The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-05-10

day, May 21. Nearly all the sessions
will be held in representative hall at
the state house. The general confer
ence has already brought to the city
the greater part of the delegation,
about 400. who arrived last night at
1920 from Ohio and Pennsylvania and
other eastern points in addition to rep
resentatives from Japan, Germany and
Africa where the missionary work of
the church is strongest. The following
prominent officials of the church ar
rived and are stopping temporarily at
the hotels in the city: Bishop z. P.
Kephart, WestervilIe. o.; Bishop J. S.
Mills, AWHILE, Pa; Bishop N. Castle,
Portland. Ore; Bishop G. NJ Mathews,
Chicago, Ill; Colonel Robert Cowden,
secretary Sunday School Board. DR..
Bell, Secretary Board of Missions; DR..
Weekly, Secretary Of Church Erection;
w R. Funk, publishing house agent.
To Have More Bishops.
Probably the most important event
in connection with the conference will
be the increase in the number of
bishops now provided for in the rules
of the church government. In place
four bishops the rules of church gov
ernment will be so amended as to call
for the election of six bishops. The
increase in the size of the bishopric is
necessitated by the increase and ex-
pansiOn which has marked the history
of the church within the last several
years. There is something of a ques-
ton, too, as to whether all of the
present bishops holding office will be
reelected. A number of the more
prominent ministers of the church
have been mentioned in connection
with places on the bishopric.
It is stated that the church dis
cipline will come in for a. number of
amendments and changes. What
these viii be are still a matter of
speculation.
From present. indications the
twenty fourth general conference will
be an epoch-making event. All of the
general officers of the church will
come up for a change, a number ask
for reelection and will probably re-
cial roster of the church is subject
to change, however, at this time.
First Time in West.
Never before has the general con-
ference of the church been held so
far westward. Four years ago at the
last conference, the meeting place was
Frederick, Md, and the four years
prior to that it was held in Iowa.
hitherto the farthest west of any of
the general conferences of the church
The official designation of the
church is United Brethren in Christ:
however, you do not often see in com
mon use the last two words, and in
ordinary parlance it is the United
BT6InI6n CnuICn. Inc GnuTCn was
eSta bliShed 129 years ago. in the CITY
of Baltimore, Nd, by Bishop Otter
bein, and is really the outgrowth of
two different denominations, the Ger
man Reformed church and the Men
MONTE The first general conference
of the church was held in 1915. The
fact that the first general conference
was not held until considerably after
the establishment of the United States
as a free country accounts for the lib
,s..T- 81
government of the church. The gov
/ ernment is vested in a general con-
| ference whose powers are about equal
to that of the senate in our national
government. The annual conferences
are allowed representation accOrdlng &
to their respective mem bership. These
delegates correspond to the national
/ convention of the United States, and
I they select by ballot all the general
officers of the church for a period of
four years. Many compare the United
Brethren church to the Methodist de-
nomination, but the difference in the
two bodies consists in the fact that the
bishops of the United Brethren
years, while the former denomination
elect for a life term. The bishops of
the United Brethren church can be
removed or else falling of reelection,
the two alternatives apply. The
powers accorded to them are provf-
sional powers.
Church Strongest in East.
There are about 25O,O00 adherents
scattered throughout the United States.
and of this number from L, 900 tos15O0O
reside in Kansas. The stronghold of the
denomination is in Ohio. PennsvIvania
New York, Indiana and MARYLAND
Strong missions have been esta bIished
in Japan, Africa and Germany and the
newer fields Of Porto Rico and the Phil
ippines.
There is but one congregation in To-
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