In my opinion, geographic realignment of Episcopal districts ranks as one of the top 5 issues. What thinketh ye??? QED

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2003

Answers

Just so that no one thinks I'm incapable of reading a calendar, I meant to type '2004' not 2002. Nothing like brining in the new year with old mistakes :-) QED

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2003

Such a geographical realignment (not the creation of additional districts) is being discussed in southern Africa for the past couple of years. It will affect the people in the 15th, 18th & 19th Episcopal Districts. The proposed new arrangement, in my view, should take place as follows:

15th Episcopal District to cover Angola, Namibia and Botswana and 18th Episcopal District to cover Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique and Natal and 19th Episcopal District to cover the remaining South Africa.

You have the right to differ with me.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2003

Bill what do you mean about "realignment of the districts" I am still the new kid;-) Are you talking abou all the disticts in the denomination? If you could give me an example of what you mean that would help me. Thanks

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2003

Here are two examples:

• Intra-District Realignment - In the Tenth District, Texas proposes to consolidate its 7 Annual Conferences to 5, and reduce the number of Presidcing Elder districts from 12 to 10. Associated with this a a redrawing of boundaries to assure that the five remaining districts bear realticvely equally the financial burden. Reducing the Presiding Elder Slots will allow the Elders to receive a compensation more commensurate with our larger districts without raising burden on the local assemblies.

  In prelude to this, this year Bishop Young conducted the "7" annual conferences at 5 sites, combining the Southwest with the West, and the Northeast with the North.

• Inter-District Realignment - This is in the area of speculation/example. COnsider the twelfth district, which covers Oklahoma and Arkansas. One could conceivably consolidate within the district, then align the Arkansan district with the 8th (Mississippi/ Louisiana), and the Oklahoman districtsx with texas. < B>This is only an example.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2003

Jerryl thanks for the examples. It really seems like this will take a lot of work has a preliminary committee been put in place. I don't see how they could decide all of that at general conference. But then again I have never been to an AME general conference;-)

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2003

Parson Hanse's realignment recommendations look fine although I would prefer Lesotho in the 19th due to its unique geography within S.A. Also, why is Zimbabwe omitted in discussions about realignment? We in the 11th District are also finalizing plans for both intra & inter District Realignment. Personally, I would like to see the gradual phasing out of single-state Episcopal Districts (e.g. Florida, Alabama and GA) and radical realignment in the 5th. In a future post I will share my own re-mapping of the Episcopal Districts. QED

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2003

Now Bill we know you really want to be in the fifth district;-) One of the things I hope all persons who will be involved in re- alignment if that does happen is that they will visit each district. To get an understanding of the area and exactly how many churches are involved. The fifth district encompasses 14 states but to my understanding georgia has more churches than all of the fifth district. The western part of the United States is not as populated as the east coast. We will soon have 4 A.M.E churches in Montana and I feel confident that one day those of us in Montana will not have to fly across two states to get to our conference meetings. It is extremely expensive flying out of Montana. What would be helpful for me to know is when was the last time the denomination was redistricted and are there others in the denomination who are concerned about this. On a personal note I wish we had an A.M.E church in Hawaii it would be in the fifth district and it would be great to have mid year in hawaii;-)

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2003

The indigenisation of leadership in overseas district requires an urgent re-demacation of the 17th Episcopal District.In its present state the district is rather too big. I pray that re-alignment be conducted as follows:

1. Zimbabwe, Zambia and and Malawi - 17th 2. New District to cover , Congo DR,Burundu,Rwanda and Tanzania

The existing span of control,is to big and unmanageable for any Episcopal leader.

-- Anonymous, January 06, 2003

Dear Prof.QED Happy New Year to you and the family of this Board. I have been off- line but now am back.

The answer to your question is (in my opinion) no. There should be a major reallignment of districts in the Church and within each district. In order for this to succeed we need both great committment and fortitude to see this through.I am familiar with various ideas which both you and Bro. Jeryl have laid out quite well. My prayer is that the discussion is hightened at every major Church meeting to the point that the leaders deal with it and we follow it.

God Bless You All

-- Anonymous, January 06, 2003