Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The Commission on the Structure of Methodism Overseas, also known as COSMOS, was authorized by the General Conference of 1948 as a liaison group between the General Conference of The Methodist Church and the churches overseas that had come into existence as the result of American missionary outreach. All memorials for changes in relationships of the General Conference to the churches overseas were considered and presented by this commission.
In response to the changing world situation, the General Conference of 1964 authorized a study on how best to revise the structure and relationships between the General Conference and its overseas relationships. The outcome of the study helped to establish the central conference structure and further defined the relationship between United Methodism and many of its former mission areas which had now become autonomous independent churches.