wfn.org | UMNS# 04579-United Methodists in the Philippines move toward

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United Methodists in the Philippines move toward autonomy 

Dec. 9, 2004	 News media contact:   Linda  Bloom * (646) 3693759*  New
York {04579}

NOTE: Related materials are available at http://umns.umc.org.

By Elliott Wright*

NEW YORK (UMNS)-- United Methodists in the Philippines have re-elected three
episcopal leaders and moved closer to setting up an autonomous Methodist
Church in the island nation.

The Philippines Central Conference, made up of clergy and lay delegates from
19 annual (regional) conferences, met in late November and re-elected and
reassigned to their current posts Bishop Benjamin Justo of Baguio, Bishop
Solito Toquero of Manila, and Bishop Leo Soriano of Davao.  Each presides
over several annual conferences.

All three bishops were initially elected four years ago and all support an
autonomous, affiliated relationship with the United Methodist Church. The
Philippines church is now an organic part of the United Methodist
denomination.

United Methodist bishops outside the United States serve a "term episcopacy"
that requires an election every four years at meetings of "central
conferences," which are comparable to jurisdictional conferences in the
United States.

Convened in Manila, the 2004 Philippines Central Conference took no
definitive action on the autonomy issue, which has been under consideration
for many years. However, a procedure was laid out that clearly moves in that
direction and plans made for the conference to meet in 2006 to consider the
issue.

"The sentiment for autonomy was very strong," said Bishop Warner H. Brown,
Jr., of Denver, who presided at the Philippines Central Conference on behalf
of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, in a telephone interview.

Methodism was introduced in the Philippines by Americans more than a century
ago. The church today has a membership of more than 600,000 and serves a
constituency of about one million people.
 
"The Church in the Philippines is an integral part of our global mission
network," said the Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the United Methodist
Board of Global Ministries.  "It is a mature Church that continues to be
remarkable in its evangelistic zeal and its social ministries. Our mission
partnership will remain vibrant whatever structures exist in the future."
 
Day also extended his congratulations to the three returning bishops. Justo,
re-elected on the 6th ballot, is a former college president and theological
seminary professor. He served as an exchange pastor in Tarzana, Calif., in
1997. He and his wife Elizabeth have two grown children. Justo is a director
of the Board of Global Ministries.

Toquero was re-elected on the 13th ballot. He is a former pastor and educator
in the Philippines and was a missionary in Hong Kong. The bishop and his wife
Alegria have two grown children.

Soriano, who was re-elected on the 17th ballot, is active in ecumenical
affairs and is also a medical doctor. He has done medical mission work in the
Davao region.  Soriano and his wife Denia have four grown children.

Support for autonomy has increased in recent years. The process of becoming
autonomous is guided by the Book of Discipline, the United Methodist book of
law, and rulings of the Judicial Council, the church's highest court.

This year, 16 of 19 annual conferences presented petitions for autonomy to
the central conference. Nine were accepted and seven were ruled out of order
on technical grounds, according to Brown. Two new annual conferences were
created this year in Manila.

Delegates decided to hold an "adjourned session" of the central conference in
2006 to consider autonomy. This will provide time to correct the technical
flaws of the "out of order" petitions and to let the other annual conferences
vote on the autonomy question.

*Elliott Wright is the public information officer for the United Methodist
Board of Global Ministries.

News media contact: Linda Bloom7(646)369-37597New York7 E-mail:
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service