What is General Conference? General Conference is a business meeting
and celebration comprised of clergy and lay delegates elected from
Annual, Missionary, and Provisional Conferences from UM churches all
over the world. The United Methodist Church has 46 episcopal
(Conference) areas in the United States and 20 across Africa, Europe, and
the Philippines.
Countries represented among the delegates will be: The USA, Norway,
Finland, The Philippines, India, Liberia, Cote D’Ivoire, Nigeria, Cameroon,
South Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zaire, Angola, Namibia, South
Africa, Russia, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, The Democratic Republic
of Congo, France, Germany, Poland, Austria, Ukraine, and more. We have
requested that one of the delegates come and visit our church on Sunday,
April 28!
This representative body of the UMC is the only one that can set official
policy and speak for the denomination. General Conference gathers for a
10-day meeting every four years. The actual title of this Conference is the
“2020 General Conference.” The Covid Pandemic caused the original date
for this Conference to be postponed to 2024! All of the delegates
attending from our Annual Conference (Western North Carolina) were
elected in 2019.
You may attend the Conference on any day. Several of our members plan
to go to the Celebration of the United Women of Faith on Monday, April
29. Pastor Barb also plans to go on Saturday, April 27 to pick up our guest
speaker! If you want to join us on either date, please call Stephanie at the
church office (652-7010). Please pray for our local church and our global
church. May the Holy Spirit guide us as we seek to live within God’s will
for His church. – Barb
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