2016 Wesleyan Discipline:3059:2
From Wesleyan Discipline
- (2) Rights of a Commissioned Minister. As long as a commissioned minister maintains spiritual life, moral character, and faithful ministry, and is neither under discipline nor expelled from the ministry, the minister shall have the right (2016 Wesleyan Discipline:313):
- (a) To preach the gospel and to administer baptism and the Lord’s Supper, to perform all parts of divine worship, and to solemnize the rite of matrimony wherever local laws will permit (2016 Wesleyan Discipline:313:1).
- (b) To be eligible for election to any office not restricted to ordained ministers or lay persons. The commissioned minister shall not be eligible for election as district superintendent, assistant district superintendent, member- at-large on the district board of administration, member of the district board of ministerial development, nor as a delegate to General Conference.
- (c) To contract the pastoral relationship with local Wesleyan churches subject to the approval of the district conference and other regulations of The Discipline (2016 Wesleyan Discipline:313:3; 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:323:1–2).
- (d) To enjoy, if appointed as a pastor, the use for religious meetings of the church building or buildings of the pastoral charge to which appointed by the district conference (2016 Wesleyan Discipline:313:4); and to serve the pastoral charge without interference by unauthorized activities of another minister of The Wesleyan Church (2016 Wesleyan Discipline:313:5; cf. 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:3114–3117).
- (e) To be a voting member of the district conference if pastoring a Wesleyan church or serving as an associate or assistant pastor of a Wesleyan church (2016 Wesleyan Discipline:317; 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:1083:3), or a nonvoting member of the district conference if appointed to some other category of service or in the process of transfer (2016 Wesleyan Discipline:317; 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:1090:3).
- (f) To transfer in the manner prescribed by The Discipline from one district to another, subject to the concurrence of the district superintendent over the district into which transfer is sought (2016 Wesleyan Discipline:313:6; 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:3097; 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:3100:1).
- (g) To have recourse, even if under discipline, to a proper court of jurisdiction in any matters involving complaint against character or ministerial conduct and to appeal the decision of such court (2016 Wesleyan Discipline:313:7; 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:5200; 2016 Wesleyan Discipline:5206–5212).