CHAPTER I

LOCAL PREACHERS

219. Wherever a District Conference exists, the powers hereinafter conferred on Quarterly Conferences in relation to Local Preachers and Exhorters shall be exercised only by the District Conference; but it shall not license any person to preach, nor renew the License of any person to preach or exhort, nor recommend any Local Preacher to the Annual Conference for Orders or for Recognition of Orders or for Reception on Trial, without the previous recommendation of the Quarterly Conference, or of the Leaders and Stewards' Meeting of the Pastoral Charge of which such person or Preacher is a member, and no member of the Church shall be at liberty to preach without a license.

220. The Quarterly Conference, where no District Conference exists, shall have authority:

§ 1. To license proper persons to preach; provided, they shall have been previously recommended by the Society of which they are members, or by the Leaders and Stewards' Meeting; shall have passed a satisfactory examination in the studies prescribed for candidates for License to Preach; shall have been examined in the presence of the Quarterly Conference on the subject of Doctrine and Discipline, and also shall have answered satisfactorily the question, “Will you wholly abstain from the use of tobacco?"

§ 2. To examine Local Preachers in the Course of Study prescribed for them; to inquire into the gifts, labors, and usefulness of each by name, and to renew

their licenses annually when in the judgment of the Conference their gifts, grace, and usefulness, and their faithfulness and proficiency in study, warrant such renewal. In the case of Local Preachers who are candidates for the traveling ministry, examinations may be suspended while they are pursuing regular courses of study in our theological seminaries or in universities or colleges approved by the University Senate.

§ 3. To recommend to the Annual Conference Local Preachers who are suitable candidates for Deacons' or Elders' Orders (¶¶ 176, § 1; 179, § 1), for Recognition of Orders (¶ 165, §§ 1, 2), or for Reception on Trial (¶ 157, § 1); such candidates having been previously examined in the presence of the Quarterly Conference on the subject of Doctrine and Discipline.

§ 4. To try, suspend, deprive of Ministerial Office and Credentials, expel, or acquit any Local Preacher of the Circuit or Station against whom Charges shall have been preferred. ¶¶ 270-277.

NOTE. For the Licensing, Amenability, and Appeal of Local Preachers in Missions in the United States and Territories, see 278, §§ 1, 2.

221, § 1. Every Local Preacher, ordained or unordained, not having a Pastoral Charge, shall be a member of, and amenable to, the Quarterly Conference where he resides. And when he shall change his residence he shall procure from the Pastor of the Charge from which he removes, or from the District Superintendent, a Certificate of his Official Standing and of Dismissal, and shall present it to the Pastor of the Charge to which he removes. If he neglect to do this he shall not be recognized nor use his

office as a Local Preacher in the Charge to which he has removed; and he shall continue to be amenable to the Quarterly Conference of the Charge from which he has removed, which, if the neglect be long continued, after due notice may try him for persistent disobedience to the order of the Church, and upon conviction thereof deprive him of Ministerial Office and Credentials.

§ 2. If a Local Preacher be appointed to a Pastoral Charge, he shall procure from the Pastor of the Charge from which he removes, or from the District Superintendent, a Certificate of his Official Standing and of Dismissal, and at its next session shall present it to the Quarterly Conference of the Pastoral Charge to which he has been appointed, and his Church and his Quarterly Conference membership shall be in that Charge.

§ 3. An unordained Local Preacher, while serving as a regularly appointed Pastor of a Charge, shall be authorized to administer the rite of Baptism, and when the laws of the State permit, to solemnize matrimony.

§ 4. Whenever a Preacher is located or discontinued by an Annual Conference, he shall thereupon hold his Quarterly Conference membership where he resides at the time of location or discontinuance.

§ 5. Whenever a Local Preacher, ordained or unordained, shall sever his relation with the Methodist Episcopal Church by removal therefrom by note of recommendation or withdrawal or in any other way, he shall deposit his credentials with the proper authorities.

¶ 222. The District Superintendents and the Pastors are required to arrange the appointments, wher

ever it is practicable, so as to give the Local Preachers regular and systematic employment on the Sabbath.

1223. Every Local Preacher shall be enrolled in a Class, and meet with it. He shall make to the District or Quarterly Conference a report of his labors, as follows: 1. Number of Sermons preached. 2. Number of Prayer Meetings attended. 3. Number of Class Meetings attended. 4. Number of Sunday Schools attended. 5. Number of Funerals conducted. 6. Miscellaneous Items. He shall also report (1) the Number of Marriages solemnized, with the names of persons married; and (2) the Number of Baptisms administered, with the names and ages of the persons baptized, that due entry may be made by the Pastor in the Church Records.

¶ 224. Whenever a Local Preacher fills the place of a Pastor, with the approbation of the District Superintendent, he shall be paid for his time a sum proportioned to the allowance of the Pastor, which sum shall be paid by the Charge at the next Quarterly Meeting, if the Pastor whose place he filled was either sick or necessarily absent; and in other cases, out of the allowance of the Pastor.

¶ 225. If a Local Preacher be distressed in his temporal circumstances on account of his service in a Pastoral Charge, he may apply to the Quarterly Conference, which may give him such relief as is judged proper, after the claims for ministerial support shall have been paid.

¶ 226. Authority is hereby given to the Annual Conferences to take such measures as they may deem wise to create a Permanent Endowment Fund for Retired Local Preachers who may have served as Pastors for fifteen consecutive years or more, and for the

widows and minor children of such deceased Local Preachers. The Annual Conferences shall make such rules and regulations for administering the funds and distributing the income as each may determine. pendix, ¶576.)

(Ap

CHAPTER II

EXHORTERS

1227. An Exhorter shall be constituted by the recommendation of the Class of which he is a member, or of the Leaders and Stewards' Meetings of the Charge, and a License signed by the Pastor.

¶ 228. The duties of an Exhorter are, to hold Meetings for Prayer and Exhortation wherever opportunity is afforded, subject to the direction of the Pastor; to attend all the sessions of the District and Quarterly Conferences, and to present a written report to the same. He shall be subject to an annual examination of character in the Quarterly Conference, and a renewal of License, to be signed by the President thereof.

CHAPTER III

DEACONESSES

I. A Deaconess

229, § 1. A Deaconess is a woman who has been led by the Spirit and by the providence of God to forego all other pursuits in life that she may devote herself wholly to the Christlike service of doing good;