What's possible · the legislative half
Resolutions library
The grid compares numbers and structures. This compares what conferences choose to say and do — real resolutions adopted (and proposed) at other annual conferences, with the actual language where it's published. A delegate can read precedent here and bring it to their own floor. We house what we can verify and name the source on every entry.
See the 2026 session by theme → — how the same concerns surface across conferences.
Inclusion & human sexuality
After the 2024 General Conference removed the restrictions, conferences began adopting their own affirming statements, apologies, and protections.
Affirming Full Inclusion of LGBTQIA+ Persons
Affirms full inclusion, marriage, ordination, and appointment of LGBTQIA+ persons after the 2024 General Conference removed the Incompatibility Clause. Adopted on the consent calendar by roughly a 95% vote, alongside a companion resolution opposing anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation.
Conference-Wide Opportunity to Embrace our LGBTQ+ Siblings
Calls on the bishop, cabinet, staff, and boards to actively support LGBTQ+ laity, clergy, and candidates and to center and amplify LGBTQ+ voices — especially transgender and BIPOC persons — with BWARM curating local-church resources. One of eight resolutions passed at the 2025 session.
Commission of Truth Telling and Reconciliation
A proposed apology to LGBTQ+ persons was tabled; in its place the conference adopted, by joint motion from members on both sides, a Commission of Truth Telling and Reconciliation to hear stories of harm and pursue reconciliation, reporting back the next year. A revealing case of how a divided body finds a path to yes.
Supporting Gender Inclusivity, Equal Protection, and the Sacred Worth of Transgender and Non-Binary People
Marked FOR ACTION: calls the conference to adopt non-discrimination policies including gender identity and expression, to support civil-rights protections for transgender people, and to affirm that gender identity is no barrier to candidacy, ordination, appointment, or lay employment. Affirmed by the Transforming Communities Vision Team.
LGBTQ+ Inclusion Taskforce
Calls the Bishop, Cabinet, and Nominations Committee to create a conference-level LGBTQ+ Inclusion Taskforce (under the Pursue and Embrace Diversity Team) to support LGBTQ+ laity, clergy, and candidates; center marginalized voices (especially transgender and BIPOC persons); monitor committees and policies for equity; and equip local churches.
Supporting Gender Inclusivity, Equal Protection, and the Sacred Worth of Transgender and Non-Binary People
Adopts non-discrimination policies including gender identity and expression and affirms that gender identity is not a barrier to candidacy, ordination, or appointment. The same resolution (verbatim title) that Río Texas also brought in 2026.
Disaffiliation aftermath
related grid issue →Reaffiliation terms for returning churches and what becomes of closed-church property and proceeds.
Hebrews 11 Fund (RS-209 substitute)
Aggregates the net proceeds, endowments, and trusts of discontinued churches into one invested fund, spent only on new and existing UM churches — split evenly between new church planting and existing congregations, priority to regions where a church closed, 15% reserved for strategic opportunities, and urban-center proceeds restricted to urban transitional communities. A centralized analogue to North Georgia's Barnes Fund.
Reaffiliation Policy for Returning Churches
Terms for disaffiliated/withdrawn churches to rejoin: a 50-member minimum, a trustee-led process with the DS, bishop, and cabinet, one year of apportionments forgiven if the church returns within three years, and property recovered under the Trust Clause (¶2503).
Reaffiliation Policy
A discernment-and-readmission process led by the DS (with bishop, cabinet, trustees) ending in an annual-conference vote. No minimum membership, but a written statement of the congregation's rationale and United Methodist identity is required, and the church covers legal costs within a set window.
Property Resolutions (Closed & Discontinued Churches)
Authorize the disposition (sale, transfer, or handling) of real property of closed and discontinued churches, which under the Discipline passes to the conference Board of Trustees; specific properties are presented at the session. Net sale proceeds flow to the Barnes Fund for new church development.
Closure of Eight Congregations (RS-26-206 to 213)
Eight separate cabinet resolutions closing congregations in a single session (Rachel S. Harlow, Marshfield Federated, Federated Church of Ashland, United Parish of Carver, New Beginnings, Antioch Korean, Moosup, Oneco). Under the trust clause their property passes to the conference; New England routes net proceeds to its Hebrews 11 Fund for new and existing churches.
Unification & realignment
Conferences merging or restructuring across boundaries — the boldest 'what's possible': two annual conferences becoming one.
Plan of Union — Unification with the South Georgia Conference
The headline business of the 2026 session. After eighteen months of study, North Georgia is asked to adopt a Plan of Union merging the North and South Georgia Conferences into one new 'Georgia Conference of The United Methodist Church.' South Georgia votes the same plan at its own session; if both approve, the Southeastern Jurisdiction acts.
Joint Distributing Committee (Unification)
Companion to the Plan of Union. Under Book of Discipline ¶1507, merging conferences each elect a distributing committee (three members and three alternates) to act jointly. North Georgia is asked to create this Joint Distributing Committee with South Georgia and approve its nominees.
Justice & immigration
Reparations toward Black churches, immigrant and migrant ministry, voting rights, racial-justice structures.
Fund Black Churches with Equity (RS-24-213)
Establishes a $2M reparation fund to repair inequity toward Black churches — $1M drawn partly from proceeds of closed Black/urban congregations plus a $500K match — funding anti-racism education, Black leadership development, and new Black faith communities. Builds on the 2023 RS-23-214.
Support for Immigrant Clergy (RS-24-214)
Creates a Joint Immigration Support Task Force — drawing from the cabinet, Board of Ordained Ministry, CF&A, Board of Pensions, the Connectional Table, and laity — to support immigrant clergy and candidates within the conference.
Reparations Task Force Recommendations
Four adopted actions from a 16-member task force, including a process encouraging mergers between legacy churches of color and a Standing Rules amendment requiring intercultural-competency training for all who serve on conference boards, councils, commissions, and committees.
Allegiance to Christ in Solidarity with Immigrants
Declares the conference's immigrant-serving ministries an obedient exercise of Christian faith and commits it to stand with and welcome indigenous, immigrant, and non-white people and communities — refusing to collaborate in their defamation, oppression, or removal. An official Spanish version was provided.
Resolution on Voting Rights & Civic Engagement
Responds to the Supreme Court's 6–3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais (April 29, 2026) and a called June 17, 2026 special session of the Georgia Legislature to redraw maps. Grounded in the UMC Constitution (¶5), the Social Principles (¶¶162–163), and the prophets, and naming the Church's own history of racial injustice.
Resolution Opposing the Erosion of the Voting Rights Act
Laments and opposes the weakening of the Voting Rights Act after Louisiana v. Callais (April 29, 2026), affirms voting rights as a matter of Christian discipleship and racial justice, and calls on Congress to restore and enforce federal voting-rights protections.
Resolution to Address Fair and Safe Immigration Reform
A non-binding resolution (MFSA Indiana) grounding fair and safe immigration reform in Scripture's call to protect the vulnerable sojourner and the Social Principles' affirmation of the dignity and rights of migrants, immigrants, and refugees (¶163G).
Resolution for Public Action to Stand With our Immigrant Neighbors
A non-binding resolution (MFSA Indiana) for public action standing with immigrant neighbors amid mass detention and deportation reaching beyond convicted criminals to refugees, asylum seekers, TPS holders, taxpaying undocumented residents, visa and green-card holders, and even U.S. citizens.
Resolution for the Protection of Unaccompanied Minor Children who are Immigrants
A non-binding resolution (MFSA Indiana) for the protection of unaccompanied immigrant children, responding to federal policies that prolong children's time in custody and undermine longstanding safeguards (citing Church World Service, November 2025).
Land Restitution for UMC Properties in New England
Building on prior 'Exploring Land Restitution' resolutions (RS-23-217, RS-25-212), calls the conference and its development corporation to formally pursue and prioritize land restitution — returning or restoring land to Indigenous communities, tribes, and nations — for United Methodist properties in New England.
Support for Truth and Healing on Methodist Indian Boarding Schools
Submitted by the Committee on Native American Ministries (8–0): acknowledges that the UMC and its predecessors operated numerous Indian Boarding Schools that committed cultural genocide, and commits the conference to truth-telling, healing, and bridge-building with Indigenous communities.
Strengthening Anti-Bias, Anti-Racism Formation and Support
Strengthens anti-bias and anti-racism formation and support across the conference's leaders and ministries.
Support for Greater Accountability in Immigration Enforcement in Michigan
Endorses specific Michigan legislation — Senate Bills 508 (protected spaces: schools, churches, hospitals, courthouses), 509 (privacy of personal information from immigration enforcement), and 510 (barring masked enforcement officers) — and commits the Board of Justice / Immigration Task Force to advocate for their passage. A rare resolution naming specific state bills.
Call for End to Racial Profiling by Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Calls on Congress to pass legislation prohibiting racial profiling by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Tribal History Report
Grounded in the history of the Doctrine of (Christian) Discovery and its legacy of colonial land seizure and generational trauma, calls for truth-telling and relationship-building with Indigenous peoples (with the FUMC Sheridan, WY Native American Committee exploring relationships).
Affirming Native American Awareness and a Call to Peaceful Witness
Affirms Native American awareness, encourages ongoing discernment about how Native voices are included in the life of the conference, and calls the conference to peaceful witness — to be shared broadly as an invitation.
United Methodist Immigration Response
Calls every congregation and United Methodist individual in the conference to a faithful response to immigration — welcome, advocacy, and accompaniment of immigrant neighbors.
Doing Justice: The Heart and Soul of Social Action
Affirms doing justice as central to the church's life and calls the conference and congregations to social action.
On Christian Opposition to Cruel Treatment of Immigrants by the United States Government
Opposes recent and ongoing U.S. immigration-enforcement policies as cruel, grounding Christian opposition in Scripture and the Social Principles. Submitted by the East Ohio Methodist Federation for Social Action and Board of Multicultural Ministries.
Public witness & social policy
Conference statements on church-and-state, addiction, disability, and other public-policy concerns — the conference's prophetic voice on issues of the day.
On Christian Faith and the Rejection of Christian Nationalism
A non-binding resolution rejecting Christian Nationalism — the conflation of Christian and national identity — as a distortion of the gospel, affirming religious liberty, the separation of church and state, and the Church as a global body whose citizenship is ultimately in heaven.
Condemning Online Betting and Sports Gambling and Calling for Faithful Witness and Pastoral Response
A non-binding resolution declaring online betting and sports gambling a growing threat, calling congregations to educate communities and offer pastoral care, advocating policy protections (advertising limits, age verification, self-exclusion, treatment funding), and urging faithful stewardship.
Support for the Freedom and Liberties of People with Disabilities
A non-binding resolution lamenting cuts to public programs and protections for people with disabilities and calling Indiana officials and the state's congressional delegation to drop the Section 504 / Olmstead lawsuit, protect Medicaid and waivers, eliminate waiver wait-lists, and raise asset limits.
Answering the Call of Kairos Palestine II
Renews the conference's solidarity with Palestinian Christians and the Kairos Palestine call, citing the UMC Social Principles and prior resolutions opposing Israeli settlements, and naming the confiscation of Palestinian land and water in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.
Active Support for the People of Ukraine
Invites all churches and members of the conference to actively support the people of Ukraine.
Advocate for Responsible Pentagon Spending
Calls for advocacy toward responsible Pentagon spending, noting the scale of the 2027 U.S. military budget (more than China, Russia, and Iran combined) against unmet human needs.
Humanitarian Aid for Gaza and the West Bank
Advocates for a permanent ceasefire, adequate humanitarian aid, and restored UNRWA funding for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, naming harm to Palestinians and violence against Israelis, grounded in Matthew 25.
Answering the Call of Kairos Palestine II
Supports the Kairos Palestine II document and urges congregations and United Methodists to engage it, with each voting member asked to carry it back to their churches. (The same resolution New England also brought in 2026 — a resolution traveling between conferences.)
Gun Violence Prevention and Support of Community Violence Intervention (CVI) Programming
Citing the Book of Resolutions' call to address gun violence (#3212), encourages congregations to engage gun-violence prevention and to support Community Violence Intervention (CVI) programming.
Affirming Mental Health Awareness, Education, and Faithful Response
Encourages all congregations to recognize Mental Health Awareness Month (May) — designating the third Sunday in May as Mental Health Awareness Sunday with a special offering — to reduce stigma, encourage care, and support those affected.
Creation of an Ohio Area Substance Abuse Task Force
Encourages and supports the creation of an Ohio Area Substance Abuse Task Force to address addiction across the area's conferences.
Concerning Christian Nationalism
Names Christian Nationalism as a distortion of the gospel and directs support through the Conference Board of Church & Society. (Indiana brought a parallel resolution in 2026.)
The East Ohio Conference and Disabilities
Urges each local congregation toward accessibility and fuller inclusion of people with disabilities. (Indiana brought a disability-rights resolution the same year.)
Answering the Call of Kairos Palestine II
Supports the Kairos Palestine II document. The third conference in this library to bring this resolution in 2026 (with New England and Susquehanna) — a clear instance of shared resolution language traveling the connection.
Of War, and Peace: Welcoming the Stranger in our Midst
A war-and-peace resolution calling the church to welcome the stranger — refugees and those displaced by conflict — as messengers and models of God's love.
Creation care & climate
Climate justice, net-zero commitments, green teams, and environmental stewardship — increasingly on conference floors.
Creating a Creation Care/Justice Taskforce
Creates a conference-level Creation Care/Justice Taskforce (under the Care and Healing Team / Board of Church and Society) to pursue climate justice and resilience as a Missional Priority — setting net-zero benchmarks and accountability and empowering congregations toward a sustainable church. A follow-up to the 2025 'Green Teams' resolution.
Safeguarding Creation and Community from Unsustainable Data Center Growth
Calls for the rapidly-expanding, largely-unregulated AI data-center industry in Texas to abide by sustainable standards — citing the strain on ERCOT and new gas plants, pollution and health risks, and weak local ordinances and tax giveaways. A notably novel resolution applying creation-care principles to AI infrastructure.
Caretaker of God's Creation Coordinator & Commitment to Net-Zero Emissions
Recognizes a Caretaker of God's Creation Coordinator and affirms the conference's commitment to net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions, adopting Resolution 1215 of the Book of Resolutions and the 2024 General Conference net-zero pledge.
Fossil-Free Investments and Just Transition
Directs the conference to screen fossil fuels out of all its investable assets and pursue a just transition — joining Western Jurisdiction conferences (Desert Southwest, Pacific Northwest, Oregon-Idaho) that have already divested — with CFA reporting back to the 2027 session.
Energy Stewardship as Faithful Discipleship
Calls all local churches, camps, districts, conference offices, and affiliated ministries to practice energy stewardship as an expression of faithful discipleship, with theological reflection and shared resources.
Support for Creation Care and the Green Church Movement
Supports and encourages local churches to join the Green Church movement as an expression of creation care.
Resolution and Best Practices in Land Use
Proposed by the Board of Church & Society to encourage networking, resource-sharing, and best practices in land use among Arkansas churches — stewarding church property for food production, conservation, affordable-housing partnerships, and community space, supported by a Land Use Audit from UMC EarthKeeper Rev. Lindsey Russell.
Finance & structure reform
related grid issue →Apportionment-formula reform and minimum-salary schedules — the legislative side of the money rows.
Conference Budget Growth Cap (Standing Rule ¶301.20)
A structural brake on apportionment creep, built into the standing rules rather than re-fought each budget year: the conference budget may not grow faster than its churches' own spending. A model another conference could adopt to answer the perennial 'apportionments always rising' complaint.
New Tiered, Income-Based Apportionment Formula
Replaced the prior formula with a tiered, income-based one: 8% of income under $250,000, 10% on $250,000–$750,000, and 12% over $750,001 — and eliminated the appeal/adjustment process. A concrete model for apportionment reform.
2024 Minimum Salary Schedule (R#2023-11)
The Commission on Equitable Compensation's resolution setting the 2024 minimum salary schedule for clergy — one of eight resolutions approved at the 2023 session.
2025 Minimum Salary (Equitable Compensation)
Adopted the Commission on Equitable Compensation's recommendation raising the 2025 minimum salary for full-time elders and local pastors to $51,263 (a 3.0% / $1,493 increase); student pastors continue at 65% of full-time ($33,321).
Equitable Compensation Guidelines & Minimum Compensation
The Commission on Equitable Compensation brings its guidelines for pastoral support — conference minimum compensation, the accountable reimbursement plan, housing/parsonage standards, and the arrearage policy. The Equitable Compensation Fund undergirds the Discipline's guarantee of security of appointment.
2027 Conference Apportionment Budget
CFA presents a North Georgia–only 2027 apportionment budget of $10,663,773 — up $169,842 (1.6%) over 2026. It is presented as North Georgia–only because members vote on unification at the same session; if unification is approved, a new unified budget would be developed by both conferences.
New England Minimum Cash Salary
Sets the conference Minimum Base Compensation schedule and the Equitable Compensation grant framework (¶342), ensuring every full-time clergyperson receives at least the conference minimum, with grants assisting churches unable to meet it.
Dissolve the New Church Development Land Procurement Loan Fund
Dissolves the fund created to buy land for 'parachute' new church starts and reallocates the money, because new starts now arise through partnerships with existing congregations (e.g., Novi Korean UMC sharing building and pastor with Novi UMC), relaunches, multi-campus, and online models that don't require land. A church-planting strategy shift.
2027 Equitable Compensation Schedule
Sets the conference's 2027 equitable-compensation / minimum-compensation schedule for clergy.
Clergy Minimum Compensation
Sets clergy minimum-compensation guidelines (Minimum Base Compensation), recommends at least $4,000/year toward benefits, caps tax-exempt salary reallocation at 20% of cash salary, and provides for conference supplementation where a church or charge cannot meet the minimum.
Key Funds Reallocation Plan
Restructures conference funds — creating internally designated funds — to align resources with the Strategic Missional Path Forward.
Governance, rules & participation
related grid issue →Conference structure, standing-rules changes, clergy and lay policy, and how members participate — hybrid access, resolution process, parental leave, lay leadership.
Standing Rules Amendments — Creation Care Coordinator & Resolution Process
Three Standing Rules amendments: add extension-ministry representation to the Uniting Table, add a Caretaker of God's Creation Coordinator to the Transforming Communities Vision Team, and clarify how resolutions reach the Annual Conference — recognizing Vision Teams as conference agencies and obligating the Uniting Table to act on proposals.
Affirming and Strengthening Lay Leadership as an Essential Ministry Strategy
Affirms trained lay leadership (Lay Servant Ministries) as essential to church vitality amid declining clergy availability, urges every district to cultivate it, and directs leadership to establish scholarships/funding to reduce barriers — a 'clergy-overseen and lay-led' Wesleyan vision. Submitted under Standing Rule ¶206.
Speak as a Body — A Process for Timely Public Responses
A petition to establish a public-facing formal procedure letting members and groups request a timely Annual Conference response on governmental and social-justice issues — filling the gap left by a 'crisis response' mechanism that only addresses reputational matters. A polity tool for collective public witness.
Support for Associate Members and Local Pastors in Legislative Efforts Toward General Conference 2028
A non-binding resolution honoring the 218 associate members and licensed local pastors serving 329 Indiana congregations and supporting their fuller voice and rights in the denomination's legislative process toward General Conference 2028.
Guaranteeing a Hybrid (In-Person and Virtual) Option for Future Sessions
Guarantees that future Annual Conference sessions retain a hybrid in-person-and-virtual participation option, grounding accessibility and broad participation in the practice of holy conferencing — after the 2025 session overwhelmingly affirmed prioritizing hybrid.
Create Parental Leave Policy for NEUMC
Creates a parental-leave policy for the conference, grounded in the Social Principles' endorsement of paid parental leave, the Book of Resolutions on maternal health, ¶356 of the Discipline, and WHO/ILO standards of at least 14 weeks of paid leave.
Resolution Work Groups in Conference Rules
Adopts 'Resolution Work Groups' — New England's adaptation of the legislative-section process used in other conferences — into the conference rules, restructuring how resolutions are vetted and brought to the floor, after 2025 listening sessions affirmed the approach.
Reduce the Number of Districts in the Michigan Conference
Amends the Plan of Organization to cut the conference from seven districts to four (effective July 1, 2026), balancing ministry needs against financial capacity while adding a conference superintendent to facilitate the transition. A concrete structural-downsizing model.
Clergy Sexual Ethics Policy
Adopts/updates the conference's clergy sexual-ethics policy — standards of conduct, prevention, and response to misconduct (a 'safe church' governance measure).
Affirm the Covenant of Understanding with Rocky Mountain College
Affirms and renews the Covenant of Understanding between the Mountain Sky Conference and Rocky Mountain College — a mutual commitment sustaining the conference's relationship with the United Methodist-related college.
SUS Strategic Missional Path Forward
Affirms the Strategic Missional Path Forward developed by a Visioning Task Force and covenants to live into the shared direction — including exploring collaboration with the neighboring Upper New York Conference.
Heritage & historic sites
Historic-site designations, archives, and memorials — how conferences honor and preserve their Methodist heritage.
Old Brunswick Circuit to Be Listed as a United Methodist Historic Site
Petitions the General Commission on Archives and History to designate the Old Brunswick Circuit — one of early American Methodism's foundational circuits in southern Virginia — as a United Methodist Historic (cluster) Site encompassing related sites.
Ebenezer Academy Memorial Park to Be Listed as a United Methodist Historic Site
Petitions for historic-site designation of Ebenezer Academy Memorial Park — one of the earliest Methodist schools in the United States — on the Old Brunswick Circuit Cluster.
Randolph-Macon College of Boydton to Be Listed as a United Methodist Historic Site
Petitions for historic-site designation of the original Boydton site where the Virginia Conference founded Randolph-Macon College to address a lack of educated clergy.
Sapony Church Shrine to Be Listed as a United Methodist Historic Site
Petitions for historic-site designation of the Sapony Church Shrine — an early preaching site on the Old Brunswick Circuit — with the agreement of the present congregation.
Elim (Meander), the Rev. Henry Fry Home, to Be Listed as a Historic Site
Petitions for historic-site designation of Elim (now called Meander), the home of the Rev. Henry Fry — recognized as a person of faith who worked for social and political reform in early Methodism.
A starter set, growing. Where a resolution's verbatim text wasn't publicly posted, we link to the source and house a faithful summary rather than invent language.