General Conference 2024 Week One
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Let Bishop Easterling's Words Ring Out
A suvivor of clergy sexual assault, the Rev. John Sumwalt calls on bishops and General Conference delegates to lead services of lament back home to help other suvivors begin to heal. Read more
May 1, 2024
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Mike DuBose Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News
Bishop's Sermon on Sexual Violence Broke Open My Lasting Silence
Bishop LaTrelle Miller Easterling didn't know about the editor's lasting silence about past sexual assault. Nonetheless she proclaimed April 25 that the church's silence obscures the fact that gender-based violence isn't about sex. Read more
Apr 26, 2024
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Church Broadens Defense of Human Rights
General Conference delegates approved the first batch of Revised Social Principles, including an affirmation of the basic rights of all people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Read more
Apr 27, 2024
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General Conference Gives Regionalization Green Light
In what outgoing Council of Bishops President Thomas J. Bickerton called “a historic day for our church,” delegates voted 586 to 164 in favor of a constitutional amendment that aims to put the UMC's different geographic regions on equal footing. Read more
Apr 26, 2024
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Liberia Delegate Sees Bright Future for UMC with Regionalization
Liberian delegate Jefferson B. Wright praises the passage of regionalization by the General Conference as a path to a bright future for the United Methodist Church. Read more
Apr 26, 2024
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A Journalist and a Cartoon Fish Can Point the Way
Laity Address speakers at General Conference urged United Methodists to work together and keep the faith despite the setback of more than 7,000 disaffiliated churches. Read more
Apr 25, 2024
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Delegates Urged to ‘Restart’ Church with Less
The budget presentation included the need to reduce the number of bishops in the U.S. and add less bishops to Africa than initially planned. Still, delegates also heard hope for the denomination to pivot from church exits to revitalization. Read more
Apr 25, 2024
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Young People Share Fears, Hopes for Future Church
Young delegate Alejandra Salemi of Florida said she sees similarities between the current state of the church and a family torn apart due to divorce. Senesie T.A. Rogers of Sierra Leone said he believes there is hope for a bright future and unity. Read more
Apr 25, 2024
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South Carolina Bishop Calls UMC to Become 'Who God Needs Us to Be'
In one of the most visual addresses in decades, Bishop L. Jonathan Holston built his message around a series of videos that contrasted traumatic world events of the past eight years with United Methodist events and activities that show God's reign. Read more
Apr 24, 2024
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Creation Advocates Stage Bank Protest at General Conference
On the opening day of General Conference, United Methodist creation justice advocates held a prayer vigil and march at the Charlotte, N.C., headquarters of Bank of America to call for the bank to stop funding fossil fuels. Read more
Apr 24, 2024
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UMC's High Court Says General Conference Decides Leader Elections
The United Methodist Church’s top court said it’s up to General Conference to determine how to handle the elections of the court’s membership. In a separate decision, the council also ruled that agency board members elected in 2016 can serve again. Read more
Apr 24, 2024
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Regionalization Moves on to Full General Conference
Legislation to put the different geographical regions of The United Methodist Church on equal footing crossed a significant threshold April 21when it was passed by the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters. Read more
Apr 24, 2024
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Bishop Challenges Conference to Move Forward from Conflicts under God's Power
Bishop Thomas Bickerton challenged delegates to the 2024 General Conference to cast off the trauma of past conflicts and move forward "under the power of the Holy Spirit" to create a new United Methodist Church. Read more
Apr 24, 2024
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General Conference News Feed
This is a running account of events from General Conference. Detailed news and analysis will be published separately. Read more
Apr 23, 2024
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No-Shows a Problem for General Conference
General Conference organizers say 73% of delegates from Africa, Philippines, Europe and Eurasia are confirmed to be at the assembly that begins April 23 in Charlotte, North Carolina. But it’s unclear how many of the remaining delegates will attend. Read more
Apr 20, 2024
UMC Future
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My Broken United Methodist Heart
United Methodist layman Paul DeMarco tells of seeing the sign changes among disaffiliated churches in South Carolina, and of his sad conversation with a good friend of generous spirit who nonetheless voted with her congregation to leave the UMC. Read more
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Congregations Hold More Diverse Views After Split in United Methodist Church, Study Finds
Congregations that remained with the United Methodist Church in North Carolina during a split over gay marriage and ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy are more politically and theologically diverse than those that left, researchers at Duke University found. Read more
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After Traditionalist Churches Left, UMC May be More – Not Less – Diverse
A new report from Duke University that looked at disaffiliating clergy from North Carolina’s two United Methodist conferences found that even after departures, 24% of North Carolina clergy remaining disagree with ordaining LGBTQ people. Read more
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Charlie Riedel AP
How Can a Denomination Based on Reconciling Differences Split Over Its Disagreements?
The lead researcher on a new Duke University study on United Methodist diversity after disaffiliation wonders how the denomination can split apart over its differences on human sexuality. Read more
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Photo by Eveline Chikwanah/UM News
American Conflict and the UMC In Africa
American Methodism long has treated Africa as a "battlefront" to be conquered. The dynamic of ecclesiastic empire working through the means of patronage is one that the church will need to work for some time to dismantle. Read more
