Trustees: General Church

340. General Board.

(1) There shall be a General Board 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 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 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.

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(15) Serve as the board of directors of The Wesleyan Church Corporation and its precedent corporations (4230); to appoint committees from among its own members and to delegate to such committees the exercise of such powers in the interim of its sessions as it shall deem wise.

(16) Buy, own, hold, manage, mortgage, sell, convey, donate or otherwise acquire, encumber, and dispose of any General Church property, whether real, personal, or mixed, in keeping with the trust provisions given in 4920; and to buy, sell, or lease any denominational headquarters site (by whatever name it shall be called) by a two-thirds majority of the members of the General Board present and voting, except that property for which other provision is made in the articles and bylaws of subsidiary corporations, and to provide for the proper care and maintenance of such property.

(17) Space reserved.

(18) Carry out the instructions of the General Conference relative to the incorporation of any agency, institution, board organization, or other similar body (1590:6); or, in the interim of General Conference sessions, to authorize the establishment of such a corporation by a two-thirds majority vote and to care for such corporation matters as the approval and amendment of articles and bylaws, all in keeping with the provisions of The Discipline (cf.2358-2362; 4300-4320; 4425).

(19) Elect by majority vote all except the ex officio members of all other General Church boards; to be or to elect all boards of trustees, directors, or managers of subsidiary corporations, including all approved benevolent institutions, and to exercise such control and direction of said subsidiary corporations and related agencies as is provided for in The Discipline (2358-2362; 4300-4320) and in their several articles of incorporation and bylaws; and to remove a member of any such board, for cause or when the best interests of the Church so require, by a majority vote of all the members of the General Board (Gen. Bd. Policy on Ch. Disc. 5270:4; 5282; 5288), and to fill all vacancies.

(20) Direct an annual audit, and at other times as deemed necessary, of all corporations, general offices, divisions, agencies, auxiliaries, and institutions of the Church, and to take any action required by the findings of such audit (4320:7).

(21) Have the authority to negotiate and arbitrate legal and temporal matters in cases of dispute involving the General Church without resort to the courts when the General Board, by a two-thirds vote, deems such procedure necessary; provided, however, that the emergency authority hereby granted shall not be construed to modify or rescind any of the provisions of The Discipline of The Wesleyan Church with reference to the prescribed conveyance of church property; and further provided that this authority to negotiate and arbitrate shall not be a limit on the power or authority to resort to litigation in the courts when such procedure is deemed advisable.