Philippines Central Conference (United Methodist Church)
The Philippines Central Conference of the United Methodist Church is a collection of annual conferences of the United Methodist Church in the Philippines that are organised much like juridictonal conferences in the United States. The Philippines Central Conference is considered a member church of the World Methodist Council, and a "Central Conference" of the world-wide United Methodist Church. It is also a member of the Christian Conference of Asia and the National Council of Churches in the Philippines as The United Methodist Church in the Philippines, representing the denomination as its Philippine counterpart. The Philippines Central Conference is further subdivided into twenty-two regions, called annual conferences, under the authorities of three episcopal areas. These annual conferences are subdivided into "districts," which provide further administrative functions for the operation of local churches in cooperation with each other under the supervision of the district superintendent. This structure is vital to Methodism, and is referred to as "connexionalism". The Philippines Central Conference has a professing membership of about 200,540, but it serves a much larger community of close to 1 million. From six annual conferences in 1968, the United Methodist Church in the Philippines has grown to 19 annual conferences located in three episcopal areas. And now, with 24 Annual conferences.
History
The first Methodist presence on the islands was that of Rev. Maj. George C. Stull, a minister from the Montana Annual Conference, which was a part of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He originally went to the Philippines as the chaplain of the First Montana Regiment, and established the first ME church. In the Stull letter—a correspondence sent from Stull to his home conference for the annual conference—Stull enumerates several of his accomplishments since coming to the islands. Among them is the fact that he commissioned the first Filipino to preach using his "elder's privilege in an emergency." In 1908, the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church authorized the organization of the Philippine Islands Mission into the Philippine Islands Annual Conference, under the jurisdiction of the Southern Asia Central Conference. The work in the Philippines grew quickly and in 1936, the General Conference enabled the organization of the Philippines Central Conference during the following quadrennium. This act was ratified at the 1939 Uniting Conference which created The Methodist Church. The first session of the Philippines Central Conference was held at the Central Methodist Church in Manila, beginning February 29, 1940. Following years of growth, the 1960 General Conference approved a second episcopal area in the Philippines Central Conference: the Baguio Area which joined the Manila Area. The 1984 General Conference mandated the addition of a third episcopal area, the Davao Area.
Bishop Pedro M. Torio, Jr., OD, OSL 114,583 Professing and Baptized Members, 639 Organized Churches, 38 Preaching Places, 310 Ordained Elders, 380 Local Pastors. The geographical areas covers 447,229 square kilometers. This area also handles the Nepal District. Davao Episcopal Area Bishop Rodolfo A. Juan 25,396 Professing and Baptized Members, 127 Ordained Clergy, 143 local Pastors, 201 Organized Churches, and 40 Preaching places. This Episcopal area covers an area of 3000,000 square Kilometers. Manila Episcopal Area Bishop Ciriaco Francisco 143,329 Professing and Baptized Members, 534 Organized churches, 208 Preaching places, 392 Ordained Elders, 360 local pastors. The geographical area covers around 300,000 square kilometers.
