| On behalf of the Louisiana Annual Conference Board of Laity, George “Buzzy” Anding, Conference Lay Leader, invites interested and qualified lay members of our conference (who are also able to meet the associated time, attendance and financial responsibilities), to consider placing themselves in nomination for election as delegates to the 2008 General Conference and/or Jurisdictional Conference of our denomination. Church law requires that delegates “shall have been members of The United Methodist Church for at least two years next preceding their election, and shall have been active participants in The United Methodist Church for at least four years next preceding their election.” |
LOUISIANA CONFERENCE
LAY DELEGATE INFORMATION FORM |
General Conference, which convenes every four years, is the top policy-making body of The United Methodist Church. Church law (The Book of Discipline) provides that no person or organization except the General Conference has authority to speak for the denomination. Meeting sites rotate among the five geographic jurisdictions of the denomination, with the 2008 General Conference being scheduled for April 23-May 2 in Fort Worth, Texas, and Jurisdictional Conference to be held in Dallas, Texas, on July 16-19, 2008.
Church law limits General Conference to a maximum of 1,000 delegates – half clergy, half lay – and requires that each annual conference have at least one delegate from each order. Beyond that, a conference’s representation is based on the number of lay members and clergy members in the conference, as compared to worldwide denominational membership figures. For the Jurisdictional Conference delegation, the Book of Discipline allows each annual conference to elect “twice the number of its General Conference delegates.”
In the last quadrennium, there were seven (7) lay and seven (7) clergy delegates elected to attend General Conference from Louisiana (and twice that number to Jurisdictional Conference). Laity elect lay delegates, and clergy elect clergy delegates. The first delegates elected will fill both General Conference and Jurisdictional Conference delegation needs, with additional elections completing the Jurisdictional Conference delegation. The number for election to the 2008 conferences from our conference is still in the process of being determined, due to the recent inclusion of churches and new members from the Ivory Coast of Africa in our denomination.
The General Conference revises The Book of Discipline (The United Methodist book of church law) and our denomination’s "Social Principles", and adopts resolutions on various current moral, social, public policy and economic issues. It also approves plans and budgets for churchwide programs for the next four years. Delegates may also propose amendments to the church's Constitution, but those must be ratified later in the annual conferences. General Conference also elects members of the Judicial Council, the church's "supreme court", and some members of churchwide agencies.
Our South Central Jurisdictional Conference, which also meets every four years for purposes generally including the election of bishops and selection of members of general boards and agencies, will be held on July 16-19, 2008, in Dallas, Texas. The South Central Jurisdiction includes 15 annual conferences spanning eight states, including Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, as well as the south border of the Navajo Indian Nation in northeastern Arizona.
In addition to meeting the basic qualifications for election, delegates should be able and committed to attend all preconference preparatory meetings, to read and study the substantial amount of proposed legislation, to participate in the interviewing of prospective candidates for the episcopacy, and to attend and actively participate in the approximately three weeks of General and Jurisdictional Conferences. While some funding may be provided by the Louisiana Conference to the elected delegates to help defray their expenses, it will not cover all expenses associated with being a delegate.
Those wishing to place their names in nomination are asked to complete the “Louisiana Conference Lay Delegate Information Form,” found in this issue of Louisiana Now and also available for downloading on the Conference’s Web Site (la-umc.org), and to return the completed form to the Conference Office no later than March 31, 2007. Booklets including the completed forms of applicants will be distributed at preconference meetings and at Annual Conference. While nominations may also be taken from the floor at Annual Conference, timely completion and submission of the forms will give conference voters needed information about the qualifications and experience of those wishing to be considered for election as delegates. |
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