Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1900-05-25
llRI METHODIST @QDEIRIIgE
Time Limit lot Pastors Removed
~ Big Vote. 8ss1 4
CAN STAY ] OVER FIVE YEARS Y
~ Main Feature ~ Itlnerant Ministry
4 Thus Laid Aside Afrlcan Methods,
Y Question UP, il Many Phases Note,
Of the Conference. 5{},s5 VI

Chicago. May "a. BY an overwhelm-
ing vote the general conference OF the
Methodist Episcopal church decided to
abolish the pastoral time limit, by
which minister has been atln' to re-
main In one charge not longer than
1--WE successive years. Thus one Of the
fundamental laws Of the denomination
and one Of the principal, featlres Of
the itinerant ministry is laid aside, and
preachers may remain in places as long
as the bishops appoint them. While
still pilgrim and a stranger, the
Methodist itinerant hereafter can tar
ry more than five years.. other condi-
lions being favorable, for from section
3 of paragraph 173 of the book Of dis
cipline has been removed. the five-year
restriction
African iMethodists Of Chicago are
affecting to believe that the defeat
Of DR.. John w. E. Bowen for a bishop
ric in the Methodist Episcopal church,
will drive a number Of eolored per-
sons now in the latter church to look
for church home in their organiza-
ton. In the first soreness Of disap--
pointment many colored delegates in.
the general conference declared their
intention to leave for the abiding place,
Of the African Methodists. DR.. Bow.
en-, discouraged such action and was;
joined in this attitude by DR.. H.. Al.
Monroe, /. Garland Penn, DR.. !. h.
Scott and Dr. M, G.. b. Mason. The
Rev. John w. Robinson, pastor Of St.
Marks church, the one colored con
gregation in Chicago attached to the
Methodist Episcopal conference,
said: Il do not believe that the de-
feat Of DR.. Bowen will in any way af-
feet the negro membership in the
Methodist Episcopal church. We are
disappointed. but we will stand loyal
and trust in God for the FUTURE
Henry P. Jones, a prominent layman
in the African church in Chicago said:
"Dr Bowen's defeat means that the
branches of the Methodist church
north and south will consolidate. A
black bishop under those conditions
would be- intolerable. OLD conditions
are giving way to the new. In the end
the negro will have to hoe his own
row. Why not hoe it in the African
church ?''
Bishop John F. Hurst. president Of
the Columbian university Of Washing
ton, whose methods Of collecting
funds for his school were scored in a
belated memorial signed by Henry
Wade Rogers, DR.. J. W. Bashford,
DR. B. P. Raymond, DR.. John F.
Goucher and twenty-four other col-
lege presidents and 1aymen, got an
other slap when the subcommittee on
episcopal residences reported Just be.
fore the adjournment. Washington
was cut off the list Of official resi-
dences, the committee reporting that
it was unable to decide whether Den
yer or the capital OF the United States
should get the fourteenth bishop.
Fort Worth, Tex, was dropped alto
gether. The report was signed by
Chairman John F. Goncher, who has
made repeated objections to Bishop
iHurst's way Of raising money for the
Washington school. Thirteen cities
recommended for episcopal residences
were Chicago, Boston, New York,
Philadelphia, Buffalo, Cincinnati, De-
troit. st. Louis, Topeka, Minneapolis,
San Francisco. Portland, Ore, and
Chattanooga. At the afternoon SEES
sion of the general conference the
recommendation of the committee
that episcopal residences be estab-
lished in Zurich, Switzerland, and
Shanghai, China. was concurred in.