Church and Society Board of Directors Gathers for the First Time this Quadrennium

Washington, D.C. – The newly-elected board of directors of the General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church gathered in Columbia, Maryland from September 21-24. Church and Society’s board consists of 62 United Methodist members. A listing of the board of directors can be found on our website.

Bishop Charlene Kammerer organized the board of directors for this meeting. The board elected Bishop Sally Dyck of the North Central Jurisdiction as president, and Randall Miller, lay person from the California-Nevada Annual Conference as vice-president. Rev. Sharon Austin of the Florida Annual Conference was elected as Secretary and Lonnie Chafin, lay person from Northern Illinois Annual Conference, as Treasurer.

The Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe was re-elected as the General Secretary. Henry-Crowe has led the social justice agency since 2014. The outgoing Executive Committee of the board of directors proposed changes to the bylaws, which were approved by the newly-organized board. The new bylaws reorganize the board under four administrative committees (Personnel, Finance, Trustees, and Bylaws, Nominations, Evaluation and Review) and three work areas (Advocating, Educating, and Connecting). Three task forces were created to address the concerns of the Inter-Ethnic Strategic Development Group, the Social Principles Revision, and Ministry With the Poor.

The board traveled to Washington, D.C. where the members toured the United Methodist Building – which General Conference named as a Heritage Landmark in May – and held closing worship in the Simpson Memorial Chapel. The board members also heard from Melissa Rogers, Special Assistant to the President and Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, on the importance of people of faith engaging in public policy.

The board will meet again in March of 2017.

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The General Board of Church and Society is one of four international general program boards of The United Methodist Church. The board is called to seek the implementation of the Social Principles and other policy statements of the General Conference on Christian social concerns.