Oregon-Idaho Welcomes General Conference Briefing
The briefing was an event organized by United Methodist Communications to help communications professionals and delegates prepare for the General Conference that will be held May 10-120. Over 400 attendees heard from a variety of panels about what to expect at General Conference, and got a preview of some of the key issues that will be before the assembly in May.
(UMNS photo by Mike Dubose)
Volunteers from the local host committee greeted arrivals at the Portland International Airport and helped them connect with the MAX light rail system. At the hotel they assisted with registration, provided welcome packets, and recommendations for exploring the city of Portland.
In the convention center, a local host booth provided more information about tours for those attending general conference, community service options, and other local tips. Green vested volunteers were on hand to help set up rooms, guide people, and provide tours of the convention center and local hotels.
Time was set aside in the briefing to explain and practice a new way of doing business at General Conference. The Commission on General Conference is proposing a rule (rule 44) that would allow the members of General Conference to remove some legislative petitions from the existing process and use an alternate process. This rule 44 process calls for small discussion groups to review legislation and identify key points. These will then be sent to a team of elected “writers” that will craft compromise legislation to bring back to the whole body. It is hoped that this process will allow greater participation and dialog than using the existing committee system and Robert’s Rules of Order. The committee is concerned that Robert’s Rules are not easily understood by all delegates, especially those from outside the United States. They hope that a discernment process can build Christian conferencing between delegates.
Additional briefings will be held in the Philippines, Africa, and Russia for Central Conference delegates. At least one person from each central conference also attended the U.S. briefing in Portland.
Learn more at www.umc.org/GC2016
Learn and sign up to volunteer at www.GC2016PDX.org
Read another report of the event in United Methodist Insight and United Methodist News Service.