What are the legislative committees discussing at General Conference?

A Guide for Beginners and a Material Resource for Experts

Yesterday we engaged with information about Delegates to General Conference and how they serve on legislative committees. If you missed that, you can catch up HERE. Today we are here to explore the question, what are the legislative committees discussing at General Conference?

Earlier this year, the Global Methodist Church provided a petition portal that was opened to receive submissions. These petitions could be submitted by the Transitional Leadership Council, the provisional annual conferences (such as the MidSouth Conference), member congregations, and individuals who are members of the GM Church. 252 petitions were submitted proposing legislation for action by delegates and of those 252 petitions, 204 were approved for the delegates to address at General Conference. Each of the delegates we elected to represent the MidSouth sit on one of the 7 legislative committees.

Here is a quick glance at those committees & how many petitions each of them is addressing:

  • Episcopacy & Superintendency: 49 petitions
  • Constitution: 36 petitions
  • Ministry & Local Church: 36 petitions
  • Connectional Organization: 27 petitions
  • Judicial Administration: 26 petitions
  • Conferences: 23 petitions
  • Finance & Administration: 6 petitions
  • Plenary Session (TBDD & JPP): 1 petition

If you want to dive deeper into the list of petitions… HERE you go! Leading up to General Conference, our elected delegates have spent hours reading through these petitions and spending great amounts of time in prayer and discussion. They’ve had meetings before all the meetings!

This is quick version of what is happening, but each of the links above can you take you deeper in your reading about the process of receiving petitions, approving petitions and assigning them to legislative committees, as well as reports on each of the petitions. These decisions begin to shape our denomination as they impact our Transitional Book of Doctrines & Discipline. If you’ve never taken the time to look through that, maybe now is that time! You are a part of a connectional system, and whether you realize it or not, these doctrines and discipline shape the mission in ministry of the local church.

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