A Message from the Bishop:

Election of General Conference Delegates: Decision Released by Judicial Council

Grace and peace to you in the name of Christ.

I write today related to the composition of our delegation in light of a new ruling released by the United Methodist Judicial Council.

In June 2019, the Northern Illinois Conference elected delegates to serve at the 2020 (now 2024) General Conference. At their 2022 annual conference, the Northern Illinois lay and clergy members passed a resolution calling for new elections, unless the Judicial Council required the current delegation to serve.

On March 21, 2023, the United Methodist Judicial Council released Decision 1472, stating that “annual conferences are permitted to hold elections to fill vacancies due to death, resignations, or otherwise, up to the maximum number of allocated delegates, provided vacancies cannot be filled with reserve delegates.”

I have been watching this work carefully over the past few months related to the intent of the 2022 annual conference to elect a new delegation if permitted. With today’s ruling, we are obligated to remain with the delegation elected in 2019 and cannot honor the intent of the legislation in 2022. In the event of death, resignations, or otherwise, reserve delegates would move up in the delegation and elections would only take place to fill the appropriate vacancies.

The 2024 General Conference will be held April 23 to May 3 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The 2024 Jurisdictional Conference will be held July 10 to 13 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Please pray for your delegation and the service they render as together we fulfill the mission of the United Methodist Church to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Peace,

Dan Schwerin, Bishop
Northern Illinois Conference UMC