Monday, April 29, 2024
General Conference Update: South Georgia Edition
Today begins the bulk of the plenary work for General Conference delegates. Last week, delegates primarily spent time in legislative committees reviewing the 1,099 pieces of legislation submitted to General Conference. The full body plenary sessions focused on worship, organizing the General Conference session, nominations, and hearing reports from various groups. On Thursday, however, a majority of the legislation dealing with regionalization was presented by the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters to the General Conference. Because this legislation comes from a Standing Committee it does not have to come through a legislative committee, which teed up the proposals for action by the full General Conference plenary in its first week. This is a change from previous sessions when General Conference typically does not take up major proposals until its second week. Delegates did pass the majority of the legislation focused on regionalization, paving the way for annual conferences to decide if they wish to ratify this plan. Every Annual Conference will now have the opportunity to give voice and vote to this legislation. The earliest it could be voted on in South Georgia is 2025, and then the aggregate votes would be compiled to get to a 2/3 affirmative total vote of the denomination in order to become church law.
Updates from each day can be found below.
A Word from Bishop Graves
Bishop David Graves, resident bishop of the South Georgia Conference, summarizes the work of week one of General Conference and further explains what is to come this week. We invite you to watch this important and timely message. Click here to watch.
Legislative Committees Finish their Work
Richard Shinhoster is pictured among this group as he participates in his legislative committee, Finance and Administration.
Legislative Committees finished their work, some as late as 9:30 pm Saturday night. Now the work of the committees move to the plenary sessions for the full body to vote on the recommendations coming from each of the 14 committees. We are thankful to our delegation for their tireless work this past week and continue to lift them in prayer as they enter week two.
South Georgia delegates served on the following 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 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).
South Georgia clergy volunteer their time at General Conference
From L to R: Rev. Christy Bandy, Dr. Paula Lewis, Dr. Nita Crump, Rev. Melissa Traver, Rev. Kathy Israel-McLeod
There are five clergy from South Georgia in Charlotte, NC for the General Conference session – not to vote but to volunteer. Dr. Nita Crump, senior pastor at Baxley UMC and Graham UMC, is serving on the General Conference staff working with the credentials committee and ethics committee. Rev. Kathy Israel-McLeod, senior pastor of Hand Memorial UMC and Bethany UMC, Dr. Paula Lewis, Superintendent of the North Central and South Central Districts, and Rev. Melissa Traver, senior pastor at Bainbridge First UMC, are all serving as pages. Rev. Christy Bandy will serve on the General Conference hospitality team this week. Read more
Schedule for Monday, April 29
Today's agenda includes:
8:00 - 9:10 A.M. - Worship
- Consecration of Deaconesses and Home Missioners for Lifetime Service (including Lauri Jo Upchurch from South Georgia)
9:10 - 10:00 A.M. - Plenary Session
- Monitoring Report
- Administrative Committee Reports
- Consent Calendars
10:20 A.M. - 12:00 P.M. - Plenary Session
- United Women in Faith Elections
- Trustees of John Street Church
- Secretary-designate of the General Conference
- Commission on the General Conference
- General Agencies
- Judicial Council
- University Senate
- Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters
1:30 - 3:40 P.M. - Plenary Session
- Africa University Report
- Higher Education and Ministry Report
- Calendar Items & Conference Business
4:00 - 6:30 P.M. - Plenary Session
- Abundant Health Initiative Report
- United Methodist Men
- Calendar Items & Conference Business
- Evening Devotion
What happened at General Conference - Week 1
Wrap-ups from United Methodist News
Conference Updates
![]()
Following General Conference
There are multiple ways you can follow along with General Conference.
General Conference Resources
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 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
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)
You are receiving General Conference email updates as a current subscriber of The South Georgia Advocate e-newsletter or because you signed up to receive General Conference emails. If at any time you would like to be removed from GC email updates you can do so through the unsubscribe button at the bottom of this email. If you know others who would like to receive GC email updates they can subscribe here.
