General Conference, The United Methodist Church's top legislative assembly, will meet in Portland's Convention Center, May 10-20, 2016.  Photo courtesy Oregon Convention Center/Bruce Forster.

Volunteers needed for General Conference

Nashville, Tenn.: Volunteers are needed for a variety of roles during the 2016 General Conference, The United Methodist Church’s top legislative assembly, which will meet in Portland, Oregon from May 10-20, 2016.

At this time, volunteers are needed for the following positions: 28 recorders, 10 channel “B” identifiers and 20 verbatim transcribers/copy editors.

Recorders will serve as members of the staff of the secretary of the General Conference and work in direct support of their assigned legislative committee. Recorders are responsible for entering data such as the time, date, and results of committee votes, as well as making changes to pre-entered petition text to reflect the amendments approved by the committee. This information is prepared for the recorder by the legislative committee secretary who manually tracks this information as it happens. The recorder is not responsible for taking minutes or tracking the discussion of the legislative committee.

Channel “B” identifiers will serve as members of the staff of the editor of the Daily Christian Advocate (DCA), the official record of the activity of the General Conference. Channel “B” identifiers will follow action of the plenary, repeating delegates’ names, annual conferences and vote tallies into a microphone.

Verbatim transcribers/copy editors also serve as members of the staff of the editor of the DCA. They are responsible for using Microsoft Word to enter data. They will listen to audio files and transcribe the recordings.

All volunteers are responsible for their own travel and expenses. Those interested can apply here now through July 1, 2015.

Petition Submission Begins for General Conference 2016

Nashville, Tenn.: Petitions for consideration by the 2016 General Conference may be submitted to the Petitions Secretary beginning April 1 and continuing through October 13, 2015.

According to church law, "Any organization, clergy member, or lay member of The United Methodist Church may petition the General Conference..."

Detailed instructions for submitting a petition are available on the General Conference website at gc2016.umc.org. Petitions must be typed and may be submitted through the General Conference website, by postal mail, or via e-mail to petitions@umpublishing.org. This e-mail address should be used for petition submission only. All other correspondence should be directed to petitionsquestions@umpublishing.org. Petitions submitted without digital media need to be submitted by July 1, 2015 to allow time for transcription and translation.

The mailing address for petitions (hard copy accompanied if possible by digital version on CD or USB drive) is:
Rev. Gary Graves, Petitions Secretary
United Methodist General Conference 2016
230 2nd Street
Paris, KY 40361

Eligible petitions are given numbers and assigned to one of 12 legislative committees or the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters. The committees will debate the proposals and determine whether to approve, amend, combine or reject them for recommendation to the full body of General Conference.

When submitting a petition, you must indicate whether a petition has "general church budget implications," meaning a petition that causes the need for funding (i.e., creation of a new program, staff position, support requirements, etc.) through the general church apportionments. Such petitions require review by the General Council on Finance and Administration to verify if the funding is already included under the recommended quadrennial budget.

Submitters must also indicate whether a petition has "global implications," meaning it is a constitutional amendment, has a direct effect on the global work of general agencies, places requirements or expectations on all annual conferences, districts, or churches, or speaks to societal concerns regardless of the particular form of secular government.

Questions about the petition submission process may be submitted by e-mail to Rev. Gary W. Graves, Petitions Secretary, at petitionsquestions@umpublishing.org.

About General Conference 2016
General Conference is the top policy-making body of The United Methodist Church. The assembly meets once every four years to consider revisions to church law, as well as adopt resolutions on current moral, social, public policy and economic issues. It also approves plans and budgets for church wide programs for the next four years. The 2016 meeting will have 864 delegates from around the world and will take place May 10-20 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon.