Dear Members of the Arkansas Conference,
As you may know, the delegates to the 2020 Postponed General Conference approved a resolution allowing annual conferences to elect alternate delegates as needed to fill any vacancies in the jurisdictional conference delegation. This means that at this year’s annual conference, we will have the opportunity to elect two alternate lay delegates and one clergy delegate to complete our conference’s delegation for the South Central Jurisdictional Conference to be held July 10-13, 2024, in Rogers, Arkansas.
Paragraph 36 of the 2016 Book of Discipline delineates the eligibility requirements for lay delegates: ¶36. Article V.—The lay delegates to the General and jurisdictional or central conferences shall be elected by the lay members of the annual conference or provisional annual conference without regard to age, provided such delegates shall have been professing members of The United Methodist Church for at least two years next preceding their election, and shall have been active participants in The United Methodist Church for at least four years next preceding their election, and are members thereof within the annual conference electing them at the time of holding the General and jurisdictional or central conferences.
You will find the information and forms needed to self-nominate for the Jurisdiction Conference lay and clergy alternate delegate election along with this letter. To be clear, self-nominations are not required to be considered for election. However, if received by June 3, 2024, completed self-nomination applications will be placed on our conference website and made available to all annual conference members to review at least one week before Annual Conference begins on June 19. Applications received after June 3 or during Annual Conference will not be added to the website.
If, through prayer and discernment, you feel led to submit your name for election, are willing to fulfill the commitment of a delegate, and meet the requirements stated above, please send your completed self-nomination form along with a recent digital photograph of yourself to Sara Andrews at sara.andrews@arumc.org by June 3, 2024.
Yours in Christ,
Rev. Dr. Candace Barron
Arkansas Conference Secretary