A Summary of General Conference 2024
The 2024 General Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, marked a historic moment for The United Methodist Church, concluding successfully despite previous uncertainties due to multiple reschedulings.
General Conference will most certainly be remembered for its decisive strides towards inclusivity, particularly highlighted by the Church's decision to remove harmful language found in The Book of Discipline.
The removals included the harmful statement, "the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching." This petition to remove this language passed with over 90% of the vote and not only represents a pivotal shift in the church's stance on inclusivity but also aligns with broader movements toward acceptance and equality.
Beyond this landmark decision, the General Conference addressed several other critical issues.
One of the key legislative changes was the removal of the "disaffiliation paragraph" ¶2553 from The Book of Discipline. This alteration means that there no longer exists a formal pathway for congregations to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church.
Additionally, delegates approved a significant ecumenical move to enter into full communion with the Episcopal Church in the United States, fostering greater collaboration and shared missions between the two denominations
Bishop Delores J. Williamston was attending her first General Conference as a bishop in The United Methodist Church. As she concluded the two-week event, she was struck by the hard work of the delegation and the entire Church.
"The spirit has been good. The people have been engaged. The delegation has done their work," she said. "We are moving the church forward! I have been so impressed by the collaborative spirit to do the work together, in the best way possible, for the church of today. I am taking home that we have to get to work, so get ready! It's time to work, it's time to make disciples of Jesus Christ in the best way we know how!"
Rev. Brady Whitton (clergy delegate) and Jennifer Swann (lay delegate) led the Louisiana delegation and both of them were struck by the world-wide connection that is palpable at General Conference.
"By the end of it, we all got a sense that we are all in this together," Swann said. "One of the things that really struck me was just how connected the Church is all across the world. It's empowering to know just how connected we are."
Rev. Whitton says he is leaving Charlotte with his head held high as a United Methodist. "The moves we made this week toward full inclusion in the Church will help us live up to the slogan that I think a lot of us grew up with, 'Open Hearts, Open Doors, Open Minds'," he said. "And I think we will be living into that in the future. It's an exciting time to be a United Methodist."
Regionalization
Regionalization received strong support from the General Conference.
What exactly does regionalization entail? It permits regional conferences throughout our global connection to modify Section VI of our Book of Discipline. This adjustment allows the regulations and guidelines to be more appropriately tailored to the distinct cultural circumstances prevalent in different parts of the world where our church operates.
Historically, this type of adaptation has been exclusive to Central Conferences, but if regionalization becomes constitutional, it would be applicable to the US Conferences as well. Being a constitutional amendment, it mandates that each annual conference and central conference conducts a voting session starting 30 days following the conclusion of the General Conference.This decision tentatively leads to a scheduled vote regarding the regionalization measure at the upcoming 2024 Louisiana Annual Conference.
UMNS: Regionalization Moves Forward
Human Sexuality
Recent amendments were made to the language concerning the church’s perspective on human sexuality in sections ¶161, ¶304.3, and ¶419. The General Conference decided to eliminate the language that previously described "The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching." This move reflects a significant shift in the church's approach to inclusivity.
Furthermore, the existing restrictions on the ordination of LGBTQIA+ individuals, as well as the prohibitions against LGBTQIA+ weddings being conducted in United Methodist Churches or by United Methodist clergy, have been rescinded. These revisions will officially take effect on May 4, 2024.
UMNS: 40-year ban on gay clergy struck down
What does this mean for Louisiana pastors and churches?
This modification will not affect the current discernment process for appointments as outlined in the appointive cabinet's internal working document. The distribution of this document is part of our commitment to transparency, ensuring that everyone is informed about the guidelines that govern our procedures.
Additionally, this change will not impact a clergyperson's right to decide whether to officiate a marriage. The update to the Discipline provides protection for clergy, regardless of their decision to officiate or not officiate a same-gender wedding. Moreover, this adjustment will not alter the ability of local churches to determine how marriage ceremonies are conducted within their congregations.
Read a Statement from Bishop Delores J. Williamston
Download Bishop Williamston's Statement in PDF Form
FAQ Document: What Does This Mean?
Disaffiliation ¶2553
The General Conference voted to remove the "disaffiliation paragraph" ¶2553 from The Book of Discipline. As it stands there is no longer a path for disaffiliating from the United Methodist Church. A new paragraph, ¶2554 was added that creates a pathway for churches that disaffiliated to re-affiliate with the United Methodist Church. This paragraph gives Annual Conferences the ability to create a contextually appropriate path for re-affiliation.
Revised Social Principles
Delegates of the General Conference passed the final section of the Revised Social Principles - The Social Community. The vote count was 523 to 161, passing with 76%.
The vote completes the historic adoption of the entire Revised Social Principles document after 12 years of development and engagement from thousands of United Methodists around the world.
“The newly adopted Social Principles were produced as a teachable document that is for all United Methodists,” said Bishop Sally Dyck. “It is for Sunday school classes, preaching from the pulpit, for seminary classes and as a guide for all of us to use right now.”
FAQ: Revised Social Principles
Why Do We Have Social Principles?
Clergy Pension and Retirement Benefits
General Conference has decided to terminate Wespath's Clergy Retirement Security Program (CRSP), a defined benefit plan. This termination will not impact the pensions of clergy who are already retired. It also won’t affect the pension credits that have already been earned under CRSP. Clergy currently receiving pension benefits from this plan will continue to receive their benefits, including any cost of living adjustments.
In addition, the General Conference has approved a new benefit plan named Compass. This new plan will start with a monthly contribution of $150 for all clergy, plus 3% of the clergy person's salary, and a dollar-for-dollar match contributed by the clergy up to 4% of their pay.
The contributions under the Compass plan will automatically increase each year, with a cap set by the Conference Board of Pensions and Health Benefits. Further details and additional options regarding the Compass plan can be explored here, including an overview and a frequently asked questions section.
The Compass plan is set to be implemented on January 1, 2026.
Episcopal Leadership
Jurisdictions across the United States will have more say about the number of bishops they need, thanks to new legislation that passed during General Conference. By May 1 of the gathering, the body had rejected one but passed four of the five petitions recommended by the Jurisdictional Study Committee, eliminating the formula for calculating bishops while guaranteeing at least five bishops per jurisdiction.
General Conference 2016 created the Jurisdictional Study Committee to examine the number, boundaries and missional priorities of the jurisdictions. A diverse group, the committee comprises clergy, laity and bishops from all five jurisdictions. Lonnie Chafin, Fred Brewington and Susan Brumbaugh presented their report to the body Tuesday, April 30, noting they had concluded the current jurisdictions and boundaries are appropriate as is, and that the jurisdictions themselves are in a better position to assess their need for numbers of bishops.
Key is their assessment that the formula The United Methodist Church had used for calculating bishops in each jurisdiction no longer is an accurate reflection of leadership needs.
The Interjurisdictional Episcopacy Committee recommended a total of 32 US Bishops to be funded through the Episcopal Fund. Currently there are 39 active Bishops, and this recommendation calls for a reduction of 7 US Bishops in order to fund 2 additional Central Conference Bishops. The proposed jurisdictional breakdown of US Bishops is as follows: SEJ 9, NEJ 6, NCJ 6, SCJ 6 WJ 5.
What does this mean for Louisiana? Further details will become available following the South Central Jurisdictional Conference. Notably, there will be no Episcopal elections in any of the 5 US jurisdictions in 2024.
Deacons Can Now Preside at Sacraments in their Appointments
Deacons can now preside at the sacraments in their appointments without needing explicit permission from their bishop.
In what presiding Bishop David Graves called a “historic moment,” General Conference on May 2 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.
Full Communion with the Episcopal Church in the United States
The General Conference voted to approve a years-long effort to enter into full communion with the Episcopal Church in the United States. The full proposal, which was adopted here, can be found here.
Full communion allows recognition "of the full interchangeability and reciprocity of all ordained Methodist elders in full-connection with all ordained priests in The Episcopal Church, and all ordained Methodist deacons in full-connection with all ordained deacons in The Episcopal Church." Additionally, we "recognize the authenticity of each other’s baptism and Eucharist, and extend sacramental hospitality to one another’s members."
Petitions and Resolutions from Louisiana Clergy
Rev. JoAnne Pounds, New Orleans District, submitted a resolution to General Conference, "End Age and Disability-Related Financial Penalties for Couples Seeking to Marry." It was approved by the General Conference as part of Consent Calendar B04 on Tuesday, April 30th by a vote of 95.01% in the affirmative.
It reads in part, "We call on the Committee on Older Adult Ministries in collaboration with Discipleship Ministries and the Disabilities Committee of The United Methodist Church in collaboration with Global Ministries and staff of the General Board of Church and Society to provide educational materials about these matters and to lead United Methodists in advocacy to overturn and remove such laws and regulations."