New dates have been set for the General Conference of the United Methodist Church, which was postponed because of the COVID-19 health concerns.
The meeting, which will draw delegates from around the world, will be held from Aug. 29 through Sept. 7 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minnesota.
“The hospitality industry has been devastated by COVID-19 with staffing levels significantly reduced, so negotiating amid the pandemic was a much slower process, Business Manager Sara Hotchkiss, said in a press release. “Another challenge was to secure agreements for the number of hotel rooms and room types that we needed. Again, many of our partners faced furloughs and reduced staff hours.”
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There were concerns among younger United Methodists that the 2021 convention would be scheduled when many of them are returning to school, making it more difficult for them to attend. One idea that has been floated is to include technology to enable virtual voting.
They had suggested rescheduling it in 2022, but church officials said moving it that far back would affect things such as budgets, jurisdictional conferences, the election of bishops and bishops’ retirement dates.
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The current pandemic is not the first time a health crisis has affected the timing of a General Conference.
According to the denomination’s records, the start date of the 1800 General Conference was moved up from October 20 to May 6 because of the prevalence of yellow fever during the fall.
