What Is General Conference?
General Conference is the primary legislative gathering of the Global Methodist Church. It is where elected representatives from across the worldwide denomination come together to worship, pray, discern, debate, and make decisions about the church’s shared mission and life.
General Conference normally meets once every six years. The 2026 gathering will take place August 30–September 5 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Who Makes the Decisions?
General Conference is made up of elected delegates—not simply bishops or denominational employees.
Each annual conference elects both clergy and lay delegates, with laity serving as equal partners in the church’s leadership. The number of delegates assigned to each annual conference is based on its relative membership.
This means decisions are made by representatives of local churches from many nations, cultures, languages, and ministry settings. Delegates are responsible for prayerfully seeking what is best for the whole Global Methodist Church—not only for their own congregation, conference, or country.
What Does General Conference Do?
General Conference establishes the mission, vision, doctrine, discipline, and governance of the Global Methodist Church.
Among its responsibilities, General Conference:
Considers proposed changes to the Book of Doctrines and Discipline;
Clarifies the church’s doctrine and social witness;
Establishes rules governing clergy, bishops, annual conferences, and local churches;
Determines the structure and responsibilities of denominational councils and commissions;
Approves connectional funding and the general church budget;
Elects bishops and other general church leaders; and
Sets priorities for the denomination’s worldwide mission.
At the 2026 General Conference, delegates are also expected to elect eight full-time bishops.
What Is the Book of Doctrines and Discipline?
The Book of Doctrines and Discipline, often abbreviated as the BDD, is the Global Methodist Church’s primary guide for our shared beliefs and common life.
It contains the church’s doctrinal standards, Constitution, social-witness statements, ministry standards, organizational structure, and accountability processes. It explains both what binds Global Methodists together and how the church carries out its work.
General Conference may revise the BDD. Some changes can be approved by a regular majority, while changes to foundational sections—such as the Constitution, doctrinal standards, and social-witness statements—require larger majorities or additional ratification.
How Does Something Reach General Conference?
Proposed legislation is submitted in the form of a petition.
A petition may propose adding, changing, or deleting language in the BDD. Petitions may come from individuals, local churches, annual conferences, General Conference delegations, or denominational boards and commissions.
Before General Conference, each valid petition is assigned to a legislative committee according to its subject. Committees study the proposals, hear discussion, make amendments, and recommend whether the full General Conference should adopt or reject them.
Committee approval is not the final decision. Measures approved by a committee must ordinarily come before the full body of delegates in a plenary session.
What Happens During the Conference?
General Conference is more than a business meeting. Its schedule includes worship, prayer, preaching, Holy Communion, fellowship, celebration, and reports about the church’s mission around the world.
Delegates also spend substantial time in two kinds of legislative sessions:
Legislative Committees
Smaller committees examine petitions in particular areas, such as doctrine, ministry, local church governance, episcopal leadership, social witness, finance, or judicial administration.
Plenary Sessions
All delegates meet together to consider committee recommendations, debate proposals, offer amendments, vote on legislation, and conduct elections.
The process can be detailed and sometimes slow, but it allows proposals to receive careful consideration before they become part of the church’s common discipline.
What Role Do Bishops Play?
Bishops provide spiritual and temporal leadership for the church, defend its faith, and help oversee the deployment of clergy. However, bishops do not govern the church by themselves.
Bishops are elected by General Conference and remain accountable to the doctrine and discipline established by General Conference. Clergy and lay delegates hold the voting authority during the legislative sessions.
Why Does This Matter to Wellspring?
Decisions made at General Conference eventually shape the life of every Global Methodist congregation—including Wellspring.
They can affect:
What the church teaches;
How pastors and bishops are selected and held accountable;
How local churches organize their ministries;
How clergy and lay leaders are trained;
How connectional funding is used;
How the church responds to social and moral questions; and
How Global Methodists work together to make disciples throughout the world.
Some decisions will be highly visible. Others will concern procedures most church members rarely encounter. Together, however, they establish the covenant within which Wellspring shares ministry with Global Methodist congregations around the world.
How Can I Participate?
You do not have to be a delegate to participate meaningfully.
You can:
Learn about the major issues;
Pray for the delegates and their families;
Pray for wisdom, humility, courage, and unity;
Follow reports and updates from the conference;
Encourage Wellspring’s and our annual conference’s delegates; and
Help our congregation understand and respond faithfully to the decisions that are made.
General Conference reminds us that Wellspring belongs to something larger than itself: a global family joined together by a common faith, a shared Wesleyan heritage, and a mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly.
