The World Methodist Council, meeting in Brighton, elected a new Presidium to serve the coming five-year term. The new chairperson of the Executive is the head of the Methodist Church in Nigeria, Prelate Sunday Mbang.
Educated at Ibadan, Jerusalem and Harvard, Dr Mbang is also president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, and co-chairman of the Nigeria Inter-religious Council, which provides a forum for Christian and other religions. As chairman of the WMC Executive, he succeeds Dr Frances Alguire.
The new vice-chairman is the Rev Dr John C.A. Barrett, an English Methodist minister. Educated at Newcastle and Cambridge, Dr Barrett is headmaster of the Leys School, Cambridge, and chairman of the World Methodist Committee of the British conference.
Other members are Dr Maimunah Natasha, a businesswoman in Indonesia; the Rev Earle Wilson, general superintendent of the Wesleyan Church in the US; Bishop Walter B. Klaiber, Bishop of the Methodist Church in Germany; Bishop Clarence Carr of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in the US; Ms Katherine Ng of the Methodist Church in Hong Kong, who also serves as executive secretary of the World Federation of Chinese Methodist Churches; and Bishop Neil L. Irons, United Methodist Bishop in Pennsylvania.
Two vacancies have to be filled by nominations from Latin America, and from a youth department. The new president of the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women, Ms Rosemary Wass, is ex-officio also a member of the Presidium.
Reports were presented from the groups representative of the WMC who are in conversation with other Christian denominations. The report on Catholic Methodist talks focused on the role of the laity. A news bulletin published during the conference reported:
"Methodists are calling upon Catholics to bring lay people more formally into decision making bodies, including those that have `authoritative discernment and teaching roles'. This should allow them to share responsibility with bishops, `who nevertheless retain their special ministry of authoritative teaching'.
"Catholics, in return, want the Methodist Church to distinguish more formally the role of ordained ministers, especially bishops and superintendents, in running of Methodist conferences". The outgoing secretary of the WMC, the Rev Dr Joe Hale, was awarded the World Methodist Peace Prize for the contribution he made to peace and ecumenical unity.
In a statement on global warming, the conference affirmed "the Earth is God's creation given over into the hands of human beings for responsible care and nature". It said those nations that contribute most noxious emissions now, and which have done so historically, bear the heaviest burden of responsibility in seeking ways to reduce them.
It called on the world's political leaders to ratify the Kyoto Protocol as soon as possible. The Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church in the US has sought a meeting with President Bush on the issue.