Hundreds of United Methodists will gather in Charlotte, N.C., in the next two weeks to make big decisions on the religious denomination’s policies, finances, inclusiveness and future.

The international conference, referred to as the 2020 General Conference because the original event was postponed during the pandemic, comes after years of debate on whether the church should recognize same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy.

It also follows a schism that saw 25% of churches vote to disaffiliate, or leave the church, over those same issues. Many of the departing churches left to join the newly created, more conservative Global Methodist Church.

Delegates from around the world will cast votes at the conference, which runs from Tuesday to May 3, and determine the church’s future.

It’s not a responsibility the Rev. Alyce Weaver Dunn of Gibsonia takes lightly.

“Every time I go to a General Conference, I feel the weight of responsibility to graciously and gracefully fulfill my responsibility as a delegate,” said Dunn, who is director of connectional ministries for the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church, a region that stretches north to Erie.

“There is always a feeling of a sense of enormity of responsibility, yet there’s also hopefulness and joy in being able to represent the church.”

Dunn is one of 12 delegates from Western Pennsylvania — six members of the clergy and six laypeople — who will be voting at the General Conference.

The Rev. Robert Zilhaver, conference superintendent for the Connellsville area and a clergy delegate, is another. With a busy agenda for delegates, he expects there to be mixed emotions.

“There’ll be disappointment and sacrifice, and there’ll be exhilaration and sadness, but my hope is that we will work through it like we have in the past,” he said. “The church has not faced these big of issues, at least in my memory, kind of pulling together at one conference.”

Tracy Merrick, a lay delegate from First United Methodist Church of Pittsburgh, is hoping for a productive and understanding gathering.

“I always look forward to General Conference. My wife says I’m going to be in my element,” Merrick joked. “I am the eternal optimist when it comes to some of these sorts of things, and I think the possibilities for change are ripe, and that we may very well see some things change, and some things not change.”

• Months after schism, former and current United Methodist churches pick up the pieces

• Remaining United Methodists look to religious life after disaffiliations

• Some Western Pennsylvania United Methodist churches make split official at conference

• United Methodist churches examine future as some vote to disaffiliate

• United Methodist congregations contend with process of disaffiliating

Background

For the first week of the conference, Dunn, Zilhaver, Merrick and their fellow delegates from around the world will discuss pending legislation in committees called sections. In the second week, beginning April 30, the whole conference will come together to discuss and vote.

Thousands of pieces of legislation will be up for a vote, though some are expected to garner more discussion than others. Among them are potential changes to allow the church to recognize same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy, alterations to the way the church defines its global regions, and discussions on how to handle a shrinking budget.

A 2019 general conference special session was the last time the denomination had the opportunity to vote on officiating or hosting same-sex marriages and ordaining LGBTQ clergy.

The church did not vote to approve either at the 2019 event, instead voting for a “traditional plan” that upheld the existing bans. The process for congregations to disaffiliate from the denomination also was formalized in 2019.

Continuing debates over these policies, the delay of the 2020 conference and the formation of the Global Methodist Church in 2022 all accelerated the momentum of congregations voting to disaffiliate from United Methodism.

In 2023, at the June annual conference in Erie, 298 Western Pennsylvania churches split from the denomination. There are 437 United Methodist churches remaining in the region.

Hot topics

Three of the discussions at the conference might center on what some in the denomination are referring to as the “three R’s”: regionalization, removing exclusionary language and revising the social principles.

Regionalization would restructure the international regional divisions of the church to make them less U.S.-centric, allowing different regions to contextualize their work based on area needs. Removing exclusionary language would change the policies that the church still holds forbidding same-sex marriages and LGBTQ pastors.

The social principles, Dunn explained, are a document that details how United Methodists as a faith interact with ongoing world issues, such as climate change, violence against women and racism.

“That document has been in a revision process for the last eight years, and so it’s ready to be voted upon,” Dunn said.

Another big topic is what Zilhaver called “bishops and budgets,” the practical restructuring of finances and leadership that the church must undertake after losing a quarter of its congregations.

“Because of disaffiliation, we have a significant loss in financial strength,” Zilhaver said. “We’re dealing with significant budget cuts. The General Conference is a place where we talk about bishops and how do we afford to pay for our episcopal leadership.”

“The budget is between a 42% and 43% reduction,” Merrick added. “A lot of work has gone into that budget. I expect it to get a lot of attention.”

The church may also discuss reopening the window for congregations to disaffiliate from the denomination.

“The United Methodist Church has always been pluralistic in their understanding and practice of faith. We have a diversity of people and experiences, so entering into every General Conference, there’s always this mixture of hope and concern about where the church will be on the other side,” Dunn said.

“I know in particular for this General Conference, there are folks that are waiting to see what happens in order for them to determine their future in the United Methodist Church.”

Hopes for the future

For Erik Hoeke, director of continuing education at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and an ordained United Methodist pastor, and for many in the church as a whole, it’s hard to predict what will happen at the conference.

“I think a lot of us are really holding our breath and wondering what it’s going to be,” he said.

In his work at the seminary, he says, a lot of people who are just starting the process of becoming United Methodist pastors also are in suspense.

“I think a lot of people who are right there at the beginning of their ministry, or getting ready to enter ministry, are really hoping that we can really understand our identity better as a denomination,” he said. “Whether it’s establishing something new, or reclaiming an identity that maybe we’ve gotten away from, really just knowing who we are as United Methodists is really something that people are yearning for.”

For the delegates, there’s a hope that the group can work together despite differing perspectives.

“As United Methodists, we’ve always been very passionate about social issues, (and) have always made it a top priority to make sure that people are valued and cared for,” Dunn said. “It will be interesting to see where we come out together.”

“My hope is that people can come out of this conference with an assurance that they experienced Christ’s presence there, and that we’re going to be really about that mission as a church,” Zilhaver said. “I do hope that we come out in a way that we can balance the financial reality for sustainability, and that we can make the hard choices and shared sacrifices that we need to make.”

For Merrick, who has been working on promoting inclusion in the church for many years, the vote on LGBTQ issues feels particularly significant.

“I will probably be deeply, deeply, deeply emotional if I have the opportunity to vote for the removal of some of the discriminatory language,” Merrick said. “I’m hoping that the 3 R’s pass. But in addition to that, and really on a broader view, I really hope we can be in a mode where we are communicating with one another with grace and compassion, and that this doesn’t become a General Conference where there is a lot of angst, and that folks aren’t at each other’s throats, as we’ve seen with some other General Conferences.”

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