With COVID-19 still menacing the globe, organizers are exploring various options for holding what many expect to be a pivotal General Conference.
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Among the possibilities is for The United Methodist Church’s top lawmaking assembly to convene online in late summer of 2021.
The Commission on the General Conference has named a technology study team to look at ways to accommodate full participation of nearly 900 voting delegates and other church leaders who come from four continents and 13 time zones.
“This group has been assembled from across the church and includes people who have demonstrated experience in the intricate workings of The United Methodist Church at many levels,” said commission leaders in answer to UM News questions posed Sept. 17.
The 14-member technology team includes commission members, General Conference staff and other denominational leaders. The commission has named Carolyn Marshall, former secretary of the General Conference, as the team’s chair.
An advisory team of General Conference volunteers and contractors will assist.
Commission leaders said the technology study team would be looking at developing thorough, well-researched recommendations. Facts on the ground are rapidly changing, the commission noted, including medical considerations, political realities and technological advances.
Of the 862 delegates elected to the coming General Conference, 55.9% come from the U.S., 32% from Africa, 6% from the Philippines, 4.6% from Europe and the remainder from concordat churches that have close ties to The United Methodist Church.
The logistics of the typical 10-day General Conference are complex under the best of circumstances, involving international visas, translators and finding space to accommodate more than 1,000 people.
If the meeting goes online, bishops and other General Conference veterans urge that the legislative assembly take up a curtailed agenda and refer other proposal to a future General Conference.
The commission first came up with the idea of a technology team in May in response to young adult delegates urging the commission to move General Conference from the start of the academic year when many young adults would be unable to attend in person.
The commission did not publicize who would serve on that team until Oct. 27.
The commission plans to meet in December, but leaders don’t expect many decisions to be made until the spring meeting.
“We take our responsibility seriously to provide the delegates, to the greatest extent possible, a safe environment in which to make important decisions affecting the life and future of the denomination,” commission leaders said.
excerpt from a story by Heather Hahn, multimedia news reporter, UMNS
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Delegates consider legislation during the 2016 United Methodist General Conference in Portland, Ore. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commission on the General Conference has named a technology study team to explore how to accommodate full participation at the lawmaking assembly now scheduled for Aug. 29-Sept. 7, 2021. File photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
