A group of more than 270 U.S. delegates has publicly endorsed three legislative proposals as General Conference approaches.
The primary sources of legislation are petitions and proposals from churches, annual conferences, agencies
and organizations. Petitions were required to be submitted 230 days before the opening of the General Conference. Any organization, ordained minister or lay member of The United Methodist Church may petition the General Conference. Typically, about 1,000 petitions are submitted for consideration at a regularly scheduled General Conference, and 1,099 petitions were deemed to be valid for this meeting of the worldwide denomination.
The Rev. Abby Parker Herrera, General Conference petitions secretary, has the task of numbering each properly submitted petition and assigning it to one of 14 legislative committees or the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters.
The legislative committees deal with different subject matters and related sections in the Book of Discipline. The standing committee deals with proposals that affect United Methodist regions in Africa, Europe and the Philippines.
These committees are the first stop where legislation is debated, refined and recommended to go to the full General Conference plenary for a vote. If a plan has multiple petitions that deal with different sections of the Book of Discipline, the denomination's book of church law and polity. Those petitions will be assigned to the committees that handle those sections.
Learn more about key topics in the upcoming General Conference: