wfn.org | Malaysian Church Elects Bishop

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3232 notes).

Note 3229 by UMNS on Oct. 15, 1996 at 15:48 Eastern (4569 characters).

SEARCH: Malaysia, Methodist, General Conference, Lawson, Dutton,
Ching
Produced by  a staff member of the United Methodist Board of Church and
Society, assisted by other staff and volunteers offered materials
related the United Methodist Church's position and resources on
AIDS.
     Through unseasonably chilly mornings and hot stuffy middays
in the enclosed education tent, she reached out with materials
that the United Methodist churchwide agencies have prepared,
including reprints of the church's resolutions stating the
church's position and encouraging the observance of World AIDS
Day.
     After all events at the Mall had inded, an interfaith
mech's
General Conference Sept. 24-28 in Kuala Lumpur.
     Chosen for the new post by the 70 lay and clergy delegates
was the Rev. Peter Chio Sing Ching, president of the Sarawak
Chinese Annual Conference, one of five annual conferences in
Malaysia. 
     Retiring Bishop Denis C. Dutton, in addition to being elected
bishop emeritus by the church, received the status of "Datuk"
(doctor) conferred on him by the King of Malay.
     "In a predominantly Muslim  nation and government, it is
unusual for the leader of a Christian church to receive such a
position of high honor. In the British system, it is an honor on a
par with being knighted by the royal monarch," said Bishop David
J. Lawson. Lawson, who retired Sept. 1 from the Illinois Area of
the United Methodist Church, was the official fraternal
representative from the United Methodist Council of Bishops to the
General Conference and presided over about half of the session.
     Other fraternal representatives were Bishop Ho Chee Sin of
the Methodist Church in Singapore; Roger L. Walton, staff of the
Division of Ministries of the British Methodist Church; and Bishop
Daniel Arichea, a United Methodist bishop in the Philippines, who
was in Malaysia holding evangelistic services.
     In addition to actions regarding bishops, the Malaysia
General Conference established a Board of Missions.  In the past,
each annual conference had its own mission board, said Lawson, and
at least one annual conference has been sending missionaries to
other parts of Asia.  "The General Conference decided to
coordinate their resources and efforts in a new board."
     In the five annual conferences, which also have established a
Provisional Annual Conference in the province of Sabah, there are
170 ministers, 1,010 congregations and 62,036 full members with an
additional 30,000 baptized people.
     The Malaysia Church traditionally has asked that a United
Methodist bishop attend and serve as support and advisor to their
bishop in the sessions of General Conference, said Lawson. He
served as parliamentarian and chaired sessions when invited.
     "That relationship is a natural one because of their
historical link to the Methodist/United Methodist Church, and the
close relationship between our constitution and procedures and
theirs," he said. "Their Book of Discipline is patterned after
ours.  The General Conference is conducted in a similar fashion as
with Rules of Order that, with few exceptions, are the same as
ours. Delegates, elected by their annual conferences, are seated
by annual conferences; and they have legislative committees and
receive reports and act as we do on the reports."
     The church of Malaysia has a limited number of general
agencies, Lawson added. "Their annual conferences operate with a
great deal of independence, but they are amenable to the General
Conference." They also have such organizations as Methodist Women,
Methodist Men, Methodist Youth Fellowship and Methodist Seniors
Fellowship.
     In his episcopal address, Dutton called on the church to
follow "the Great Commission of Jesus Christ to make disciples of
all nations." That, he said, is the "sacred task entrusted to us."
     He told the conference: "The vision of the Methodist Church
must, of necessity, reflect the three P's -- perceive, perform and
prophesy.... We must perceive what has happened in the past,
perform what is needed in the present and prophesy what could be
in the future."
     The retiring bishop, said Lawson, "laid great stress on
improving the quality of servant leadership of both laity and
clergy. For this determines the quality of commitment and service
to the church."
                              #  #  #

     * Story is co-director of communications of the United
Methodist Church's Illinois Area and editor of the Great Rivers
Annual Conference newspaper, The Current. 

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