Jonathan LeMaster-Smith

The Constitution of The Global Methodist Church has been approved by their Convening General Conference today, September 24th, 2024.

My highlights:
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It begins with a naming of its place in the church universal under the saving grace of Jesus Christ. It roots in the Methodist tradition of organizing under a common discipline.

In Article II it names the scriptures as is its central focus, followed by the historic creeds, the Articles of Religion and the Confession of Faith, and the core of the Wesleyan tradition (and then directs to the doctrine section). The UMC only lists the Articles and Confession.

One thing that is interesting is that it reverses the order of outlining bodies of the church, placing the local church/charge, not the General Conference at the core. While it is still a connectional church, it names the local church as it’s central body, not the Annual conference. The UMC names annual conference as the basic body of the church and the body that holds a great deal of control, this is one of the reasons many left, and they wanted to name the local church as core, not the annual conference.

There are only Charge Conferences, Annual Conferences, and the General Conference, no regional bodies between Annual and General.

Within its Restrictive Rule it protects the Articles of Religion, Confession of Faith, Wesley’s Explanatory Notes on the New Testament, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, and other doctrine as established by the church. It also protects the right to lay and clergy to a trial by jury in the judiciary.
Of note, The UMC protects the Articles and Confessions but not the work of Wesley. They do not protect the episcopacy or the profits of the publishing house, as we do.

Finally, until the close of 2026 General Conference, the General Conference may make amendments to the constitution with a majority vote (except the restrictive rules) and after the 2026 General Conference it then requires 2/3 vote by the General Conference and then 2/3 vote of aggregate number of delegates of the Annual Conference present and voting excluding abstentions.

This could change while they are here, but this is now their official constitution.