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General Conference 2008
United Methodists Seek Change in Tone at Assembly

United Methodists want to change the tone of conversation and debate at the church’s top legislative assembly in 2008. Organizers of the denomination’s General Conference, which meets April 23-May 2 in Fort Worth, Texas, have endorsed “Guidelines for Holy Conferencing - What God Expects of Us” as a blueprint for such conversation.

The guidelines are in response to long-held concerns that the General Conference more resembles the style and conduct by secular political bodies than the higher expectations of a faith-focused group, according to Bishop Janice Riggle Huie, who leads the Houston Area and is president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops.

The set of 10 principles focuses on respect, civility and mutual understanding, as well as ensuring that diverse voices are heard in the consideration of legislation and resolutions. Huie pointed out that John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, believed in the use of Holy Conferencing as an organizing and governing principle. As a method of discerning God’s direction for the church, “Holy Conferencing sets United Methodists apart from other organizations,” she said in a letter introducing the guidelines.

“We urge all who are involved - local congregations, individual writers of petitions and resolutions, members of interest groups and caucuses, generalagency members, and delegates - to grow into the spirit of Holy Conferencing,” Huie said. “In much of the Western world, results are measured in terms of winners and losers,” she added. “Holy Conferencing does not work that way. It focuses on discerning where God is leading us. It focuses on prayer, rational and respectful conversation, and a belief that with God, all things are possible.”

Bishop Sally Dyck of Minneapolis, who led a working group that refined the guidelines, credited the denomination’s young people for bringing the issue to the forefront. “Our United Methodist young people successfully used these principles when they met in South Africa earlier this year,” she said. “Their example is a lesson for the whole church: We can do things differently, respectfully and with God in the forefront.”

Dyck, who leads the Minnesota Annual Conference, is encouraging delegations, caucus groups, authors of petitions and resolutions, general agencies and anyone else connected to the General Conference to practice the principles of Holy Conferencing leading up to and during the conference. The guidelines will be posted on the General Conference 2008 Web site, other Web sites and included in delegate materials.

Here are the guidelines:

  • Every person is a child of God. Always speak respectfully. One can disagree without being disagreeable.
  • As you patiently listen and observe the behavior of others, be open to the possibility that God can change the views of any or all parties in the discussion.
  • Listen patiently before formulating responses.
    Strive to understand the experience out of which others have arrived at their views.
  • Be careful in how you express personal offense at difering opinions. Otherwise dialogue may be inhibited.
  • Accurately reflect the views of others when speaking. This is especially important when you disagree with that position.
  • Avoid using inflammatory words, derogatory names or an excited and angry voice.
  • Avoid making generalizations about individuals and groups. Make your point with specifc evidence and examples.
  • Make use of facilitators and mediators.
  • Remember that people are defined, ultimately, by their relationship with God - not by the flaws we discover, or think we discover, in their views and actions.


General Conference 101: All You Ever Wanted to Know

What is General Conference? As the top policy-making body of the international United Methodist Church, General Conference is the only body that officially speaks for the 11.5 million member denomination. (13 milion if including baptized children who have not become members).

During the nine-day session, 992 delegates will revise the Book of Discipline, which regulates the manner in which local churches, annual conferences and general agencies are organized. The book also sets policies regarding church membership, ordination, administration, property and judicial procedures. The assembly may modify most disciplinary paragraphs by majority vote, but the Constitution can be amended by a two - thirds affirmative vote, followed by a twothirds affirmative vote of the aggregate number of members voting in annual conference session.

Delegates may not revoke or change the Articles of Religion or the Confession of Faith unless twothirds of the delegates agree to change this provision and three-forths of the annual conference members also agree. Delegates also revise the Book of Resolutions,a volume declaring the church’s stance on a wide variety of social justice issues. The book contains more than 300 resolutions that are considered instructive and persuasive, but are not binding on members.

Who are the delegates? The 992 delegates to the 2008 gathering are United Methodists elected by their annual conferences. Annual conferences consist of ordained clergypersons and an equal number of laypersons elected by their local churches.

Once every four years, annual conferences elect equal numbers of lay and clergy members to represent them at General Conference. Lay members vote for lay delegates and clergy for clergy delegates. The number of delegates from each conference is based on the number of clegy members and the number of lay members. However, even conferences with few lay and clergy members are guaranteed one clergy and one lay delegate. The constitution permits General Conference to be composed of at least 600 and no more than 1,000 delegates.

Churches in the Southeastern Jurisdiction will have the largest number of delegates from the United States. However, because of membership increases in cental conferences (outside the United States), that jurisdiction will have only 252 delegates, down from 278 at the 2004 gathering. North Central will have 138, down from 164; Northeastern 126, down from 144; South Central, 148, down from 170; and Western, 40, down from 44.

The central conferencs will have 278 delegates, up 100 from the 2004 assembly and up 136 from the gathering in 2000. Aftrica will be represented by 186 of the central conference delegates, up 94 from 2004. The 21 annual conferences in the Philippines will have 42 delegates. An additional 10 delegates will come from “concordat” churches with which the denomination has a formal relationship.

The number of U.S. delegates to the 2008 assembly, would have decreased even more if the Judicial Council had ruled that the 579,000 member Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Methodist church was a full member of the denomination. The 2004 General Conference accepted the Aftrican church as a member but declared the new annual conference would only be allowed one lay and one clergy delegate to the 2008 General Conference.

“A Future With Hope” is the theme of General Conference. Gail Murphy- Geiss, chairwoman of the Commission on General Conference states “We’re trying to move General Conference from what it now is - an exercise in the management of petitions - to a genuine Christian conferencing with high quality conversation about the most important issues facing the church and the world. We hope the conference will be more positive and uniting - a movement toward a ‘future with hope’.”