United Methodist News Service
Early on, the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters considered submitting constitutional amendments to replace the name “central conferences” with “regional conferences.”
The hope was to clear up any confusion with the similarly named, racially segregated Central Jurisdiction in the United States. The jurisdiction was created in 1939 with the merger of southern and northern Methodists, and it was abolished in 1968 with the merger that created The United Methodist Church.
But the standing committee soon realized such a change would prove problematic in French-speaking countries, which already apply the term “region” to episcopal areas. “Area is a term that doesn’t translate; it doesn’t say anything in French,” said Bishop Patrick Streiff, the standing committee’s chair.
“We will bring no constitutional changes,” he said.
He also noted that the term “central conference” predates the Central Jurisdiction or any U.S. jurisdictions. The first central conference started in the 1880s when the two annual conferences in India recognized they only had contact with the United States, not with each other. The annual conferences created a central conference as a place where they could centralize their work together,