wfn.org | UMNS# 05155-Boni becomes first United Methodist bishop of Cote

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Boni becomes first United Methodist bishop of Cote d'Ivoire

Mar. 15, 2005	 News media contact:   Linda  Bloom * (646) 3693759*  New
York {05155}

NOTE: A photograph is available in the Photo Gallery at
http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Report
By Elliott Wright*

The Rev. Benjamin Boni has been elected the first bishop of the newly
constituted United Methodist Church of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast).

He was elected March 12 without opposition by the West Africa Central
Conference meeting in Abidjan, the commercial capital of Côte
d'Ivoire. The new episcopal leader received all 71 of the valid ballots
cast on the first vote (three ballots were invalid).

Delegates to the central conference also recognized Côte d'Ivoire as
an annual conference of the international denomination. The country has
800,000 to 1 million United Methodists.

Boni was president of the former Protestant Methodist Church of Côte
d'Ivoire when that autonomous denomination applied for admission into
the United Methodist Church. It was given the status of a mission in
2003 by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, and Boni became
superintendent.

The 2004 General Conference, the denomination's highest legislative
body, granted full membership on the basis of the history and
organizational strength of Methodism in Côte d'Ivoire. The church on
Africa's west coast became a full member on May 7.

"Bishop Boni is my friend and a friend of mission," said the Rev. R.
Randy Day, chief executive of the Board of Global Ministries. "We look
forward to working with him in the great ministries already under way in
Côte d'Ivoire."

The new bishop was born in Côte d'Ivoire in 1952. He did his basic
college study in Abidjan, and received his theological education at an
ecumenical seminary in Yaounde, Cameroon, where many United Methodist
pastors from West Africa study. He also has advanced degrees in theology
and family counseling from the University of Strasbourg in France.

Boni and his wife, N'Gbesso Berthe Boni, have six children.

# # #

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

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org