Grappling with Postponed General Conference
Grappling with Postponed General Conference
By Heather Hahn
Jan. 8, 2021 | UM News
Organizers have yet to determine whether the pandemic-postponed General Conference can go forward as planned on Aug. 29-Sept. 7 in Minneapolis.
In the meantime, the Commission on the General Conference has decided not to reopen the usual process for accepting petitions — that is, proposed legislation — to The United Methodist Church’s top lawmaking body.
That could have implications for the ability of General Conference delegates to have access to some big legislative proposals — including one outlining a potential denominational split — ahead of the assembly.
The Book of Discipline, which contains the laws General Conference approves, says that petitions can be submitted until 230 days before General Conference. That would make Jan. 11 the deadline based on the late summer 2021 dates for the postponed General Conference. The Discipline also allows annual conferences to submit legislation if they meet between 230 and 45 days before General Conference.
However, the commission said in a press release that any petitions submitted after the original deadlines for what would have been the 2020 General Conference will be treated as late legislation.
That puts the decision of whether General Conference considers the late-arriving petitions in the hands of the Committee on Reference, a bishop-appointed group of 24 delegates that typically meets the day before General Conference opens. The commission asks that the Committee on Reference instead gather as soon as possible.
“The commission has remained consistent with the understanding of postponement as opposed to cancellation,” commission leaders said in an emailed statement to United Methodist News. “Under postponement, the General Conference petition process is ongoing.”
Bottom line: The commission has no plans to publish another print edition of the Advance Daily Christian Advocate, which contains the petitions heading to General Conference.
A year ago, the commission determinedthat the reference committee also would make final decisions about how to handle petitions submitted by annual conferences in 2020.
