The Global Methodist Church opened its General Conference on August 30 in Johannesburg, South Africa, the first time the denomination has held its top governing assembly on the African continent. Delegates are electing and consecrating eight full-time bishops, who will each oversee one of the church's international episcopal areas for six-year terms beginning in November.
The Global Methodist Church formed in 2022 as a theologically conservative alternative to the United Methodist Church and has since grown past 7,000 congregations worldwide. Leaders said nearly a third of delegates in Johannesburg represent churches that joined only in the last two years, a sign of the denomination's continued growth outside the United States.