General Council 44 is meeting in virtual space in 2022, which will offer some unique components for the Commissioners, Youth Forum participants, and invited guests who will be attending. The theme of “Who do you say I am?” will be an integral part of all aspects of the meeting.

In mid-January (date to be announced) the Commissioners and other participants will take part in a required session to orient them to the online platform that GC44 will use for its gathering.

Council will begin on Sunday, February 13, 2022, and conclude on Sunday, August 7, 2022. Before anyone panics, the agenda the Business and Planning Committee is offering for the meeting is actually broken into five segments across the six months, subject to the approval of the General Council in February. The following is an overview of the flow for GC44. A preliminary agenda is available and will be updated as details are available.

• As indicated, GC44 begins on Sunday, February 13, 2022, with a one-day (5-hour) meeting, including worship and the completion of initial business. All Commissioners and Youth Forum participants need to attend this component.
• Starting March 9*, 2022, Learning Sessions pertaining to the proposals coming to GC44 will begin. There are seven 1.5-hour live sessions scheduled on Wednesdays between March 9* and May 4, 2022. GC44 participants are asked to take part each week, either by being part of the live Learning Sessions or by watching the recorded sessions. The actual number of sessions will depend on the number of proposals received. These are vital to understanding the work of the Council, so all Commissioners need to have participated in the Learning Sessions either as part of live events or having viewed the recordings.
• Discussion Sessions, the next component of the GC44 meeting, are scheduled to take place the weekend of June 17–19, 2022. Two 2-hour sessions are scheduled each day, with a 2-hour break between each session. All Commissioners and Youth Forum attendees are expected to attend all of these sessions.
• From June 20 through June 26, 2022, the Facilitation team will use the notes taken during the Discussion sessions to develop the “Way Forward” proposals―those are the proposals that will be presented to the General Council during the Decision-Making sessions in July.
• On July 21, 2022, the Decision-Making sessions begin. At this time, the schedule is July 21–25, 2022. On July 21 we will have an evening session; on the rest of the days there will be two sessions per day, each 2 hours long with a 2-hour break between sessions. Again, all Commissioners and Youth Forum attendees need to attend these sessions.
• General Council 44 will close on Sunday, August 7, 2022, with closing worship, including the installation of the Moderator-elect.

We will be using PheedLoop as the online platform for the meeting. Orientation to the platform will be available before the meeting commences to ensure everyone is able to connect when GC44 goes live in February. All GC44 participants will be required to participate in an orientation session. Details will be made available as we move forward.

*Updated December 8, 2021: Changed March 16 to March 9 to accommodate a two-week break during Holy Week and the week following Easter.