Jay Brim — who led the drafting of the Call to Action/Connectional Table legislation to consolidate nine general agencies under a 15-member board — just told a briefing of central conference delegates that he and other Call to Action leaders would no longer be pushing a board of only 15. Instead, he said, he would bring a substitute motion that would put the proposed mega-agency, the Center for Connectional Mission and Ministry, directly under the oversight of a 45-member board (called the General Council for Strategy and Oversight in the current legislation).
As part of the substitute motion, the 45-member board would double its central conference membership from 7 to 14 — 10 of those members would come from Africa. In addition, he said the five offices of the proposed new center each would have their own advisory boards of 18 to 20 people. One of the most frequent criticisms the Call to Action/Connectional Table proposal has faced is its lack of representation — particularly of church members in the central conference regions in Africa, Europe and the Philippines. The substitute motion will be made when the General Administration legislative committee begins meeting Thursday, April 26.
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