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 purpose of the General Council on Ministries is to encourage, coordinate, and support the general agencies as they serve on behalf of the denomination. The General Council on Ministries was established by action of the 1972 General Conference. Although a new agency, it has it's roots in similar agencies of the Evangelical Church, The United Brethren Church, The Evangelical United Brethren Church and The Methodist Church.
At its General Conference of 1939, The Evangelical Church voted to organize a General Administrative Council. This council was a successor to the Commission on Finance. In 1917, the United Brethren Church's General Conference established The Board of Administration. It grew out of earlier supervision of various phases of the activities of the church, in particular the programs of stewardship and finance. In 1901, a Christian Stewardship Committee was established to focus on the financial problems of the church. This committee continued to function until 1909, when the scope of the work was enlarged to encompass all of the financial concerns of the church and its programs.
In 1917, the General Conference moved beyond financial issues and under the Board developed a unified approach to all of the programs and tasks of the denomination. The Board coordinated the stewardship, pension, missionary and all other activities of the church.
The Discipline of the Evangelical and United Brethren Church decreed that there would be a Council of Administration, to be known as a General Council of Administration, to coordinate and promote the total program of the church. This new council was the successor of the Board of Administration of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, and of the Administrative Council of the Evangelical Church.
In 1951, the General Conference created an Interboard Program Committee composed of at least one representatives from each agency in the church. Although this committee made some progress toward unifying the program of the church, the result was not wholly satisfactory. The Interboard Program Committee was distinct from the Interboard Educational Program Committee, which operated from 1947 to 1951 and coordinated the educational program of the church.
In 1963 the General Conference created the Program Council. The Council was to study the total program of the Church and develop a unified and correlated program for use in the local churches with all age groups. It also was to direct how this program would be implemented and promoted. The Program Council reported to the General Council of Administration and presented its proposals to the council for review, recommendation and approval.
In 1948, the General Conference created the Church Survey Commission to study the programs and policies of the general boards, commissions and service agencies of the recently organized Methodist Church. This commission made report to the 1952 General Conference. At the 1952 General Conference, as a result of recommendations of the Survey Commission, several coordinating agencies were created. The Coordinating Council, The Interboard Commission on the Local Church, and The Commission on Promotion and Cultivation were created, replacing the Council of Secretaries, which became an information-sharing forum.
Among the agencies related to the Council of Ministries were the Department of Research, of the Council on World Service and Finance and the Television, Radio, and Film Commission. The Department of Research resulted from a 1964 reorganization of the Council on World Service and Finance into three departments: The Department of Research, The Department of Records, The Department of Statistics. Previously, it had been the Department of Research and Statistics which, in 1960, had succeeded the Statistical Office. For more information about the history of the Television, Radio, and Film Commission, please consult the finding aid for The General Commission on United Methodist Communications. Methodist Church by the Plan of Union between the Methodists and the E. U. B. connection in 1968. At the 1972 General Conference, the General Council on Ministries was created.