This Week in Texas Methodist History  January 31

 

 

Bishop Moore Asks “What Should 1940 General Conference Do?”  February, 1940

 

When A. J. Weeks died in December 1939, the Southwestern Advocate was thrown into a crisis since Weeks had been both editor and business manager of the denominational newspaper.

 

The bishops of the area quickly decided on a new arrangement so that there would be no interruption in the publication schedule.  Bishop John M. Moore had retired to Dallas so he agreed to serve as editor without receiving a salary.  He would be assisted by a prominent pastor in each of the constituent conferences.   Those names are well known to readers of this column:   John Nelson Russell Score, Marshal Steel, Edmund Heinsohn, Dawson Bryan, J. O. Haymes, and Wallace Crutchfield.  Later the Dallas District Superintendent would take over the business side of the Advocate. 

 

Moore needed copy to fill up the sixteen pages of the Advocate so he put out an appeal to his readers.  What should the General Conference of 1940 do? 

 

The Uniting Conference which created the Methodist Church from the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and the Methodist Protestant Church had been held the previous year, and Moore had lobbied against having a 1940 General Conference at all.  The Uniting Conference had been preceded by years of committee work and it resulted in a new Discipline, but there were plenty of details yet to be worked out by 

 committees appointed in 1939.  Those committees were composed of members of the MEC, MECS, and MP churches in a 4-4-1 ratio—which approximated the membership of the three denominations before the merger. 

 

Moore asked his readers to submit their suggestions for 1940 General Conference actions to modify the decisions made in 1939.  Here are some of the most interesting suggestions:

 

W. F. Bryan, Huntsville:    Merge all the apportionments for benevolences into a single category—World Service.   Let the designated special offerings count as credit for a church’s apportionment.

 

Wm. E. Brown, El Paso—Convene a cabinet meeting three months before annual conference, and make all the appointments then rather than waiting and making them all at annual conference.

 

P. E. Riley, Corsicana:  a.  reduce the number of Advocate editions by consolidation.

                                          b.  increase pensions for retired pastors

                                          c.  allow large churches to have more than one lay delegate to annual conference.

 

Eugene Hawk, SMU:   Strengthen the Jurisdictional Conferences by giving them something else to do besides electing bishops.  

 

Ella Fondren, Houston:  Institute a mandatory retirement age for preachers to make room for younger pastors needing appointments.

 

C. E. Mead, Marfa:   a.  Mandate a Board of Lay Activity in each jurisdiction.

                                    b.  Allow the Conference Lay Leader to be elected by nomination from the floor

 

b.      Make the Chair of the Official Board of the local church the Lay Leader

 

 

 

Phil Deschner, Tulsa:   a.  eliminate some of the General Boards and give that work to Jurisdictions

b.      Eliminate Special Offerings that do not count toward apportionments

c.       Create a Commission on Stewardship not connected with finance

d.      Direct bishops to delegate more tasks to District Superintendents

 

Mrs. Gid Bryan , Cleburne:  Define more clearly who is responsible for promotion of Benevolences.

 

F. P. Culver, Olney:   Plant more churches in “unoccupied territory.”

 

Ray Nichols, Vernon:  Have Jurisdictional newspapers.