The Washington, D.C. based United Methodist General Board of Church and Society has released the names of its new board members for 2012-2016. And although Africans now account for over 35 percent of United Methodist Church membership, only 5 percent of the board’s members are from Africa. Over 4.2 million Africans will have as many board members as the fewer than 70,000 United Methodists in Europe.
All 13 of United Methodism’s general agencies will have similarly unfair ratios. There is a cap of 10 percent on overseas representation on church agency boards. And within that 10 percent, typically representation is equally divided among the Europeans, the Africans, and the 145,000 church members in the Philippines.
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