a whole new set of Social Principles. During the morning plenary, delegates passed on the consent calendar by a vote of 667-54 three more sections of the revised Social Principles. These included a new Preamble as well as new sections on the Community of All Creation and the Economic Community. They revise Paragraphs 160 and 163 in the Book of Discipline. Social Principles are not church law, but are “a prayerful and thoughtful effort” to speak with a biblical foundation to issues in the contemporary world.
Day 7 of General Conference opened with worship and the commissioning of 26 laypersons from across the denomination to a lifetime of service as deaconesses and home missioners. Additional reports were given by the United Women in Faith, Wespath, Africa University, and United Methodist Men among others.
During the morning plenary session, delegates approved more than 100 wide-ranging items in the consent calendar pertaining to the United Methodist Book of Resolutions. Some petitions included amendments, while others were to simply retain or readopt existing resolutions. Because of the four-year delay of General Conference, the entire Book of Resolutions needs to be readopted, and any resolution not acted upon at this General Conference will expire. Some of the approved items include several regarding climate change, calls for faithful lending practices and electoral campaign finance reform, the rights of farm workers in the U.S., caring for Native people, opposition to racial profiling and an endorsement of the observance of Children’s Sabbath.
Most of the day was centered around work in the Central Conferences, specifically Africa. Time was spent approving a plan to add two more bishops and adjusting the UMC’s map in Africa, where the denomination is growing. During the 2016 General Conference, five new bishops had been sought, but the postponement and financial concerns ultimately reduced that to the approved two. This discussion took most of the morning and afternoon plenary sessions.
The General Council took Sabbath and did not perform any work on this day.
Day 5 of General Conference brought the end of the first week of General Conference. During the plenary sessions, the General Conference passed several proposed revisions to the United Methodist Social Principles, a book of non-binding resolutions and aspirational goals for the denomination around social issues. Changes to the Social Principles occur during each General Conference session.
General Conference delegates approved the restructuring of the Connectional Table so the United Methodist leadership body has a more international membership. The Connectional Table coordinates the denomination’s mission, ministry and resources, including the work of the denomination’s general agencies. The leadership body also has a hand in developing the denomination-wide budget that goes before General Conference for a final vote.
Additionally, the delegates met in their legislative committees to complete their work before the end of the first week so all petitions would receive action before the second week of the plenary sessions began.
Day 4 began with opening worship and hearing from Bishop Sharma Lewis who challenged delegates to put their trust in God and allow the Holy Spirit to move in and through each delegate as they continued to do the work of the United Methodist Church. Reports were given by the Connectional Table, the Commission on Credentials, and discussions and decisions around electing delegates to jurisdictional and central conferences.
The plenary session adjourned at lunchtime and delegates continued to do legislative committee work throughout the afternoon and evening.
Day 3 of General Conference was quite active with important legislation being discussed and ultimately approved – the passage of a constitutional amendment that aims to put The United Methodist Church’s different geographic regions on equal footing (Regionalization) and the approval of four Eurasia conferences’ official departure from the denomination. Delegates spent the afternoon in legislative committee meetings continuing to examine resolutions and petitions that may be moved to the General Conference floor in the coming days.
Regionalization
General Conference passed almost all of the legislation that hopes to give The United Methodist Church’s different geographic regions equal standing in decision-making. Under the legislation, the U.S. and each central conference — church regions in Africa, Europe and the Philippines — would become regional conferences with the same authority to adapt the Book of Discipline, the denomination’s policy book, for more missional effectiveness. This does not include adapting the theological task our our core theologies in the primary sections of the Book of Discipline. At present, only central conferences have that authority under the denomination’s constitution to adapt the Discipline as missional needs and different legal contexts require.
A constitutional amendment like those passed during the regionalization vote requires at least a two-thirds vote at General Conference; the regionalization amendment received 78% of the vote. To be ratified, the amendment also will need at least a two-thirds total vote of annual conference lay and clergy voters. This process will take more than a year before any changes are officially recognized and implemented, assuming they are ratified by the required number of annual conferences, like the North Alabama Annual Conference to which Asbury belongs.
Eurasia as a Partner in Ministry
The General Conference also approved the departure of four Eurasian annual conferences — which encompasses churches in Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Together, the four plan to form the autonomous Christian Methodist Church. These four annual conferences combined represent 66 churches with approximately 1,123 members. The process by which these annual conferences will leave the United Methodist Church will take about a year to complete before it is final.
Day 2 of General Conference began with opening worship and delegates hearing an Episcopal address from Bishop Holston as well as the Young People’s Address from two young people within the United Methodist Church. Delegates also heard reports from the General Conference on Finance and Administration, Connectional Table regarding regionalization, and Church and Society regarding potential changes to the Social Principles and Book of Discipline. The day was primarily spent with delegates in legislative committee meetings.
Finance and Administration
The General Council on Finance and Administration presented information regarding the financial state of the church and proposed budget. The proposed 2025-2028 denominational budget coming before delegates is $353.1 million — a 42% reduction from the budget delegates approved at the 2016 General Conference, the assembly’s last regular session. Under that budget proposal, about $347 million would come from the U.S. and $6.1 million from the central conferences — church regions in Africa, Europe and the Philippines.
GCFA emphasized that the budget includes cutting the number of bishops in the U.S. and adding only two bishops in Africa, rather than the initially planned five. The budget would reduce the number of bishops from a total of 66 funded in 2016 to a total of 54.
Connectional Table
The Connectional Table and Council of Bishops, urged delegates to envision what The United Methodist Church will become. Acknowledging the need to refashion the church going forward and adapt to reductions in resources, the presenters encouraged a renewed commitment to discerning how to carry out the mission and ministry of the church. The presentation included information regarding proposed legislation regarding regionalization and what that means for the future of the UMC.
Social Principles and Book of Discipline
Delegates first heard from the standing committee overseeing proposed changes to parts of the Book of Discipline’s Part VI that apply to all regions and what they can adapt. Part VI, the Discipline’s largest section, deals with organization and administration.
The presentation outlined the goal to have a shorter, more globally relevant Book of Discipline. Should regionalization be approved, certain sections may be applied regionally instead of focused globally.
Day 1 of General Conference consisted of orientation for all delegates, Opening Worship, practice voting, and opening business primarily focused on adopting the rules for the General Conference. Delegates were actively engaged with the work of General Conference from 9:30am – 6:30pm.
WORSHIP
Opening worship was presided over by Bishop Thomas Bickerton, outgoing President of the Council of Bishops who offered a sermon around casting a vision for the future and “urged a spirit of hope” for the future of the denomination and work before the General Conference. The worship service concluded with Holy Communion.
ADOPTION OF THE RULES
As with all Annual and General Conference sessions, adopting the rules and procedures for the business sessions. The published rules from which delegates began their work consisted of 42 specific rules spanning more than 140 pages.
During this session, the Commission on General Conference made a presentation outlining changes they’ve made to General Conference to better support delegates in their work and provided an update on the census of delegates present. At the time of the presentation, 751 of 862 (87%) delegates were present and seated. 111 were missing (13%) due to named issues like visas not being issued in time, delegates being incorrectly elected, delegates who had passed away or left the denomination since being elected in 2019 and were not replaced, etc. By comparison, during the 2016 General Conference opening session 91% of delegates were present. A request from the Delegates of the Commission on General Conference was made to get very specific information about the 111 missing delegates and for a plan to be formed to prevent this from occurring in the future. That motion passed 669 to 40.