The Minneapolis Convention Center stands in downtown Minneapolis, Minn. United Methodist organizers plan to make good on the original location of the COVID-delayed 2020 General Conference, choosing Minneapolis as the host city for the next legislative assembly scheduled for May 8-18, 2028. Photo by Dan Anderson, courtesy of Meet Minneapolis. (www.minneapolis.org)
UM News | May 12, 2025
Key points:
- United Methodist organizers plan to make good on the original location of the COVID-delayed 2020 lawmaking assembly.
- In heading to Minneapolis, organizers also are hoping to reduce costs and address a $1.8 million budget deficit they inherited from earlier General Conference sessions.
- General Conference organizers are hoping to hold the gathering outside the U.S. as soon as 2032.
- They also are planning to be transparent in the status of delegates getting visas.
United Methodist General Conference organizers are hoping the second time is the charm for heading to Minneapolis.
During an online meeting, the Commission on the General Conference chose to hold the next session of The United Methodist Church’s top lawmaking assembly on May 8-18, 2028, in the Minneapolis Convention Center.
Organizers originally had set the 2020 General Conference to be in Minneapolis until the COVID pandemic forced the event’s postponement and eventual move of last year’s General Conference to Charlotte, North Carolina.
Now the current commission, elected at last year’s General Conference, hopes to make good on a plan that dates back to 2013 for the Minnesota city to host.
“There was a significant investment of time by the former host committee and members, planning, along with financial investments that required the commission to give strong consideration to naming Minneapolis for 2028,” the Rev. Aleze Fulbright, secretary of the General Conference, said in a statement. She, too, was elected last year to her role.
General Conference, which typically meets every four years, brings together elected delegates from around the globe to make decisions that affect some 10 million United Methodists, who live in more than 100 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.
In choosing Minneapolis, the commission also hopes to reduce costs and help make up for a $1.8 million budget deficit inherited from multiple earlier General Conference sessions.
Contributing to the deficit was the 2019 special General Conference in St. Louis. The costs of that gathering were not included in the denominational budget passed by the 2016 General Conference. Also, the previous commission needed to pay $974,000 to gain release from the previous Minneapolis contract.
Learn more
Read Q&A on the General Conference commission’s announcement.
Learn more about General Conference.
Even without the penalty, last year’s General Conference cost about $3.7 million more than the 2016 General Conference in Portland, Oregon — an increase of about 38%. Altogether, including the penalty, last year’s General Conference cost about $14.4 million.
During the May 9-10 online meeting, the Rev. Moses Kumar gave the current commission an overview of General Conference finances. Kumar serves as both General Conference treasurer and the top executive of the General Council on Finance and Administration.
He told the commission that he will join Fulbright and other General Conference organizers in asking GCFA, the denomination’s finance agency, to help cover the costs of the coming General Conference.
“We do not want to carry on the deficit that we have,” Kumar said. “We will go to GCFA once we have all of the expenses for 2028.”
The bulk of funding for General Conference as well as GCFA comes from the General Administration Fund, one of seven funds that support denomination-wide ministries. Annual conferences, church regions consisting of multiple congregations, support these funds through apportionments — shares of church giving they in turn ask from congregations. The General Administration Fund reserves cover the General Conference deficit, but reserves aren’t endless.
Putting on a typical General Conference costs between $10 and $12 million, said the Rev. Andy Call, commission chair and lead pastor of Christ of the Saviour United Methodist Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. However, the overall 2025-2028 denominational budget, approved by last year’s General Conference, is significantly smaller than the one passed in 2016. The funding available to the current commission for the next General Conference is about $7.3 million in the denomination’s current budget.
“That’s obviously significant headwind for us,” Call said during the meeting. “That’s the quadrennial budget. It’s going to be very difficult for us to put on a General Conference and get to that number. So what we are doing is kind of working on two sides of that.”
The first part will be reducing costs, he said. One way the current commission saves money is by holding more of its planning meetings online.
Heather Hahn is assistant news editor for UM News.