wfn.org | General Conference petition deadline nears

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

Nov. 10, 1999	News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.    10-71B{601}

NOTE TO EDITORS: You may wish to use the General Conference logo with this
story  

By United Methodist News Service

Time is quickly running out for United Methodists wishing to influence the
decisions of their church's General Conference. Petitions to the top
legislative body, meeting May 2-12 in Cleveland, must be postmarked no later
than Dec. 3.

If petitions are sent by other means than the U.S. Postal Service, they must
be in the hands of the petitions secretary Dec. 3. 

Petitions sent by mail should be addressed to Sheila McGee, Petitions
Secretary, P.O. Box 801, Nashville, TN 37202. Two copies of each petition
are requested if sent by mail. For answers to questions related to
petitions, call (615) 749-6488.

More than 8,000 petitions were processed during the 1996 General Conference
in Denver, but because of duplications they were combined into 3,070
different pieces of legislation. Each of the nearly 1,000 delegates serves
on one of 10 legislative committees that consider the petitions.  After
their deliberations, committee members send their recommendations to the
entire body, which makes the final decisions. 

For the first time, petitions can be filed by e-mail. They should be sent to
petitions@umpublishing.org, and the e-mail should include the petitioner's
phone number. The preference for e-mail attachments is Microsoft Word.

Guidelines for writing petitions can be found on the General Conference Web
site at www.umc.org/gc2000 and in the Book of Discipline, Paragraph 507.
(Item 5 in the paragraph incorrectly says petitions must be postmarked 120
days before the opening session of the General Conference. The correct
number should be 150.)    

Any United Methodist individual or group may send a petition. Each petition
should address a particular topic. Each petition must be signed by the
person submitting it and accompanied by appropriate identification, such as
address, local church or United Methodist board or agency relationship.

Sending the same petition in quantity is wasted effort and money, according
to McGee. 

# # #

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