The Central Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church

2008 General Conference

The 63 U.S. conferences, meeting during May and June, will elect 352 clergy delegates and 352 lay delegates to the denomination's highest legislative body, the General Conference. Convened every four years, the conference will meet April 23-May 2, 2008, in Fort Worth, Texas. The 53 conferences in Europe, Africa and the Philippines will elect 274 delegates. An additional 10 delegates from churches with concordat relationships with the denomination also will attend. The number of delegates to the General Conference is subject to change after the denomination's top court, called the Judicial Council, convenes April 25-28 in the Philippines.

The annual conferences will elect delegates to the five U.S. jurisdictional conferences, which will be held in July 2008 to elect bishops and assign them to geographic areas for the next four years. The 1,408 clergy and lay delegates to the jurisdictional conferences will elect nine U.S. bishops, and the central conferences will elect three bishops. A list of annual conference dates and locations is available at http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=2072525&ct=3510251. (047}

LOGO

United Methodists gathering for their top legislative assembly in 2008 will meet, symbolically, under a tall, green tree representing “A Future with Hope.”

The green tree and theme of hope are the key elements of the new logo for the next General Conference, which will gather April 23-May 2, 2008, in Forth Worth, Texas. The logo will become a familiar sight between now and the end of General Conference, gracing a wide variety of items — a stamped coin, hymnals, bulletins, T-shirts, sweatshirts, and banners.

PETITIONS
Instructions for submitting petitions to General Conference click here for pdf format

Petitions must be postmarked/transmitted and in the hands of the Petitions Secretary no later than October 26, 2007.

MARSHALS AND PAGES
Volunteers are being sought to serve as marshals or pages at the The United Methodist Church's 2008 General Conference. About 150 volunteers are needed to serve delegates, officials and visitors to the denomination's top legislative body, conference planners say. The General Conference depends on volunteers - especially marshals and pages - for everything from assisting disabled delegates to distributing documents. Marshals and pages travel to and work at the conference at their own expense. Volunteers may apply online at the General Conference Web site by going to http://gc2008.umc.org and clicking Online Marshals/Pages Application. Applications must be submitted by July 31, and applicants will be notified of their status by Sept. 30.

FUNDING FOR THE CHURCH'S 21st CENTURY MISSION
The 2008 General Conference will receive a proposed four-year budget for The United Methodist Church requesting $642 million to support denominational ministries centered around four newly defined mission initiatives. Approved by church leadership on May 24, the proposed spending plan is designed to fund the church's 21st century mission initiatives of leadership development; building new congregations and revitalizing existing ones; ministry with the poor, especially children; and combating the preventable diseases of poverty, such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. The budget recommendation will be presented to General Conference when the church's top legislative body meets next April in Fort Worth, Texas. The proposed budget for the 2009-2012 quadrennium is 4.8 percent higher than the $612.5 million budget for the denomination's current four-year cycle. However, it is about 6 percent less than the overall amounts requested by church entities to meet ministry goals. Bishop Lindsey Davis, of the North Georgia Area, said the proposed budget "represents a lot of shared pain - a lot of give and take."

Liberian president to address General Conference 2008 click here