Decision Number 333

Decision

It is the decision of the Judicial Council that:

1) Any Annual Conference which is too small to qualify under the formula for representation set forth in Paragraph 601.1 and .2 is entitled to one ministerial delegate and one lay delegate. Delegates are provided for either by the formula stated in Paragraph 601 or by the sentence in that paragraph which guarantees the minimum number of delegates, but not by both.

2) The China Central Conference is recognized as a constituent part of The United Methodist Church. However, no information is available to the commission as to Annual Conferences within that Central Conference. Since representation in the General Conference may be only from Annual Conferences, there is at present no basis for designating delegates from the China Central Conference. Therefore, the commission need not make allowance for delegates from the Annual Conferences of the China Central Conference within the maximum number of 1,000 delegates.

3) The secretary of the General Conference is authorized to adjust the formula for election of delegates to the General Conference as provided in Paragraph 601. The computation for all Annual Conferences should be based on statistics as of December 31, 1969, and all Annual Conferences notified of the number of delegates to which they will be entitled before any hold their elections.

4) For the secretary of the General Conference to use the number of former Evangelical United Brethren ministers assigned to a successor conference at the time of conference merger as one basis for calculating the number of former Evangelical United Brethren delegates to be elected from that conference to the 1972 General Conference, would be fair and reasonable and would violate no provision of the Constitution or Discipline of the church.

5) All former Evangelical United Brethren ministers whose status was that of itinerant ministerial member of the Annual Conference at the time of church union shall be counted in determining the basis for the election of delegates to the Jurisdictional and General Conferences.

6) The percentages of delegates to be elected to the 1972 General Conference from both former denominations as stated in Paragraph 602.1 of the Discipline are binding. They may not be changed, and Annual Conferences should be so notified.

7) The reserve delegates elected by an Annual Conference should have the same percentage proportion from each former denomination as the regular delegates. When a reserve is seated in place of a regular delegate, he must be from the membership of the same former denomination as the delegate whose place he fills.