United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte faces “historic” choices

The 11-day conference will draw as many as 7,500 people from around the world, of whom 862 are voting delegates. According to the UMC, 56% of the delegates are from the United States and 32% are from Africa. The rest are from Europe and the Philippines. The conference will consider petitions that could reshape the structure of the denomination through regionalization, remove controversial language around the issue of human sexuality, revise its social principals to guide how it responds to the world’s most pressing issues, the denomination’s budget and even...