Bishop Watson selected to chair world committee on evangelism
9/2/2011
SPECIAL TO THE ADVOCATE
The World Methodist Council has selected Bishop Mike Watson to chair its standing committee on evangelism. The WMC elected a slate of new staff members and officers at its August meetings in Durban, South Africa.
The World Methodist Council is made up of 77 member churches in 135 countries and represents 75 million people.
“World Methodist Evangelism enables very creative, dynamic and effective proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ across our world parish,” Bishop Watson said. “I rejoice that so many of us in our Wesleyan family have this effective connectional witness. I am honored to play a part in this powerful ministry that unites all of us in the world-wide Methodist/Wesleyan family of churches in sharing the Good News so that the world may know Jesus Christ.
Bishop Lindsey Davis, who previously served the North Georgia Conference, was elected to the Presidium.
The slate of nominees for officers and committee chairs passed by a vote of 204-98. In discussions prior to the vote, WMC President John Barrett explained that the nominating committee’s slate of candidates was presented in its entirety. It had been carefully put together to reflect the diversity of the Council.
Barrett said the nominating committee wrote letters to all member churches last year, asking for nominations for president, vice president, members of the presidium and chairs of the standing committees. The response, he said, was very positive.
“We received a very large number of names I’m pleased to say. I’ve been involved in this process before, and the number of names we received surpassed the previous time by more than 100 percent. We are very, very pleased to get such a response,” said Barrett.
The WMC’s new staff includes:
• General Secretary — Bishop Ivan Abrahams, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. He will move to the WMC’s headquarters at Lake Junaluska, in January 2012.
• Geneva Secretary — Bishop Heinrich Bolleter, UMC of Switzerland.
The newly elected officers of the council include:
• President — Bishop Paulo Lockmann, Methodist Church of Brazil.
• Vice President — Bishop Sarah Francis Davis, AME, Jamaica.
• Treasurer — Mr. Kirby Hickey, UMC, USA
Standing Committee Chairpersons:
• Education — Dr. Amos Nascimento, Methodist Church of Brazil
• Ecumenics and Dialogues — Dr. Robert Gribben, uniting Church of Australia
• Evangelism — Bishop B. Michael Watson, UMC, USA
• Family Life — Bishop Teresa Snorton, CME, USA
• Theological Education — Dr. J.C. Park, Korean Methodist Church
• Social & International Affairs — Rev. Kim Reisman, UMC, USA
• Worship and Liturgy — Dr. Jorge Lockward, Dominican Republic
• Youth & Young Adults — Christy-Anna Errington of England
Members of the Presidium:
• Rev. David Bush — Methodist Church of New Zealand
• Bishop Lindsey Davis — UMC, USA.
• Gillian Kingston — Methodist Church of Ireland
• Dr. Won Jae Lee — Korean Methodist Church
• Dr. George Mulrain — MCCA, Antigua
• Joshua Rathnam — Church of North India
• Archbishop Michael Stephen — Methodist Church of Nigeria
• Youth representative — Lauren Matthew, South Africa
• At-Large Members to the Youth/Young Adult Committee
Chinonyerem Stella Onwuegbu Nigeria; Gustavo Ali, Bolivia; Nam Kipyug,South Korea; Robin Lim, Australia.