Decision Number 69

Decision

The Constitution of The Methodist Church, Paragraph 19, describing the powers and duties of Central Conferences, states in Sections 3 and 5 thus:
"3. To establish and constitute such Central Conference Boards as may be required and to elect their administrative officers.

"5. To make such rules and regulations for the administration of the work within their boundaries as the conditions in the respective areas may require, subject to the powers that have been or shall be vested in the General Conference."

Paragraph 595 of the 1948 Discipline reads as follows:

"A Central Conference, where the laws of the land permit, shall have the power to organize and incorporate one or more Executive Committees, Executive Boards, or Councils of Co-operation, with such membership and such powers as may have been granted by the Central Conference, for the purpose of representing it in its property and legal interests and for transacting any necessary business that may arise in the interval between the sessions of the Central Conference, or that may be committed to said Boards or Committees by the Central Conference."

The Methodist Church of Germany, in its Constitution adopted September 4, 1934, provided:
"The Central Conference shall organize an Administrative Committee. This Committee shall consist of the Bishop as presiding officer and an equal number of ministerial and lay delegates, of whom one shall act as substitute presiding officer and three others shall be elected as first, second, and third Secretaries.

"The Administrative Committee shall have charge of the current matters of business and shall represent it legally and otherwise. It shall be responsible to the Central Conference for the conduct of its business."

We therefore hold that such action of the Administrative Committee in continuing the Conference as an Annual Conference was within the powers conferred upon such Committee by Paragraph 19 of the Discipline of The Methodist Church and by the Corporate Charter of the Germany Central Conference. With respect to this action, however, the Administrative Committee is responsible to the Central Conference. The decision of the Administrative Committee will stand and be effective until changed or abrogated by the Central Conference, or by General Conference legislation.