Equal ministerial and lay representation: In district conference

317. The General Conference shall organize the work at large into districts, which shall operate under its jurisdiction and promote the interests of the denomination, and whose voting membership shall include the following: All ordained ministers on the appointed, retired, reserve, and educational leave lists; licensed ministers elected to ordained minister’s status; all commissioned and licensed ministers serving as pastors of Wesleyan churches; all commissioned and licensed ministers serving as assistant pastors of Wesleyan churches; members of the district board of administration who are not members by some other right; and lay delegates elected as provided in The Discipline. In addition the district conference shall include such nonvoting members as The Discipline shall provide. The principle of equal representation of the ministry and the laity in the district conference shall be maintained. 1080. The district conference, as required by the Constitution (317), shall be composed of an equal number of ministerial members and lay members as voting members, chosen in a way that maintains the principle of equal representation, and other non-voting members as listed herewith. 1100. Allotment. The district board of administration shall assign to each church or circuit the specific number of lay delegates which it shall elect as its representatives to the district conference, in keeping with the provision in 1086 for the total number of lay delegates and subject to the following regulations:

(1) The district board of administration shall first determine the total number of lay delegates required for the next session of the district conference (1086), which shall initially equal the number of ministerial voting members eligible at the time such determination is made (1083:1-5). The district board of administration may adjust this number of lay delegates downward to be not fewer than the highest number of ministerial voting members who answered the roll call in each of the last three district conferences.

(2) One lay delegate shall first be allotted to each pastoral charge (315:7; 528:3; 317; 503), including any developing churches deemed qualified (510:5; 1086).

(3) One shall be subtracted from the number needed to balance the ministerial vote for each lay member of the district board of administration.

(4) The number of lay delegates yet required for the next district conference shall be allotted to the pastoral charges according to a ratio of representation. In fixing the ratio of representation, the members as listed on the statistical report of the preceding district conference, shall be considered. The district board of administration shall establish the ratio of representation and apply it in such a manner as to assign the exact number of delegates to be elected by each pastoral charge.

(5) The district shall promptly notify each pastor of the exact number of lay delegates allotted to that particular pastoral charge.