The short answer is it’s lot of work.
The longer answer begins with the constitutional requirement (Paragraph 14.1) that the total number of lay and clergy delegates in equal numbers elected by the annual conferences, provisional annual conferences and missionary conferences fall between 600 and 1000.
As a baseline, each annual conference, provisional annual conference and missionary conference gets at least one lay and one clergy delegate (Paragraph 502.1.a).
The number of eligible delegates beyond that baseline depends on the percentage of clergy members (active and retired) plus professing members in its local churches each conference has relative to the whole denomination (Paragraph 502.2).
To get that percentage requires the cooperation of individual congregations and annual conferences worldwide. In the year following the General Conference, every annual conference, provisional annual conference, and missionary conference worldwide must report the total number of clergy members (active and retired) and professing members (reported by the local church) to the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA), as also published in their conference journals. GCFA compiles this information and supplies a final report to the Secretary of the General Conference.
With that in hand, the Secretary of the General Conference starts running the numbers to assign to each conference. The aim is to generate the smallest total delegate count between 600 and 1000 which fairly represents conferences able to receive more than two delegates.
To generate the grand total, the Secretary then adds the number of voting delegates eligible to serve from Methodist denominations with whom The United Methodist Church has a concordat. Generally each concordat denomination may elect two delegates (one lay, one clergy). Great Britain may elect four. There are currently four such denominations (Methodist Church of Mexico, Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas, Methodist Church of Puerto Rico and The Methodist Church of Great Britain), for a total of 10 delegates.
For reference, the total delegate count, including concordat delegates, was 864 for the 2016 General Conference and 862 for the 2020/2024 General Conference.
The General Conference Commission is expected to announce the delegate total for the 2028 General Conference on November 14, 2025.
Burton Edwards is Lead for Ask The UMC, the information service of United Methodist Communications.
