
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 17, 1995                   TAG: 9506190015
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

METHODISTS VOTE AGAINST REDISTRICTING IN VIRGINIA

The state's largest body of United Methodists on Friday rejected a proposal to eliminate two of its 18 geographical administrative districts, even though planners promised significant cost savings for a conference already spending more than it takes in each year.

A vote by a show of hands was overwhelmingly in favor of retaining the current setup, Bishop Thomas Stockton ruled from the chair at the Roanoke Civic Center.

The Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church is holding its 213th annual meeting in Roanoke through Sunday morning. The Virginia Conference includes all of the state except far Southwest Virginia.

The redistricting proposal, from a task force on the subject, was touted as a way to save as much as $350,000 a year in salaries and other administrative overhead. The committee's report pointed out that since 1971, the conference has lost almost one-tenth of its membership - now about 349,000. And "for the past several years, conference expenditures have exceeded contributions to the extent that conference reserves are being taxed."

Speakers against the proposal generally were skeptical of the projected cost savings and were concerned with a potential loss of identity in new districts. Several speakers also decried what they perceived as a lack of consultation with the affected districts in central and Tidewater Virginia.

Only one congregation in the four Western Virginia districts would have been affected by the redistricting.

A second report from the task force was accepted without debate. It made a series of recommendations to "improve the efficiency of operation" of the district offices, including specific types of office equipment and the advisability of finding a lawyer to provide advice to the office "on a pro bono basis."

Delegates to the meeting have approved a report from the conference's Board of Ordained Ministry that included a recommendation for the General Conference of the national United Methodist Church, to be held next year, on how to define the phrase "self-avowed practicing homosexual."

The national Judicial Council of the church last year said that phrase was too vague and refused to act on a request to defrock a California minister charged with being in violation of a church law that forbids the ordination of "self-avowed practicing homosexuals."

The Virginia Board of Ordained Ministry submitted a proposed definition as "a person who engages in one or more sexual acts with a person or persons of the same sex, which are openly acknowledged by the individual alleged to be a practicing homosexual." After sometimes-passionate debate, the report was adopted by the conference.

Meetings continue today and will conclude with a worship service Sunday.

by CNB