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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodists together |
May/June 2005 |
General Conference commission sets 2008 dates, chooses theme
SCHILLER PARK, Ill. (UMNS) - The commission that plans the United Methodist Church's top legislative assembly has chosen a theme for the 2008 gathering and has set the dates, shortening General Conference by two days from previous years.
When the 2008 General Conference meets in Fort Worth, Texas, delegates will gather for nine days instead of 11. With a theme of "A Future With Hope," the nearly 1,000 delegates from around the world will meet from April 23 to May 2 to set church policy and conduct other business.
The 17-member Commission on General Conference also reduced the assembly's budget, in keeping with a mandate from the 2004 General Conference to study ways of increasing efficiency and decreasing costs. Meeting April 4-6 in Chicago, the commission reduced the General Conference's $6.66 million operating budget by $250,000. The budget for the 2004 assembly in Pittsburgh was $4.87 million.
"How a denomination spends its money reflects how it values its ministries," said Sandra Lackore, the denomination's treasurer. The commissioners were encouraged to review the purposes of General Conference and determine what parts, processes and characteristics of General Conference they value.
The Rev. Gail Murphy-Geiss, commission chairwoman, also asked the group to determine how General Conference could become a better ministry for the church rather than simply a process for rewriting the denomination's law book, The United Methodist Book of Discipline.
"I want to make sure that Christian conferencing remains before us during General Conference," said Joel Huffman, a commission member representing the Western Jurisdiction and treasurer of the Desert Southwest Conference.
Reducing the length of General Conference was one way the commission determined it could increase efficiency. Reducing the days should make the conference more efficient and a better experience for the delegates and the denomination, commissioners decided.
The commissioners were told the Rev. Gary Graves, pastor of Beaver Dam (Ky.) United Methodist Church, has been reappointed petitions secretary for General Conference 2008.
The commission also authorized a subcommittee to examine sites in the Southeastern Jurisdiction for General Conference 2012.
Information for the above article was adapted from a release by Marvin Cropsey, editor of The Daily Christian Advocate and a staff member at the United Methodist Publishing House.
Last updated on 25 Apr 2008