How are General Conference delegates chosen?
General Conference is the highest legislative body in The United Methodist Church. Every four years, delegates gather from all over the world to make decisions on behalf of the denomination.
Where are delegates from?
Each annual conference in Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States elects an equal number of clergy and laity to be among the 600 to 1,000 delegates to General Conference. Other voting delegates come from autonomous churches with which The United Methodist Church has a concordat relationship. For example, the Methodist Church in Great Britain sends four voting delegates to each General Conference. The 2020 General Conference will have 862 delegates, two few- er than in 2016.
A formula, based on lay and clergy membership, determines the number of delegates from each conference. Every conference is guaranteed at least two — one clergy and one lay.
Summary of 2021 WI Annual Conference
Here is a summary of some of the events at the Annual Conference. The 2021 Annual Conference of the Wis- consin Conference of The United Methodist Church was once again held virtually this year. Bishop Hee-Soo Jung called the session to order on Friday morning following the opening worship service. Bishop Jung offered greetings and thanks to those present and those who had worked to make this conference possible. Administrative votes were taken to authorize holding the conference virtually and to set special rules and procedures to guide the business of the session.
Business continued with Rev. Krysta Deede, chairperson of the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, introducing the 2021 Class of Ordinands and Commissioned Provisional Members. A pre-recorded video introducing each person was played. The morning session closed with the viewing of the Retiree Recognition service. Business continued throughout the afternoon with approval of the Consent Agenda, approval of the new Chancellor, Marshall Schmitt, Statistician’s Report, presentation of the 2022 Budget, and a presentation from Rev. Cheryl Weaver, chair of the Joint Board of Pensions, Insurance and Equitable Compensation, on their action items relating to Clergy Compensation and proposed changes to current conference policies as it relates to equitable compensation.
Saturday’s session opened with a video by Rev. Lamarr Gibson celebrating Juneteenth followed by an open- ing worship service. Rev. Kate Croskery Jones, Dean of the Cabinet, gave the Cabinet Address. District Superintendents, Rev. Tsuker Yang and Rev. Scott Carlson presented Action Item wc107 Closing/ Discontinuance of Local Churches. Action Item wc107 passed. The reading of appointments was pre-recorded over Zoom and shown during the morning session followed by a presentation by Dr. Javier Viera, President of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.
A video presentation on Prayers for Myanmar was shown and the conference was asked to stand in solidarity with those who suffer in the region by offering a three-finger salute. The video can be found on the conference website. Rev. Sue D’Alessio presented Action Item wc108: Nominations Report. A copy of the nomina- tions report can be found on the conference website. There you will also find a Nominations Sign Up Form where you can submit your name or the name of someone you would like to nominate for a committee. There was no discussion, action item passed.
Following closing remarks by Bishop Hee-Soo Jung, the Service of Commissioning and Ordination was played. Throughout the Conference, short videos were presented during vote collation times, promoting Pine Lake and Lake Lucerne Camp and Retreat Ministries, six different awards, Campus Ministries, the Groat Grant, and Harbor House. All of the videos from both days and conference materials can be found on the Annual Conference website at
www.wisconsinumc.org.”
Gary Getzin,
Lay Delegate to WI Annual Conference
