Rev Willem Simon Hanse has asked the the Official Report of the Africa Jurisdictional Council be published. It is found at: http://www.digitex.net/aame10/ajc/. Feel free to add alink from your site to this site. It is hosted on the Tenth Episcopal District Server so you might give credit to the Tenth Episcopal District.

Blessings,

Pastor Paris

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2002

Answers

Just a brief note to thank the Rev. Alton E Paris for a job well done. And I wish to invite readers to dialogue on this space, for us to have informed views and informed ecisions taken when the opportuned time arrives. God bless the AME Church

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2002

Rev. Paris thank you for hosting and posting the information from Rev. Hanse. It is a job well done! Rev. Hanse your report is very exciting, could you share Bishop Ingram's 7 point plan. Also in your report it is stated that there is a desire to have 4 candidates from Africa run for Bishop. What can we do in America to become familiar with the candidates? St. Paul Community Church continues to keep Purity A.M.E in prayer.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2002

Dear Rev. Rogers The joy of serving the Lord is always my strength. From the onset I want everybody to know that the personal reflections submitted with the report as my private and individual views, and thus subjective, of course. In the group of persons that presented themselves as Candidates for Episcopacy only two are well known to me and I can spoke with some level on authority knowing their integrity, educational levels and pastoral experience. These are 1. Rev. Andrew B G Lewin. He is a pastor and Presiding Elder in the Cape Annual Conference of the 15th Episcopal District. He has been an Administrative Assistant to Bishops McKinley Young, Harold Ben Senatle and presently Gregory G M Ingram. This strategic position has afforded him the opportunity to liaise for and on behalf of many a bishop with many, many groups and individuals in many trying circumstances. In the absence of bishops (usually in continental USA for conferences and conventions, and also for much needed fundraisers) Rev. Lewin has proven himself for this position. Enquiries with the bishops mention will bear testimony to this. And I am very proud to mention that I am his Campaign Manager, and I present to the AME constituency a servant of God who has all the qualities to be assigned to any Episcopal District. He is focussed for the future and believes in 2004 we have a collective opportunity to usher in a new dynamic in transformational leadership in helping local churches to become more vibrant, viable and visible. I am asking the rank-and-file of the AME Connection to Link up witn lewin in 2004, to help him become a Bishop we can be very proud of. 2. The Rev. Wilfred J Messiah, an able Pastor and also the progressive President of the R R Wright Theological Seminary. He is from an AME parsonage and all his life has been devoted to the AME Church. He is a product of the AME Church and was trained at home and in the USA. His initial pastoral experience was around Pittssburg and Philadelphia and Ohio in the USA. His mind is academically sound and his heart is spiritualy purified. The 19th and 15th Episcopal Districts present a preacher par excellence, one who can stand tall in any AME pulpit.

On the other candidates (Lesshope, Kawimbe, etc.) I cannot speak with authority simply because I do not know them well. And whenever I refrain from mentioning them, itis not because I oppose their candidacy, but simply because I cannot promote a "product" I do not know.

On the number of seats on the Council of Bishops, my personal views are different from the official position of the AJC. We have recommended that 4 bishops be elected from the continent of Africa and stand by that. But I do not think that our position should be subject to change, pending negotiations in good spirit with the rest of the Connection. The political ideal should be always minimu of 3 Africans on the bench of bishops. But we can start by electing 2 in 2004, and pass legislation whereby we compel the General Conference to elect 1 in 2008, 2012. All I am saying is that we should not negotiate a once off give and take agreement with the Connection, but we must have a principle decision endorsed. to always have a certain number of African bishops on the Council. Come, brothers and sisters, I do not want to alienated anybody with my views, but simply raise these on the discussion board to ignite a discussion.

-- Anonymous, March 10, 2002

Many thanks to Pastor Paris for providing the link to the official report of the AJC. Is there anyway possible that the papers presented by Bishops Richardson and McKenzie can be available online? The link you provide should only contain one "a" in the ame portion to ensure proper connection.

Speaking of connection let me address some of the concerns by our Brother Hanse. It goes without saying that indigenous African representation at our Connectional level is woefully inadequate. Unfortunately, geography, distance and that penultimate social irritant (lack of money) exacerbates the Connectional Divide. This only reinforces the views by many that the AMEC is falling short on its objective of promoting geographic inclusiveness. However, seeking to reserve four seats for indigenous African Prelates is simply unrealistic given current voting requirements and the choice of venue for the 2004 Gen Conf. The inequity could be addressed by changing the way we define "voting delegates". Or, why not consider having the Gen Conf. in 2008 held in the Republic of South Africa? From an income distribution perspective more American AMEs are able to travel to SA as opposed to African AMEs traveling to Chicago or Kansas City. The international redistribution of currency flows would yield a significant increase in real wealth for SA. The case for Africa hosting the 2008 Gen Conf. not only makes sense from an economic perspective but more importantly it is the morally correct choice.

As a student of international economics I would welcome cross- Continental representaion on the Bishops Bench because the geographic diversity will greatly enhance the international image this Zion allegedly purports. I doubt if any of the existing "American" Bishops are sufficiently multilingual to engage in any serious non- English dialouge or literary comprehension. Yet, I am on firm record as supporting a reduced Bishops Bench for 2004. I simply do not find any persuasive evidence that the work of the AMEC requires 8 additional Bishops. I favor reducing this number by 50%. To achieve this goal I plan to post on this BB a radical geographic realignment proposal which will reduce the number of US Districts from the current number of 13 to 9. Under my proposal since we would have 4 fewer Districts that would mean only 4 Bishops need to be replaced in 2004. That implies that 2 Bishops could hypothetically be elected from our overseas Districts. QED

-- Anonymous, March 10, 2002

Just a slight correction (that most of you figured out) - the link gien has an extra "a" in it. The correct link is http://www.digitex.net/aame10/ajc.

-- Anonymous, March 11, 2002

That is, http://www.digitex.net/ame10/ajc.

Sheepish,

-- Anonymous, March 11, 2002

Rev. Hanse,

Thank you for keeping us abreast regarding the African Jurisdictional Council. Many thanks to the Tenth Episcopal District and Pastor Paris who published the information for our viewing.

I have hope.

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2002