We know that many people have questions about exactly what has happened in the United Methodist Church in recent years. What has changed? What has not? What does it all mean for our congregation or our conference? This is a place where you can find out the answers to some of those questions, and links to places where you can dig much deeper into the workings of the United Methodist Church.
What has NOT changed?
Church Doctrine
All United Methodists share a core set of beliefs that are espoused in The Articles of Religion, The Confession of Faith, John Wesley’s Sermons, and Wesley’s Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament. None of these have been altered in any way by the recent General Conference.
What is changing as a result of the 2024 General Conference?
Regionalization
The biggest change to come out of General Conference is Regionalization. What does that mean? Regionalization is the way we have always (since the UMC was founded in 1968) allowed Central Conferences outside of the United States to have flexibility in how they set up their rules and minister to their peoples. The General Conference has proposed that each Central Conference become a Regional Conference, and that the we establish the United States as its own Regional Conference which would allow the U.S. church the same flexibility in setting some of their own rules and priorities for ministry that other regions already have. Find out more about regionalization here.
De-centering the United States
By passing legislation immediately creating a United States Regional Committee, the 2024 General Conference has already taken a significant step to de-center the United States in the ongoing work of the General Conference. Find out more about de-centering here.
Ending some chargeable offenses – the issue of homosexuality
The 2024 General Conference removed from the Book of Discipline the description of one chargeable offense against clergy and removed a second chargeable offense against clergy entirely. There is no longer any mention of homosexuality in it at all. Find out more here.
Re-instating some clergy
The 2024 General Conference made provisions for the possibility of clergy who had been removed or forced out because of their sexual identity or because they presided at a same-sex marriage or union ceremony to be reinstated. Learn about how this happened, how it works and the three clergy reinstated by annual conferences in 2024. Find out more here.
Speaking to the world with (closer to) one voice
The 2024 General Conference adopted a throughly revised set of Social Principles, the result of listening and feedback across the whole of the church worldwide over a period of more than a decade. Learn more about why this was necessary. how the process unfolded, and how the Revised Social Principles better reflect the voices of the whole of the denomination, helping it address the world with closer to one voice. Learn more here.
Do you have more questions?
Click the button below for many more articles about the UMC, FAQ pages, live-chat options, and a form to submit your own question if the question you have isn’t answered there.
