Thursday, April 25, 2024
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General Conference Update: South Georgia Edition
South Georgia delegates begin Legislative Committee work
After a time of worship, Wednesday morning was spent hearing the Episcopal address given by Bishop Jonathan Holston from South Carolina, the Young People's Address, a report on the finances of the church, and presentations on regionalization and the Social Principles. Delegates then began their work in legislative committees where each committee elected a chair, vice-chair and secretary. In addition, if the legislative committee voted to have subcommittees, chairs were elected for those. Much of the rest of this week’s work will be centered around these committees as each of the petitions that were submitted prior to 2020 and leading up to the current General Conference are given to one of the legislative committees for delegates to review.
UMC.org offers the following information about legislative committees:
- Petitions are numbered and grouped by subject matter or the Book of Discipline section they address (missions, finance, local church, etc.) and assigned to legislative committees. The number of legislative committees at the 2024 gathering was increased from 12 to 14. The goal is to more evenly distribute the workload and meet the requirement that all submitted petitions receive a vote in committee.
- A legislative committee votes to accept, accept with amendments, reject or refer the various petitions. Every delegate serves on a legislative committee and spends much of the first week of General Conference focusing on the committee’s assignments. These committees make it possible to review and provide recommendations on hundreds of petitions — something impossible for the full gathering of delegates. The postponed 2020 General Conference has received 1,099 petitions for action.
There are 14 legislative committees. South Georgia has eight delegates and, therefore, is represented with votes in 8 legislative committees:
- Jimmy Asbell: Conferences
- Scott Hagan: Church and Society 2
- Allison Lindsey: Faith and Order
- Ben Martin: General Administration
- John Ray: Discipleship
- Richard Shinhoster: Financial Administration
- Doreen Smalls: Ordained Ministry
- Patsy Thomas: Judicial Administration
The work of the legislative committees will continue through Saturday evening where all committees must conclude their work. Petitions that come out of legislative committees will be on the plenary session agendas for discussion the week of Monday, April 29.
The ADCA contains all legislation submitted for consideration by the delegates at General Conference. Interested persons who wish to follow a particular piece of legislation may do so through the legislation tracker (an account must be created). Coverage will continue next week around legislation that is debated from the floor.
Thursday, April 25
Today's agenda includes:
8:00 - 8:45 am | Worship | Live Streamed
8:45 - 9:30 am | Plenary Session | Live Streamed
- Opening Prayer
- Monitoring Report (3 minutes)
- Laity Address (30 minutes)
- Administrative Committee Reports
- Calendar Items
10:50 am - 6:30 pm | Legislative Committee Work for the remainder of the day
Spotted in Charlotte
Your South Georgia delegation is hard at work! And they've enjoyed seeing some familiar faces from back home this week!
Bishop Holston: Become 'who God needs us to be'
(UM News) — Bishop L. Jonathan Holston of the South Carolina Conference encouraged delegates to the United Methodist General Conference to keep their focus on what is important and tune out the noise. Delivering the 2024 Episcopal Address on behalf of the Council of Bishops on Day 2 of the legislative assembly, he reminded the body that the church must keep one thing clear: “It is about this and only this: How do we become who God needs us to be?”Read story
April 24 GC wrap-up from UM News: What happened on Day 2
Access a recap of the day’s activities for 4/24/24.
Have questions about General Conference? Ask The UMC
Have questions about what’s happening at the General Conference, or how things work, or who was at the microphone when, or what specific actions mean? Ask The UMC is on site at the legislative assembly, ready to reply by email or live chat. Non-General Conference questions are welcome, too, as always. Learn more
General Conference Resources
General Conference Guide
An important resource for delegates, church members and journalists, this guide contains information about the conference schedule, the legislative process and historical background. Download the guide: English | Français | Português
Advance Edition Daily Christian Advocate
The Advance DCA contains all legislation submitted for consideration by the delegates at General Conference. View ADCA
Daily Christian Advocate & Legislation Tracking
The Daily Christian Advocate is the most important reference for delegates of General Conference (and those closely following the session). It contains daily transcripts of the conference proceedings, news stories and features, and daily summaries of legislative committee actions. General Conference delegates and first reserves receive free access to the website DailyChristianAdvocate.org. Others may access the site for a one-time fee of $49.99, which allows you to create an account and have ongoing access through General Conference, including legislation tracking. View the DCA
Following General Conference
There are multiple ways you can follow along with General Conference.
- Live Stream: General Conference will be live streamed at www.UMCGC.org/live
- General Conference website: www.UMCGC.org
- South Georgia Conference website: www.sgaumc.org/gc2020
- SGAUMC Facebook: www.facebook.com/sgaumc
- Social Media: Follow the hashtag #UMCGC
- These newsletters updates!
Prayer
Praying for delegates, bishops, speakers, and all those who lead and attend the General Conference sessions is a powerful way to participate. Pray for God to guide the General Conference’s decisions, for Christ to lead us into the future, and for the Holy Spirit to empower us to go on toward perfection in our love of God and one another. Join with others from South Georgia as we pause to pray each day 4:01 pm. View daily prayers here.
Top Tools for Sharing with Your Local Church
#1 GC by the Numbers Infographic - This one-page infographic provides a quick snapshot of General Conference by the numbers.
#2 The Road to General Conference Infographic - Gain a better understanding of The UMC with this information detailing the church's structure from the local church, to the district, through the annual conferences and beyond with the infographics below. (4 pages)
