The Commission on General Conference determined Charlotte was “the site that best met our varied needs,” after weighing proposals from three unnamed cities for the suitability and capacity of their meeting facilities, the availability of adequate space, the proximity of hotel rooms, their accessibility and the convenience of travel and costs, according to Kim Simpson, chair of the commission.
The Western North Carolina and North Carolina annual conferences will co-host the meeting because of the abbreviated timeline for planning, Simpson added.
The commission previously had scrapped plans to hold the 2024 General Conference in Manila, saying organizers could not find convention space available for two full weeks to host the gathering of United Methodists from around the world. It would have been the first General Conference meeting held outside the U.S.
The announcement still leaves a number of questions unanswered, including whether clergy and lay delegates elected to the 2020 General Conference will serve in 2024, or if the denomination’s regional annual conferences will elect new delegates to serve, as they would have for the regularly scheduled 2024 General Conference.
The Judicial Council has not yet ruled on related questions, which are listed on the fall docket for the denomination’s top court.
This article originally appeared here.
