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Wednesday, May 15 at 5:30 pm in the West Lounge and on Zoom
Zoom Meeting ID: 890 5283 1938 | Passcode: 563245
The 2024 General Conference in Charlotte will be known as perhaps the most consequential and unifying large-scale gathering in the history of The United Methodist Church.
As the conference that began on April 23 concluded on Friday, May 3, delegates could head home knowing they had reshaped the UMC into a more inclusive, welcoming, and grace-filled body.
That is in sharp contrast to the season of rancor that led to the disaffiliation of thousands of churches throughout the denomination. This Conference reaffirmed that The United Methodist Church again reflects the promise it made more than twenty years ago: open hearts, minds, and doors.
Delegates overwhelmingly voted to remove a clause in The Book of Discipline that prohibited the ordination of openly gay pastoral candidates. They also voted to allow same-sex marriages to be performed on church property and will now allow – but not force -- pastors to perform such unions.
They removed language from the UMC’s Social Principles that stated, “the practice of homosexuality…is incompatible with Christian teaching.”
They further affirmed “marriage as a sacred, lifelong covenant that brings two people of faith (adult man and adult woman of consenting age or two adult persons of consenting age) into a union of one another and into a deeper relationship with God and the religious community.”
All of that was possible because the Conference began with delegates approving the concept of regionalization. The four UMC regions – the United States, Africa, Europe, and the Philippines – can adjust portions in The Book of Discipline to allow each area to do ministry in their own context.
Read a full recap of General Conference:
Read a message from Bishop Frank Beard of the Illinois Great Rivers Conference
Church ends 52-year-old anti-gay stance
‘Get out of God’s way,’ bishop urges
Climate justice legislation fares well overall
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