General Conference of United Methodist Church - by Jeff Bills

One of the unique aspects of our congregation is that the vast majority of you had no prior connection to the United Methodist denomination until you came to HOPE. Our primary focus is on growing in our knowledge of and commitment to Jesus Christ, and not on denominational distinctives. But, that is not because we are uncomfortable with our connection to the United Methodist Church. In many ways, HOPE has been able to thrive because of the way the UMC approaches both theology and church governance.

Over the past two weeks, the nearly 1,000 delegates from UM conferences from all fifty states and around the world, gathered in Fort Worth, Texas for a quadrennial meeting that is called General Conference. The theme for General Conference this year was A Future with Hope.

Jack Shaw, a HOPE member, attended General Conference not as a delegate but as the Director of Communications for the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference. I asked Jack to share some of his personal reflections of his time at General Conference.

What most surprised Jack as he experienced his first General Conference was the amount of work that the delegates had to do in two weeks. Over 6,000 petitions were submitted for consideration. When duplicates were eliminated, the number of petitions was closer to 1,500. Each of which went to one of thirteen legislative committees for consideration. Delegates routinely worked 15-hour days in order to get through all that needed to be accomplished.

In terms of personal highlights, Jack found the worship experiences and preaching to be inspiring. He also came to appreciate the worldwide nature of the UMC as he saw delegates from Asia, Africa, and Europe who are all part of our denomination. Jack said that the message was clear throughout the conference that the focus was on how to make our denomination healthy and spiritually vibrant.

Jack also talked about how excited he was about the method used to create the budget for the next four years. Every dollar will be invested in one of the following four areas of focus:
• Christian Leadership
• New Church Plants and Strategic revitalization of existing congregations
• Ministry to the Poor
• Improving Global Health

If you would like more detailed information on these four priorities, click here.

Just as each local congregation has its strengths and growth areas, so too each denomination. The core values of the UMC are rooted in the theology of John Wesley and as long as those remain unchanged – I am content to be a follower of Jesus Christ in the United Methodist church.

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