wfn.org | Council Adopts Interactive Process

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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 (3262 notes).

Note 3261 by UMNS on Oct. 29, 1996 at 16:39 Eastern (6294 characters).

SEARCH:   interactive, GCOM, conciliar forum, organization

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CONTACT:  Joretta Purdue                         547(10-71B){3261}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722           Oct. 29, 1996

General Council on Ministries
adopts "interactive process"

     DAYTON, Ohio (UMNS) -- Members of the United Methodist
General Council of Ministries grappled with an "interactive
organizational design" here Oct. 23-27 as they sought to use the
form set forth by the group's departing executive committee in
September.
     Although the 1996 General Conference -- the denomination's
top legislative assembly -- had committed the nearly 9 million-
member organization to move to an interactive organizational
design, the concept and language were unfamiliar to many of the
new council members, long steeped in a parliamentary tradition.
     As a result, the council spent several hours in the
presentation, discussion and adoption of a process calling for
three ministry teams, five support groups and a conciliar forum to
assist the plenary in the work of the council.
     In the plan adopted, work on many of the council's
responsibilities, as assigned by the denomination's Book of
Discipline, was divided among the ministry teams.
     The vision team is to discern God's will for the council and
the United Methodist Church; leadership, to develop servant
leaders through collaboration; and mission resources, to evaluate
mission needs, work with the special emphases, and conduct program
and budget consultation with the denomination's program agencies.
     Each of the council members attending became a part of one of
the ministry teams through a process of self-selection.
     Reports of ministry teams' work and support groups' efforts
went to the Conciliar Forum and to the plenary. Several items were
referred to the Conciliar Forum for action. Early on, the forum,
originally conceived as a group of 20 members including the
council president, was increased in size to 24 members to include
the other four council officers.
     GCOM has 76 members, a reduction from 127 in the 1993-96
quadrennium. Eight members are from Central Conferences.
     The Conciliar Forum's function is collaboration and feedback
both inside and outside the council, and it has the power to add
and subtract work assignments from the ministry teams and support
groups. 
     It is comprised of three people from each ministry team, one
representative from each of the support groups, one general
secretary of a program-related agency, the five council officers
and up to four additional members to assure inclusivity, diversity
and balanced representation.
     The forum will shape the agenda for the next council meeting,
scheduled for April 18-22, 1997, and plans to gather at least once
before then to design the agenda and deal with items referred to
it by the plenary. Two of the ministry teams have recommended that
training in consensus decision making be offered to the entire
council at its next meeting. 
     Other requests referred to the forum asked for an educational
experience on globality of the church and exploration of training
for Central Conference district superintendents and council
directors.
     Elected officers are president, Bishop J. Woodrow Hearn of
Houston, Texas; vice presidents, Carolyn Johnson of West
Lafayette, Ind., and the Rev. Robert Hoshibata of Seattle, Wash.;
secretary, Stefanie Gray of Los Angeles, Calif.; and the Rev.
ystein Olsen of Oslo, Norway.
     The same slate was adopted by the Conciliar Forum, but in
that structure they are designated leader, associate leaders,
secretary and treasurer. GCOM general secretary David Lundquist is
also an ex officio member of the Conciliar Forum, as well as the
ministry teams, support groups and other subgroups.
     In other actions, the council:
     * named 19 members to the team that will lead the Shared
Mission Focus on Young People, authorized by the 1996 General
Conference;
     * elected Nelda Barrett Murraine, currently assistant general
secretary of the Board of Church and Society, to the associate
general secretary position formerly held by Trudie K.  Reed;
     * authorized the staff to look first in its own budget for
the approximately $20,000 needed to print and distribute a book-
length manuscript by George Daniels on minority staff in the
history of the United Methodist Church;
     * granted $72,000 from the GCOM-designated World Service
Contingency Fund to the Board of Church and Society for
development of resources, training, advocacy and outreach in
regard to immigration and biblical concepts of sojourners;
     * authorized a grant of $16,181 to the Board of Church and
Society for support of research by the Global Alliance on
alcoholism in developing countries, particularly Estonia and
Russia.
      The council approved a request to the General Council of
Finance and Administration (GCFA) for $150,000 annually in 1997
and 1998  for its contingency fund to disburse to program agencies
for emerging programs. This is less than the $200,000 available
currently for this process. GCOM had been advised by GCFA that
less money would be available in the 1997-2000 quadrennium.

                              #  #  #

     NOTE TO EDITORS: UMNS sent a story dated July 30, giving the
names of people elected to serve on churchwide agencies. However,
that list did not include additional members elected to assure
representation by gender, race, age, geography, church size and
expertise.

Additional members of GCOM are:
The Rev. Danita Anderson, Northern Illinois Annual Conference
The Rev. Amelia Finau, Central Texas Annual Conference
The Rev. Janet Forbes, Rocky Mountain Annual Conference
Betty S. Gordon, West Virginia Annual Conference
Stephanie Gray, California-Pacific Annual Conference
The Rev. Jack Loflin, Mississippi Annual Conference
Nellie Long, Oklahoma Indian Missionary Annual Conference
The Rev. Renee McCleary, Southern New Jersey Annual Conference
Daniel Soliz, Rio Grande Annual Conference
Rosa Winfree, Western North Carolina Annual Conference

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