2016 Wesleyan Discipline:325-360

General

325. General Conference Membership. The General Conference shall be composed of an equal number of ordained ministers and lay members elected by the several districts, and each district superintendent and a lay delegate elected on the district superintendent’s behalf; the presidents of the general educational institutions; such officers serving the General Church as the General Conference may establish by legislation, provided that it shall at the same time enact provisions to secure such further representation as shall be necessary to continue the principle of equal lay and ministerial membership. 327. General Conference Delegates.

(1) Each district, if not under discipline, shall be entitled to send one ordained minister and one lay member as delegates to the General Conference and additional ministerial and lay delegates according to membership on a basis of representation to be fixed by the General Conference.

(2) The delegates shall be elected by ballot. The ministerial delegates must be ordained, and at the time of their election, as also at the time of General Conference, must be members of the district which elected them.

(3) The lay delegates shall be chosen from the members of the Church in full relation within the bounds of the district they represent, and at the time of the General Conference they must be members of a church within the bounds of the district which elected them.

330. General Conference Sessions.

(1) The General Conference shall meet quadrennially, except that in cases of emergency or other unusual circumstances the General Board of Administration shall have the power to shorten or lengthen the interval. Each session shall be held at a time of the year specified in The Discipline at a place determined by the General Board of Administration; in case of emergency the General Board of Administration shall have power to change the time.

(2) The president or other elected officer of the General Conference whenever two-thirds of the districts shall request it, or the General Board of Administration, by such vote as the General Conference shall determine, shall call an extra session of the General Conference, fixing the place thereof and the time of assembling later than the next session of each district conference.

332. General Conference Presidency. The various sittings of the General Conference shall be presided over by the General Superintendent(s) in such order as these may determine; but in case no General Superintendent be present, the General Conference shall elect by ballot an ordained minister as president pro tem. 334. Other Officers. The General Conference shall elect by ballot such officers as it shall decide upon. 336. General Conference Quorum. At all times when the General Conference is in session, it shall require a majority of all the delegates elected by the districts to form a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from time to time, until a quorum is obtained. 338. General Conference Voting. The ministers and lay members shall deliberate in the sessions of the General Conference as one body, but upon the final vote on any question except proposed amendments to the Constitution, on a call of one-fourth of the members, the house shall divide and ministers and lay members shall vote separately; and it shall require a majority vote of each branch to pass any question upon which the division has been called. 340. General Board of Administration.

(1) There shall be a General Board of Administration to carry out the will of the General Conference during the quadrennium. Such Board shall be composed of the General Superintendent(s) and such other general officers as shall be designated by the General Conference together with an equal number of ordained ministers and lay members chosen by the General Conference to represent equitably the several administrative areas of the Church. The number of such representative members shall be determined by the action of the General Conference.

(2) The General Board of Administration is the chief governing body of the Church in the interim of the General Conferences, and as such is empowered to perfect all plans necessary to the performance of its duties; it shall constitute or create the basic board of control of each and all of the Wesleyan societies and institutions now incorporated or hereafter incorporated under the laws of any state of the United States or of any province of Canada or under any other jurisdiction where such is permitted by the laws of said jurisdiction. The General Board of Administration shall have jurisdiction over mission units under the North American General Conference. It shall have the authority to approve a discipline for each unit achieving recognition as a fully established general conference and for each mission unit. In so doing, it shall have the power to adapt the name of the Church within the restrictions of paragraph 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:205, and to adapt the provisions of The Discipline of the North American General Conference, including both constitutional and statutory law, provided that it does not contravene the Essentials of The Wesleyan Church. In authorizing the adaptation of the name for a unit achieving recognition as an established general conference, it shall first consult with the highest interim administrative bodies of the other established general conferences which are members of The International Conference of The Wesleyan Church.

350. The General Superintendency.

(1) The General Conference shall elect by ballot from among the ordained ministers one or more General Superintendent(s), who shall be considered as the general spiritual and administrative leader(s) of the Church.

(2) They shall be elected for a four-year term of office to begin on the date determined by the General Conference.

(3) The General Superintendent(s) shall preside over the sittings of the General Conference and over the district conferences. At the district conference over which a General Superintendent is presiding, the district superintendent shall serve by being seated at the presiding officer’s table to advise and assist the chair. In the event a General Superintendent is unable to be present at a district conference, the district superintendent shall preside as chair, unless another representative appointed by the General Superintendent is present.

(4) Further duties of the General Superintendent(s) shall be defined by the General Conference.

Article 9. Powers and Restrictions of the General Conference

360. The General Conference shall have full power:

(1) To designate a criterion for parliamentary procedure for itself and for the other bodies of The Wesleyan Church.

(2) To elect such officers as it shall choose and to define their duties and responsibilities.

(3) To make and administer rules and regulations for The Wesleyan Church subject to the Constitution and the following restrictions:

(a) It shall not have power to revoke, alter or change our Articles of Religion, Elementary Principles or any Membership Commitment, or the conditions of membership, or to establish any standards of doctrine contrary to our present existing and established standards of doctrine.

(b) It shall not change or alter any part or rule of our government, so as to destroy the principle of equal representation of ministers and lay members in the representative bodies of the Church; or to do away with the right of each General Conference to elect its own officers, or the maintenance of an itinerant ministry.

(c) It shall make no rule, except as provided in 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:365, that shall deny any church the right to receive, discontinue or expel its own members subject to their right of appeal; or to elect and remove its own officers; or that shall deny to the district conference the final disposition of all pastoral arrangements, except those districts in which the General Conference or the General Board has transferred the supervision to a General Superintendent or other related general official, or that shall deny to preachers and churches initial negotiations concerning the same.

(d) It shall make no rule, except as provided in 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:365, that will discriminate against any member or minister on account of ancestry, color or sex.

(e) It shall make no rule that will interfere with the supervision of established districts (in distinction from provisional districts) over the ministers and churches within their bounds, unless said district (or districts) is under discipline.

(f) It shall not have the power to deprive any member or minister of the right of hearing by an impartial committee, or of the right of appeal.