Southwest Texans OK amendments, other legislation

Between repeated calls last week to offer Christ and celebrations of shared ministries with the Rio Grande Conference, Southwest Texas leaders decided 26 legislative questions.
The 1,356 laity and clergy members of the June 1-4 annual conference session:
> Approved by wide margins ratification of eight amendments to The United Methodist Church constitution.
> Changed prescription drug coverage for retired clergy members.
> Created a 12-member Council on Young Adult Ministries to promote outreach with people 19 to 30.
> OK’d an $8.57 million budget for 2006 and the apportionments to fund it. The spending plan reflects a 3.39 percent increase over the 2005 budget.
> Set Nov. 6 as the date for the Harvest Sunday 2005 conferencewide special offering. Money from the offering goes to two anti-hunger agencies in Southwest Texas and two outside the United States.
United Methodist annual conference sessions around the globe are voting on the constitutional amendments this year. The 2004 General Conference, the denomination’s top policy-making body, passed the eight proposed constitutional changes.
To be ratified, each amendment must receive “yes” votes from two-thirds of all annual conference members casting ballots in all 63 conference sessions in the United States and 52 conferences overseas.
The Council of Bishops counts votes from all annual conference sessions and is expected to announce results for each amendment in November.
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 the newly created position of 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 conference secretaries of global ministries, the people responsible for promoting mission work, to be voting 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.