In a break from past conferences, The Wesleyan Church’s General Conference 2012 will focus mainly on business and legislative sessions.
The quadrennial conference of North American Wesleyans is usually a time when the business of the Church and the fellowship of its constituents intertwine with rallies and legislative sessions. Fellowship and inspiration will still be a predominant theme of the June 2-6, General Conference in Lexington, KY, but the main focus of this 12th conference will be on the business of the Church.
Over seventy “memorials” (i. e., suggested changes to the operations manual of The Wesleyan Church contained in The Discipline) have been submitted by Wesleyan districts, local churches, and subsidiary organizations and will be reviewed by the Church’s governing board (General Board) prior to General Conference.
Dr. Ronald D. Kelly, General Secretary of the Church, explains the review process: “The General Board will meet as the committee on memorials March 26-28, at The Wesleyan Church World Headquarters in Fishers, Indiana. It will review memorials from the districts (i. e., regional governing bodies of the General Church) and subsidiary corporations, to consider the suggested changes to local church, district, and General Church functions. Each memorial, whether recommended or not, will then be forwarded to the General Conference.”
Dr. Kelly notes that in addition, the board will group memorials necessitated by a prior recommendation that the 2012 General Conference consider restructuring the Church’s leadership to include one General Superintendent and four ministry divisions.
Once the process is complete, all of the memorials—in their entirety—that are going forward to the Lexington conference will be posted on the General Conference website.
But fellowship and inspirational times are definitely on the calendar. Sunday, June 3, won’t include legislative sessions; three rallies will highlight the day.
- The Sunday morning rally, hosted by Global Partners, will feature the department’s dynamic JESUS film ministry.
- Rev. Kevin Myers, pastor of 12 Stone Church in Lawrenceville, Georgia—the largest Wesleyan church in North America, averaging over 10,000 in weekly attendance—will be the speaker for an afternoon rally by the Education and The Ministry department.
- The Wesleyan Church’s “Urban Urgency” thrust to inner city communities will be the focus of the Sunday evening rally. Well-known Hispanic church planters, Urban Evangelism Guest Speakers: Gabriel and Jeanette Salguero.
The theme of the five-day event is “Loving Christ, Embracing our World.”
