Conferences consider 8 constitutional amendments

United Methodist News Service
Annual conferences throughout the world, including Southwest Texas, are considering eight proposed changes to The United Methodist Church’s constitution this year.
The changes must be ratified by an aggregate two-thirds vote of the 63 U.S. annual conferences meeting this spring and the 52 conferences meeting throughout the year in Europe, Africa and the Philippines.
Delegates to the General Conference proposed the eight amendments during their meeting last May in Pittsburgh.
Votes on each amendment go to the Council of Bishops for tabulation.
Proposed Amendment 1 specifies that a fair and open process must be used for the election of General Conference delegates.
Proposed Amendments 2 and 5 relate to home missioners. If the changes are approved, General Conference would have the authority to define and fix the powers and duties of home missioners, and they would be appointed by bishops as members of the annual conference.
Proposed Amendment 3 calls for the deletion of the phrase “and provided further that this provision shall not apply to annual conferences of the former Evangelical United Brethren Church during the first three quadrenniums after union” from Division Two, Section IV, Paragraph 27.4, Article V of the constitution. The phrase applied to annual conferences in existence before 1981 and is now obsolete.
Proposed Amendment 4 calls for the people responsible for promoting work of the General Board of Global Ministries to be members of the annual conference. The rationale is that about 30 percent of conference secretaries of global ministries are laypeople.
Currently, unless elected by his or her home church or included under the conference’s equalization rule, the missions secretary is not a voting member of the annual conference.
Proposed Amendment 6 adds the conference director of lay speaking ministries to the list of lay members of the annual conference session in Paragraph 602.4 of the Book of Discipline.
Proposed Amendment 7 defines clergy members of an annual conference.
Proposed Amendment 8 would make possible the adoption of enabling legislation at the same General Conference where an amendment to the constitution is voted upon. Such adoption would be contingent on the required ratification by the various annual conferences.
Currently, enabling legislation cannot be introduced until at least four years later—during the next General Conference session following ratification of a constitutional amendment.