An important responsibility of the General Conference and its affiliated congregations is maintaining accurate and up-to-date records of our members. Without such records, we cannot know who should be granted the privileges of membership within the General Conference and/or our congregations. One of those privileges is participating and voting in the business of our church. Members eighteen years of age or older may discuss issues and vote; non-members may not.
How do we know who our members are? We consult our membership records.
For this reason and many others, we are updating and adding membership information to a single, new database program. As we do, we want records to be as accurate as possible. Therefore, our district superintendents and district area representatives are urging our pastors and other congregational leaders to update the membership records of their congregations and to submit them to the General Conference as soon as possible.
This is especially important because these records will determine who can vote during the July 2023 General Conference Convention. If you are in the database and are otherwise qualified to vote at convention, you will be able to. If you are not in the database at that time, you cannot vote. Because of the time it takes to validate membership records and then enter them into the database, all those eligible members who wish to vote during convention should register no later than May 1, 2023. (Online registration will be available January 2023. Be sure to check the box indicating your intention to vote during convention.) Further, no new memberships will be issued the week of convention.
Are you a member of the General Conference? Now is the time to make sure. Ask your pastor or leader if your congregation’s records have been updated and submitted. Offer to help if they haven’t. Together, we can do this!
— Loren Stacy
GC President
