USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Germantown > Minutes of the session of the Ohio Miami Conference, successor to Miami Conference, of the United Methodist Church, 1969 > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16
Hamilton Park Avenue Church: In agreement with the action of the Execu- tive Committee of the Conference Board of Missions regarding Hamilton Park Avenue Church, it was voted to approve their plan of financing for their building program.
Zion Church, Cincinnati: It was voted to authorize the Director of Develop- ment to negotiate with the Board of Trustees of the Zion Church to renew the present note for a period of ten years at 61/2% interest. Monthly payment would be $408.78.
Plan and Basis of Union: It was voted to approve the proposed Plan and Basis of Union of
Ohio Annual Conference
Ohio Miami Annual Conference
Ohio Sandusky Annual Conference
Ohio Southeast Annual Conference
in the Ohio West Area of the United Methodist Church, and to authorize the President and Secretary of the Board to execute the said Proposal.
Transfer of Property: It was voted to recommend to the Conference Council that the property as listed be conveyed to the Board of Trustees of the re- spective local church.
1. Good Shepherd Church Parsonage at 4818 Nelepark Avenue, Dayton, Ohio.
2. Aley Church Parsonage at 444 Shadylane, Dayton, Ohio.
3. Hunter Community Church Parsonage at 4922 Todd Road, Franklin, Ohio.
4. The Hunter Community Church Property.
5. Union Plains Church Parsonage.
The Conference Board of Trustees will pay the Insurance and Taxes on the above property for 1969.
CARL B. ESCHBACH Secretary, Board of Trustees
REPORT NO. 14 Program Council Report
Summary of Reports and Actions (Meetings: 9-5-68; 11-20-68; 4-17-69)
Dr. James E. Flinchbaugh, Chairman; Owen Delp, Director (Secretary)
1. Agreed to use nomenclature of the new United Methodist Church within the present structures of the conference agencies anticipating complete re- organization at time of conference union.
2. Voted that Christian Education Sunday, September 29, 1968, be used for the purpose of promoting Camp Miami Capital Fund campaign.
3. Workshops were held during June to prepare leaders of youth for the new curriculum resources.
76
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
4. Thirteen members from our conference participated in the week-long laboratory enterprise at Westerville in July.
5. Summer Kampference was attended by 78 people. The youth have spon- sored an exchange student, Miss Nina Bourdery, from France. Her host family are the William LeMay's of Oakwood. Youth Folk Music Event was held on October 20th with more than 500 present. Jr. Hi Winter Kamp was held De- cember 13 and 14 with 59 youth attending. Guests were a group of Catholic Sisters and their presentation, "Are You Joking, Jeremiah?" The Fine Arts Festival on February 16th attracted 600 participants. The theme was "The Jet Age and the Church." Sr. Hi Winter Kamp became Spring Kamp and was held on March 14-16 due to the remodeling program at the camp. 76 youth participated. Belinda Brame attended a Washington-U.N. Seminar February 9-15 with Ohio West Area youth. Earlier in the year, David Chambers and Mark Freshley attended a Washington Seminar. The format of the Kirchen- tag, scheduled for May 11th, was to follow the pattern established and received so well in 1968. Booths were manned by youth groups.
6. The 1968 season of Camping involved the following number of partici- pants :
Four Junior Camps 443 Senior High 19
Four Jr. Hi Camps 167
Kampference 97
Five Laymen's Family Camps 570
Freshman-Sophomore 32
Minister's Family Camp: full-time .. 57 Music 80
part-time .. 30
7. Committee on Interpretation (stewardship) provided opportunity for closely-directed or symposium-type stewardship education programs. The re- sponse was limited.
8. Voted to use Minister's Retreat (January 5-6) as a workshop. Sixty ministers responded to the program including a preview of new audio-visual releases and equipment, a report from participants in national orientation meetings of boards and agencies of our new church and conversations with our conference superintendent with regard to conference union matters, the new appointment process and current concerns of pastors.
9. Workshops were held in October and November to secure reaction and evaluation of the new curriculum resources. Training opportunities had been provided for leaders of children September 15-20 and leaders of youth and adults September 29-October 3. Sixty of our people participated in these week-long training opportunities.
10. Authorized twelve persons to attend State-Wide Conference on Alcohol and Drug Dependence on February 13th. This was initiated by our Board of Social Concerns.
11. Voted to become part of Ohio Conference Film Fellowship in June 1969.
12. Voted partial support to participants of national Convocation on Worship (St. Louis, April 21, 1969).
13. Voted to participate in a joint effort with the other three conferences of the area in a workshop to make Creative Use of New Local Church Structure. January 3 and 4 were the dates with a team of ten, including ministers and laymen attending.
14. Report of the Board of Social Concerns (Social Action) included the fol- lowing activities :
a. Resolution on welfare inadequacies was sent to the Governor and legislators.
b. Bulletin inserts on What Can You Do In Urban Crisis were provided for all churches.
c. Promoted state-wide conference on Alcohol and Drug Dependence.
d. Provided three people on committee of six to deal with urban crisis and offering.
e. Made information available on Welfare programs.
f. Sent representatives to U.N .- Washington Seminar, North Conway Institute for Alcohol Studies, and Convo '69 in Washington, D.C.
77
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
g. Sent two mailings and added names to Ohio Council of Churches legis- lative network (ECOGG) to cadre of 70 people having expressed in- terest in social action.
h. Granted assistance to three local situations requesting same.
15. Interpretation reported meeting with national leader, Alex Porteus, and plans for display at Annual Conference of resources to aid in interpreting the general causes of the church.
16. Camp Miami Improvement Program: Additional or remodeling of bath- rooms have resulted in two complete rooms on each of the three floors of Camp Miami. The dining ceiling was replaced and new lighting installed. Harmon Builders of Miamisburg was awarded the contract. Authorized changes in contract has brought the price to approximately $48,000.
17. Men's groups in Southwest and Northwest have formed new groups in their areas with former Methodists. Cincinnati has merged ministers' groups into one.
18. A workshop was held on May 17th at Oak Street to acquaint our people with the needs of people and how three centers were attempting to meet the needs at Van Buren, Parkside and Wesley Centers.
19. The Executive Committee was appointed as follows: Carl Robinson, Louis Odon, Marjorie Knecht, Harry Deaven, James Flinchbaugh and Owen Delp. J. C. Herbert was appointed chairman of the Publishing Interests Committee. James Flinchbaugh was elected our representative to the Board of Directors for the Pastoral Care and Counseling Program of Ohio Methodism.
20. Budget of Council on Youth Ministries (Youth Fellowship) was approved with the process of volunteer goals this year by the youth of our churches. ($5,000.00 sought from youth)
Reports of Sub-Committees on Conference Union
Every phase of our program interests has been represented during the past six months in study, evaluation and recommendation as we move toward the formation of a new combined conference. We have been represented as a conference along with others from Ohio Sandusky, Ohio Southeast and Ohio Conference (former Methodist). The results of these conversations will be presented in the plan and basis of union proposal and in program elements appearing later in the report. Our various boards and agencies received the details and the rationale from their representatives. Always included in the reports was the congenial spirit, the open-mindedness and the desire to accommodate. Many times our former EUB representatives exceeded in num- ber the former Methodists present. Many decisions, though, were based on the recognition of the experienced methods of the much larger organization. The proposed structures of the program agencies will follow the new Discipline and will reflect the desire of the new United Methodist Church-that of service agencies to enable the local church Council on Ministries to seek and to minister to the needs of people. We have had participants in structure planning for the Annual Conference Program Council, Boards of Education, Evangelism, Social Concerns, Missions, Ministry, Laity, Interpretation, Film Fellowship, Pensions, Children, Youth and Adult Ministries, Women's Society of Christian Service, Health and Welfare Ministries, Commission on Higher Education, Enlistment for Church Occupations, and Historical Societies.
Guidelines to Assist Local Churches in Program Planning:
We continue the Quadrennial Emphasis for 1968-1972. The theme is "A New Church for a New World" with the text II .Corinthians 5:17, 18, "If any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation." We continue to respond as the church and the Word-accenting the study of the scriptures and their rele- vance to life needs and situations; we respond as the Church and its Work- using our new structures and organizations to enable our local churches to carry out ministry to individuals; we respond as the Church to the World-
78
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
through love sharing the Good News in a demonstration of the ministry of reconciliation.
We are most fortunate to have the many resources of the printed page and audio-visual media. The selective and appropriate use of these resources will aid us in our ministry. A key publication for local church program build- ing is the monthly Interpreter. The May issue is the annual program building issue.
1. We recommend that conference board and agency meetings be held at Camp Miami on September 16 and 17. These meetings would be to implement directives of the Annual Conference session and to conclude any individual conference business. We recommend that all board and agency meetings re- lated to program matters beginning in January of 1970 be joint meetings with the merging four conferences.
2. We recommend that the proposed dates of joint meetings and dates of all program matters be referred to the conference calendar committee-that a mimeographed copy be distributed of those dates. We recommend that stencils of calendar form be utilized to keep current dates and program before our people during this transitional year and that no printed calendar be published as in the past.
3. Emerging program opportunities include the following:
a. Evangelism-Lay Witness teams involving a weekend experience for local churches-School of Evangelism with Bishop James Armstrong. Afternoon meeting with the ministers and evening meeting with laity and ministers-to be in Dayton November 16 and in Cincinnati No- vember 17.
b. Interpretation-In addition to the Annual Conference presentation on the General Benevolence Program of the United Methodist Church the committee offers its services to the Superintendent to help interpret the procedure of assignment of quotas and remittance of funds.
c. Social Concerns-That the gospel of Christ may be related to people as they are involved in the pressing and emerging issues of the day in which we live-to this end we recommend the ministry of the local church. It is a ministry of the church to inform, present various sides, and enable communication within the world so that reconciliation can can take place and intelligent action be taken by respective commu- nities. The board will encourage and implement by: (1) follow up on the local level the conference on Alcohol and Drug Dependence; (2) continue and expand cadre idea in our churches; (3) provide assist- ance for church and community people to attend training opportunities; and (4) encourage our churches and ad hoc committees to sponsor speakers, workshops, programs, movies, etc., to deal with the issues which face our world or community.
d. Missions-Continue our interest in the program and support of the Cincinnati Basin Ministry, Parkside Home Ministry and the Drexel Park Youth Ministry. We will become acquainted with ministries at Van Buren and Wesley Centers and other former Methodist efforts. We must be aware of the work of the United Methodist Committee for Overseas Relief, Church World Service, World Refugee Program, and Vietnam Christian Service. Advance specials give the opportunity for churches to support mission efforts by Second Mile Giving.
e. Camps and Conferences-Within the bounds of the new Annual Con- ference will be three regions that will be responsible for camp property and program. These have already been formulated and are functioning. Most of our churches will be involved in the South-West Region. It includes the Cincinnati, Wilmington and Dayton areas. The campsites within that region are Cartwright, Miami and Sabina. Planning and programming will be on a regional basis, and all property titles will be in the hands of the conference through the trustees of the Board of Education. This year our family camps will be open to both former denomination families. It is anticipated that development of programs in the future will mean utilization of all sites to the interest of all.
79
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
f. Training and Educational Enterprises-These opportunities include training for group and district leaders such as Vacation Church School, Adult & Youth Ministries, board and agency leaders and other leaders of leaders. Training for local leaders will be possible in such events as the workshop on May 25th at Camp Miami for Adult Coordinators and Chairmen of Council on Ministries; Leadership training at a Commuter Laboratory School at St. Paul's Church in Cincinnati on June 22-27, a resident Laboratory at Westerville July 6-11; a commu- ter Laboratory School in Dayton for Children's Workers on September 21-26; as well as School of Christian Mission at Westerville for adults July 7-11 and July 11-13 and for youth July 21-25 and Aug. 11-15. Other training opportunities will be provided as the merging program groups design them to meet the requests and the needs expressed by local churches. Continuing Education for the ministers is both an opportunity and a responsibility and will be promoted by the Board of Ministry.
g. Historical Society-Anticipates the recording of the history of our conference and announces the annual Five Mile Historical Service to be held on September 21, 1969.
h. Film Fellowship-There will be distributed at the annual conference session informational material concerning membership and procedural matters; we highly recommend individual church participation. Access to many audio-visual resources will be the result.
4.
Cooperation: The program council encourages cooperation on program matters with the former Methodists at the conference, district and local levels. Emerging programs of the other conferences in which we can be a part include such areas as Campus Ministries, Lay Programs (WSCS and UM Men), Council on Ministry Workshops, Stewardship Workshops, Town and Country Commission Programs, Ecumenical Affairs, Worship Workshops, Five College Commission, United Nations Seminar, European Youth Tour and Seminar in 1970, Bible Study (Bishop's Area), Specialized Ministries, Enlistment for Church Occu- pations, Family Life Ministries. Introduction of "Christian Faith and Life" series as an additional Adult Curriculum resource, and many other possibilities of cooperative programming.
Program Agencies to Serve You
Your conference staff and boards and agencies exist only to be of service to the local church and to assist you in your ministry. Direct requests to them or through them to national boards and agencies that can be of assistance to you. As we become familiar with these resources we will be best equipped in our ministry of reconciliation.
REPORT NO. 15 Report of Conference Historian
As the Ohio Miami Conference ceases its separate existence and continues in the Ohio West Conference of the United Methodist Church, a brief summary of some significant historical data is in order.
I. Bishops
Bishop F. Gerald Ensley is the twenty-fifth bishop to preside over the Miami, and its successor the Ohio Miami Conference during the 160 years of history. For about half of this time the bishops were not assigned to areas in the same way as in more recent decades. Seven bishops presided at only one session. Bishop A. R. Clippinger gave episcopal leadership for the longest. period of time, twenty-nine years. David T. Gregory and H. R. Heninger, though not assigned to the area, presided at the Conference Session in 1955 and 1958 respectively. The bishops who served the Conference are the following :
Christian Newcomer Henry Kumler, Sr. Samuel Hiestand
Henry Kumler, Jr. John Coons William Hanby
80
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
John Russell J. J. Glossbrenner David Edwards Jacob Erb Jonathan Weaver John Dickson Nicholas Castle E. B. Kephart J. S. Mills J. W. Hott
William Bell
G. M. Mathews
W. M. Weekley
A. R. Clippinger
Fred L. Dennis
David T. Gregory
H. R. Heininger
Paul M. Herrick
F. Gerald Ensley
During these years of United Brethren and Evangelical United Brethren history thirteen of the bishops of the Church were members of the Miami Conference when elected. At least seven were born within the Conference.
Sixteen of the former bishops are buried within the present limits of Miami Conference. Andrew Zeller and John Coons in the Germantown Ceme- tery; Joseph Hoffman, Henry Kumler, Jr. and Alfred T. Howard in the cemetery at Lewisburg; Henry Kumler, Sr., at Miltonville; Daniel Flickinger at Oxford, Ohio; Glenn G. Batdorff, Arthur R. Clippinger, Fred L. Dennis and J. Balmer Showers in Memorial Park at Dayton and David Edwards, Lewis Davis, Jonathan Weaver, Milton Wright, James W. Hott, George M. Mathews, and H. H. Fout in Woodland Cemetery in Dayton.
II. General Conferences
Nine General Conference sessions were held within the Miami Conference. In 1821 at DeWalt Mechlin's in Fairfield County, Ohio; in 1825 at Jacob Shaup's in Tuscarawas County; in 1837 and 1849 in the Germantown Church; in 1853 at Miltonville; in 1857 in Cincinnati; in 1873, 1893 and 1950 in Dayton.
III. Annual Conference Sessions
One hundred and sixty sessions of the Conference have been held in 69 different places. The largest number of sessions were held in Germantown- 22 at Camp Miami, 13 in the Germantown Church and 4 at Andrew Zeller's north of Germantown.
During the early years secretaries served only one or a very few years. Beginning in 1842 W. R. Rhinehart served 9 years. C. J. Burkert 35 years, W. M. VanSickle 24 years, O. O. Arnold 11 years, Emerson Bragg 26 years.
IV. Changes
Your historian has been attending sessions of the Conference for more than 45 years. Going to Conference is not as much fun today as it was in former years, for several reasons.
First because of the reduced length of the Conference. The session former- ly began on Wednesday and closed on Sunday afternoon. Under the present arrangement of a three day Conference the presiding bishop is constantly pressing to get through the agenda. To really debate an issue is the exception. A rather common statement of Bishop Herrick was "I don't want to cut off debate but we must get on with the agenda."
Another reason we do not have fun and excitement is because we do not have a J. E. Yingling, a William VanSickle, a George Powell or a Jacob Pantle, all of whom liked to debate and argue for the sake of argument.
A third reason is that today the committee, the mimeograph, the commit- tee chairman, and the microphone have displaced discussion. We now go to Conference to be talked to. We need a revolution in the Conference session that we may have a revolution in the church.
ROY D. MILLER
Conference Historian
81
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
REPORT NO. 16 Report of Board of Pension - Ohio Miami Conference May 21, 1969
One year ago, we spoke of the transition taking place in our pension pro- gram as a result of the denominational union. This conference session finds us anticipating the second phase of the transition resulting from conference union. Many hours of study have gone into the process of bringing together equitably the pension programs of the four conferences who will form this union. Some of the principle differences with which we needed to deal included: differences in roles of general and conference boards in the two former de- nominations as these relate to the administration of pensions; differences in amount and method of funding; differences in the methods by which both the ministers' and the churches' contributions are calculated and collected; differ- ences in methods of figuring annuities; differences in regard to special areas of service and conference responsibilities for such service; differences in hos- pitalization insurance, death benefits, and other fringe benefits as a part of the pension system of the annual conference.
I. Proposals of Interconference Committee
The annual conference boards of pensions of the four conferences were represented on an interconference committee committed to studying these differences and working out a basis upon which the pension programs, re- sources, and liabilities may be brought together on an equitable basis. The basic conclusions of this committee, along with the results of the work of several subcommittees and individuals have been incorporated into the Plan and Basis of Union of the conferences in the form of eight proposals dealing with the area of pensions and related benefits. Briefly, the thinking behind these eight statements was as follows:
(1.) "That the conference adopt the 5% (instead of 3%) assumption on projected income from the General Board of Pensions." Previous to this time, the conferences have assumed only a 3% expected income on the funds in- vested by the General Board of Pensions on behalf of the Annual Conference. This was a conservative figure, used to insure a safe margin of reserve. With increased interest rates, it is now safe to assume at least a 5% return, which makes available additional funds for making some of the proposed transitions.
(2.) "That a $65.00 service annuity rate be provided for all prior service and that the payment be amortized over 30 years." The Ohio Conference (Methodist) now has a service annuity rate of $62.00, of which $29.00 is fully funded. The three former E.U.B. conferences have annuity rates (including General Board payments plus Annual Conference programs) as follows: Ohio Miami, $60.00; Ohio Sandusky, $60.00; Ohio Southeast, $55.00. These confer- ences have only approximately $12.00 of these amounts funded. The proposed rate of $65.00 per year of service represents a reasonable increase, which is needed, and which is within the financial capacity of the new united confer- ence. The Ohio Conference has already engaged in a long range program de- signed eventually to provide full funding for their pension program. This will be extended to provide such funding for the total program of the new con- ference.
(3.) "That amounts necessary be provided to assure that no person on pension as of the date of UNION will have his pension reduced BECAUSE OF THE UNION." The purpose of this is fairly obvious, and it is anticipated that there will be few applicable cases to which this would apply, but it is a protective measure.
(4.) "That all future service under the Ministers Reserve Pension Fund be set at $65.00 service annuity rate." This extends the principle adopted in Item #2, providing the same rate for service beyond the date of conference union.
(5.) "That any increase in annuity rate shall apply to both prior and future service in the same amount." This, again, indicated a determination that all service in either former denomination or any of the former confer- ences shall be treated equally in subsequent pension increases.
82
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
(6.) "That the former E.U.B. Conferences shall make a cash contribution toward the amount needed as a down payment in June 1970 to overcome the pension funding differential as determined by the Executive Committee of the Board of Pensions and approved by the former E.U.B. Councils of Adminis- tration. Any unfunded differential (then) is to be amortized by the new conference over a thirty year period." The differential indicated refers to the funding available from each of the uniting conferences in ratio to their potential pension responsibilities. This differential was arrived at through a complex study carried out on our behalf by several of the staff members of the General Board of Pensions. Some of the assets of the E.U.B. Conferences cannot be as clearly translated into dollars and cents at present as those of the former Methodist Conference, since the E.U.B. assets include funds in the hands of the General Board of Pensions designated for the purpose of meeting annuity responsibilities, and funds within the General Board of Publication and the Real Estate Foundation, which are chartered for pension purposes. Some of these funds are not yet specifically divided and distributed among the Individual Annual Conferences according to their claim upon them. This is an expression of our good faith, and an expression of our willingness to direct these assets, as they become available, along with available residue funds left within our conference treasury at the time of conference union to apply to the equalization of this differential in funding. While some of these items may appear as simple mechanics of union, yet in the working out of these principles, there was a great deal of expression of Christian trust and brotherhood implied in the spirit of these final statements. Attached to this report is a special resolution aimed at partial fulfillment of this responsibility on the part of our conference.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.