Connections: Other places on the web relating to Wesley Church

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Annual Conference Session

Our Annual Conference Session is where clergy and lay representatives from United Methodist churches from the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley to the Oregon border and all of Nevada except for the Las Vegas area (over 1000 delegates) gather together for the annual meeting. It is held in Modesto, CA in mid-June (before or after Father's Day) from Wednesday to Saturday. Beginning in 2020 we will move to meeting from Friday to Monday, so only two work days are missed. Nick Strobel and Gay Lynne Natho are the lay delegates and our pastor is the clergy delegate for our church. You can also see the first part of the ACS 2010 report for a photo-journal that gives you an idea of what an Annual Conference Session is like.

Annual Conference Session links: 2022 -- 2021 -- 2019 -- 2018 -- 2017 -- 2016 -- 2015

Annual Conference Session 2022 Reports

Handbook for Newbies to an Annual Conference Session (select the link to download the Word doc)

Reports from past Annual Conferences are available on the Past Annual Conferences page.

The "Journal" from the most recent Annual Conference Session is on the Resources / Journals page of the Cal-Nevada UMC website. The Journal gives a complete record of what happened at an Annual Conference Session. See the "Previous Journals" page for the records of previous AC sessions.

Rethink Church

Powered by the Holy Spirit, 'Rethink Church' serves as a catalyst that moves the denomination, and those we hope to reach, into dialogue -- and ultimately, into transformative, collaborative action. What if church were a verb? What would it look like? Go to "RethinkChurch.org" for more about changes underway in the United Methodist Church.

Western Jurisdictional Conference

Every four years representatives from the United Methodist churches in Alaska, California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Montana, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Hawaii gather to plan programs for the next four years and elect bishops for the annual conferences in the western United States.

General Conference

Every four years representatives from United Methodist churches all over the world gather to set direction for the entire denomination for the following four years. General Conference is the only body that officially speaks for the denomination.

The 2016 General Conference met in Portland, Oregon from May 10 to May 20, 2016. Coming out of that General Conference was the Commission on a Way Forward that looked at a complete examination and possible revision of every paragraph of the Book of Discipline concerning human sexuality and explore options that help to maintain and strengthen the unity of the church. 

Special Session 2019

Link to General Conference coverage including LiveStream

There will be a Special Session of General Conference in February 2019 to act upon the recommendations from the Commission on a Way Forward.

Here's a brief synopsis of the five plans that have been submitted for consideration at the special General Conference that will take place in St Louis, MO in February 2019. More details about each of the plans can be found in the links at

https://www.umnews.org/en/news/opinions-still-vary-on-the-way-forward .

Also see Chart of Overview of Plans to 2019 General Conference


1) The One Church Plan would shift to churches and conferences decisions regarding ministry with or by LGBTQ persons rather than maintaining a single standard that operates throughout the worldwide church. It would also remove some of the language in the Book of Discipline that limit LGBTQ people’s involvement as United Methodists.

2) The Connectional Conference Plan would create three connectional conferences based on perspective on LGBTQ issues. The three connectional conferences would function throughout the worldwide church and the five existing U.S. jurisdictions would be abolished.

3) The Simple Plan would remove all language from the Book of Discipline that excludes LGBTQ people from full participation in the church.

4) The Traditional Plan would affirm the current language about homosexuality in the Book of Discipline and seek to strengthen enforcement for violations.

5) The Modified Traditional Plan would add to the Traditional Plan a committee with authority to hold bishops accountable to the sexuality standards in the Book of Discipline. It would offer a $200,000 grant to annual conferences that want to leave the denomination because of disagreement over LGBTQ issues.

See the article from the UM News service mentioned above for more background material of the plans and the various groups lobbying for particular plans. The Council of Bishops, California-Nevada Annual Conference, Western Jurisdiction and other groups have endorsed the One Church Plan. 

To find out more about General Conferences in general, see the General Conference 101 page or see the materials in our website about the UMC organization from our link below. (Although the GC 101 page is dated 2007, it still provides a good tutorial about General Conference.)

United Methodist Church Organization

Wesley United Methodist Church -- Bakersfield, CA