wfn.org | Petitions deadline for 2004 General Conference set

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Nov. 14, 2002 News media contact: Kathy Gilbert7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.	10-71BP{522}

NOTE: The 2004 General Conference logo is available for use with this story.

By United Methodist News Service

Individuals and groups wanting to change policies, procedures and practices
of the United Methodist Church have until Nov. 29, 2003, to submit petitions
to the General Conference, the denomination's top lawmaking body.

The church's general agencies must submit their reports for General
Conference by Aug. 1 and their petitions by Oct. 1. Those will be included
in the Advance Daily Christian Advocate, a publication giving advance
program information about the assembly. The book will be published in
English, French, German and Portuguese.

The next meeting of the General Conference, which convenes every four years,
will be April 27-May 7, 2004, in Pittsburgh.

The General Conference, the only body that can speak officially for the
denomination, comprises nearly 1,000 delegates - half clergy and half lay.
After each conference, revised editions of the Book of Discipline and Book
of Resolutions are released.
 
General Conference delegates can change anything in the Book of Discipline
except the church's Constitution. Any recommended changes in the
Constitution must be ratified by the annual (regional) conferences. 

The 2004 assembly will have 11 legislative committees: church and society;
conferences; discipleship; faith and order; financial administration;
general administration; global ministries; higher education and ministry;
independent commissions; judicial administration; and local church. In 2000,
General Conference had 10 committees.

Each valid petition is given a number and title. Each legislative committee
deals with petitions related to a series of paragraphs from the Book of
Discipline. Petitions related to the Book of Resolutions are sorted by
subject matter. A legislative committee can recommend to the full delegation
concurrence or non-concurrence with the language as submitted, or the
committee may change the language and then recommend concurrence.
Legislative committees can also submit majority and minority
recommendations.

Petitions (three hard copies required and 3.5 inch diskette requested)
should be mailed to: Gary W. Graves, petitions secretary, United Methodist
General Conference, P.O. Box 6, Beaver Dam, KY 42320.
	
Petitions (three hard copies required and 3.5 inch diskette requested)
submitted via commercial overnight carriers (Federal Express, UPS, DHL)
should be sent to: Gary W. Graves, petitions secretary, United Methodist
General Conference, 302 N. Lafayette St., Beaver Dam, KY 42320.

Petitions also can be sent by fax to (270) 274-4590 or by e-mail to
petitions@umpublishing.org.

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United Methodist News Service
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