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Church's 2004 books of discipline, resolutions, now available 

Dec. 16, 2004	 

By Kathy Gilbert

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - The first copies of the English-language United
Methodist 2004 Book of Discipline and the 2004 Book of Resolutions are on
bookshelves in Cokesbury stores now - just in time for Christmas giving.

The books are revised every four years by the denomination's top legislative
assembly, the General Conference, which met last spring. The Book of
Discipline contains the church's law, Constitution and other polity. The Book
of Resolutions collects all of the denomination's current statements on
social issues. Both books also include the church's Social Principles.

The United Methodist Publishing House edits and prints the revised books
after each General Conference. The assembly is the only body that speaks
officially for the denomination.

The 2004 texts went to the printer in September, and printed copies began
arriving at the end of November, said Harriett Olson, senior vice president
of publishing, United Methodist Publishing House.

"The end of November/beginning of December ship dates are slightly earlier
than earlier quadrennia, and the new software - as well as the synergy of the
team working on the project under the leadership of Marvin Cropsey -
contributed to our ability to achieve this," she said.

The completed volumes represent several months of hard work by the Publishing
House, beginning shortly after General Conference ended in May.

"The work on the Book of Discipline and Book of Resolutions is a big project
for the United Methodist Publishing House every four years," Olson said.
"Actually, it's several big projects."

The Publishing House oversaw the production and design of a new petition
management system used by the 2004 General Conference in Pittsburgh. "Like
any new system that is used for the first time, we now have a better idea of
how the system could be revised to offer even better support to the
legislative process."  
 
Approved actions of the General Conference are incorporated into the two
books.

"In the case of the Book of Discipline, this may involve reordering sections
of the work, tracing changes throughout the text (as when an organization's
name is changed), or seeing that the paragraph in question has the exact
amendments that were adopted by the conference," she said. "Sometimes this
involves attention to the record of what the (legislative) committee has
done, what developed during the floor debate and any reconsideration that may
have taken place."
 
Members of the Committee on Correlation review, approve or amend each change
for the Book of Discipline. If uncertain about how the change should read,
the members may contact the legislative committee chairperson or secretary.
Complicated matters go to the whole Committee on Correlation for resolution.
The committee also is responsible for omitting any passages of the book that
the church's supreme court, or Judicial Council, found unconstitutional
during the four years between General Conferences.

Olson said the work on both books is shared with the other general agencies
for their review.
 
After the final text is formatted and sent to the printer, work begins on
translating both books into Spanish and Korean. 

"This quadrennium, we will have CD-ROM, e-book and online versions available
in January," she said. 
 
Central conferences - regional units of the church in Africa, Asia and Europe
- are authorized to translate and adopt changes to parts of the Discipline
that facilitate the ministry in their areas, Olson added. "We try to support
the work of these conferences by responding to requests for various ways to
get access to the Discipline text."  
 
The Book of Discipline has a diverse customer base in the denomination,
including district superintendents, pastors, church libraries, conference
leaders, leaders of staff parish committees and administrative councils,
general agency staff and seminarians.  

After each General Conference, the Publishing House also revises another
local church resource, Guidelines for Leading Your Congregation, Olson said.
These booklets are prepared for leaders in congregations and may be purchased
as a set for reference in the church library or resource center, in multiple
copies for members of a committee or council, or individually, to help a new
chairperson get acquainted with his or her responsibilities. 

The Discipline and Resolutions are available as a two-pack for a discounted
price ($29) and with the United Methodist Directory as a three-pack ($39). 

For more information, visit www.cokesbury.com.

News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service
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