How Will United Women in Faith be Present at General Conference?

United Women in Faith will be at General Conference. Here’s how.

by Tara Barnes

The next United Methodist General Conference is set to take place April 23 to May 3, 2024, in Charlotte, North Carolina. General Conference is the top policymaking body for the denomination. As the official women’s organization of The United Methodist Church. United Women in Faith will be there to make sure no one makes decisions about us without us, and to ensure women, children, and youth are not overlooked.

Legislation

One important way we express the concerns of women is by bringing legislation to the church with the aim to have our petitions become official policy statements. For the General Conference in 2024, we have submitted four new resolutions we hope pass and become part of The Book of Resolutions of The United Methodist Church and 11 current resolutions we hope are readopted. All resolutions must be readopted every eight years.

Our four new pieces of legislation focus on observing the Children’s Sabbath, protecting the girl child, protecting voting rights, and the status of women and realizing full human rights. The 11 resolutions set to expire address injustices that still need to be addressed by the church. We hope as well that delegates will support our amendment to the Book of Discipline allowing annual conference voting rights for retired deaconesses and home missioners.

United Women in Faith also supports regionalization and the work of our fellow boards and agencies in the church. Stay tuned for more in-depth discussion on regionalization to come.

At the table

Many members of United Women in Faith will be at General Conference as voting delegates, serving as partners and leaders in this crucial role for the future of our denomination. United Women in Faith members are dedicated Christians willing to learn what it means to love our neighbors and then put that love into action. General Conference is on way we inspire, influence, and impact our communities.

We’ll also be co-hosting, with the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women, a briefing for central conference women delegates the Saturday evening before General Conference begins and a larger briefing for all women delegates the Monday before. These briefings are a time for women delegates to meet one another, share thoughts and tips, and orient themselves further to the proceedings and the space. At the most recent General Conference in 2019, only 36 percent of delegates were women, despite women comprising 58 percent of church membership.

Each delegate will also be given a unique beaded pin created by Native American artists commissioned by United Women in Faith as a reminder of the hundreds of thousands of women praying for them.

Inviting others into the work

While the church is gathered together, United Women in Faith will also be consecrating 25 deaconesses and home missioners on Monday April 29 and hosting an action for climate justice. You’ll also see us during a plenary presentation and at our display and gathering space in the exhibit hall. We’ll be in the press room sharing news and insight as well, and serving as volunteers to help take care of people for the two weeks of meetings. We’ll share more details about how you can join in celebrating United Women in Faith as the conference gets closer.

What you can do

You’ve taken a great first step signing up for our Member Portal so that you can read this blog! Be sure as well to sign up for our General Conference newsletter. Our 154-year-old magazine, response, is also another great place to stay connected.

Be sure to listen and engage in conversations about General Conference. Be in the spaces where these conversations happen. Remind the church with your presence—and by saying so!—that United Women in Faith is crucial to its goal to make disciples of Christ for the transformation of the world. Continue to invite women into the sisterhood, by offering to be a mentor, inviting them to a Reading Program book group or Mission u book study, encouraging them to listen to our podcasts or sign up for our e-mails, or many other ways to let women in your life know that they are whole people, their voices are important, and they have a place to join with other women to help change the world.

Continue to pray. Pray for delegates and organizers. Pray for those most affected by the decisions made at General Conference. Pray for a church that uplifts women, children, and youth.

United Women in Faith has a vision of the kin-dom, and we are doing the work to see it through. We have shown the church that following God sometimes requires a bold leap. Keep the faith—you are needed for such a time as this.

Tara Barnes is director of denominational relations for United Women in Faith.