Mostrando 1429 resultados

In 1984 the General Conference established a Commission for the Study of Ministry to conduct a broad and comprehensive study of the church's historic and contemporary theological understanding of ministry, with emphasis on the meaning of ordination, the relation of ordination to the sacraments, the meaning of itinerancy, and the nature of conference membership. The Commission was to study the effectiveness of the church's present structure of ministry, consider the possibility of a permanent order of deacon and recommend any necessary restructuring for effective ministry.

The Commission was continued in its work by the 1988 General Conference and in its report of 1992 recommended, among other topics, the creation of a permanent order of deacon, replacing the then current order of deacon which was a stepping stone to elder.

The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women (COSROW) was established by the 1972 General conference of The United Methodist Church. Emerging from the social climate of the Civil Rights era of the 1960s, the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women was conceived when a 1968 report presented by the Women's Society of Christian Service, known today as United Methodist Women,requested that a study commission be established to research the involvement, or lack thereof, on women in all aspects of the United Methodist Church. By 1972, a group of fifty women from the Wheadon United Methodist Church in Illinois, which would later become the Women's Caucus, joined the Women's Division in supporting the idea of a new commission that would address the various levels of access that women had to power in the life of the church. All of this coalesced when Thelma Stevens, a Women's Caucus representative, presented a proposal to establish a quadrennial commission that would address the inclusion of women in all levels of decision making in the United Methodist Church.

After the proposal was accepted and ratified the General Conference charged the new commission with the responsibility of fostering awareness of problems and issues related to status and role of women with special focus on full participation in the life of the church at least commensurate with its total membership in the United Methodist Church. In the tradition of the Woman's Division, and other predecessors, the commission continued to accumulate statistics documenting the presence of women in the life of the Methodist Church. The Commission understood itself as an advocate for affirmative action, personnel policies, grievance procedures and as an ally to victims of sexual harassment. Over time, it has sought to eradicate discriminatory language, combat homophobia and provide regional training for those interested in challenging sexism and other forms of oppression.

In 1939 the Board of Missions and Church Extension was created by the Uniting Conference of the MEC, MECS and MPC denominations. The Board would be reorganized in 1952 as the Board of Missions.