[Episcopal News Service] The 81st General Convention will convene this June in Louisville, Kentucky. The next meeting is scheduled for 2027 in Phoenix, Arizona. What city will host The Episcopal Church’s triennial churchwide gathering in 2030? We now know the finalists.

The 83rd General Convention will be held in one of the following five cities and dioceses: Kansas City in the Diocese of West Missouri, Minneapolis in the Diocese of Minnesota, Portland in the Diocese of Oregon, San Juan in the Diocese of Puerto Rico or Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Those finalists were recommended by the Joint Standing Committee on Planning and Arrangements and proposed as Resolution A002 for consideration when the House of Bishops and House of Deputies gather June 23-28 in Louisville. Under the church’s selection process, (Canon I.1.13 here) General Convention will endorse a list of finalists, empowering the joint standing committee to conducts further inquiries and negotiations with each city before making a recommendation on the host site and seeking the consent of Executive Council.

This is the third straight selection cycle that San Juan is a finalist for hosting a General Convention. It first was a runner-up to Louisville to host the gathering this year. Then in June 2023, San Juan was passed over a second time, in favor of Phoenix hosting the 82nd General Convention. That decision generated some controversy at that month’s Executive Council’s meeting. Several Executive Council members said the U.S. territory in the Caribbean should have been given the opportunity to host.

General Convention, which splits its authority between the House of Bishops and House of Deputies, is both the church’s primary governing body and a large hub for networking and fellowship, drawing as many as 10,000 people to the host city. It typically meets every three years and generates several million dollars in economic activity for the local economy while shining a spotlight on the work of the host diocese.

General Convention has only met outside of the continental U.S. once – in Hawaii, in 1955 – despite The Episcopal Church having a presence in countries and U.S. territories around the world. No General Convention has ever been held in one of the Spanish-speaking dioceses in the Caribbean and Central and South America, though San Juan has twice hosted meetings of Executive Council since 2017.

Phoenix previously hosted General Convention in 1991. Of the five finalists for the 83rd General Convention in 2030, Minneapolis is a three-time former host, in 1895, 1976 and 2003. Portland (1922) and Kansas City (1940) have each hosted once before. Like San Juan, Pittsburgh has never hosted, though the triennial General Convention has convened 17 times in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, according to the Archives of The Episcopal Church.

The Joint Standing Committee on Planning and Arrangements, in collaboration with the General Convention Office, takes a range of factors into account when recommending finalists and eventually selecting a host city, including the size and accommodations of each city’s convention center. Other factors include costs, hotel capacities, convenience of travel connections and the host diocese’s commitment to recruiting volunteers.

In June 2023, after Phoenix was chosen over San Joan as the host city for 2027, Executive Council passed a companion resolution urging broader criteria for the site review process. It called on church leaders to “prioritize sites that would advance the church’s mission of addressing and repairing harm caused by the church as a result of its history and complicity with racism and colonialism.”

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.