Every four years The United Methodist Church holds its General Conference, the top policymaking body for the denomination. From May 5-15, 2020, 862 delegates from around the world will gather in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to set denominational policy, revise church law, approve budgets for churchwide programs and adopt resolutions on current moral, social, public policy and economic issues. Delegates to General Conference, equal clergy and lay, are elected at their annual conferences. The delegate count for each conference is based on the number of clergy and professing lay members of the conference in a formula laid out by The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church.

The previous full session of General Conference was held in May 2016 in Portland, Oregon. A special session of General Conference was held in 2019 focusing on the denomination’s policies and practices regarding LGBT+ clergy and marriages. General Conference is the only body that can speak for The United Methodist Church.

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This episode originally appeared in the November/December 2019 issue of response, the award winning magazine from United Methodist Women.

Visit UnitedMethodistWomen.org to find out more.