II. Laymen's Associations ¶ 88. There may be assembled at the seat of the Annual Conference a Laymen's Association organized within the bounds of the Conference, composed of Delegates selected from the Charges in such manner as the Laymen's Association may determine. The purpose of such Association shall be to advance the local and Conference interests of the Church and to enlist all laymen in the general activities of the denomination. CHAPTER IV CENTRAL MISSION CONFERENCES ¶ 89. When in any of our foreign Mission fields there is more than one Annual Conference or Mission, it shall be lawful, by order of the General Conference, to organize a Central Conference, to be composed either of all the Members of those Annual Conferences or Missions, or of Delegates from the same, elected according to such ratio as may be agreed upon between the constituent parties, who may also provide for the admission of Laymen to such Conference, the number of Lay Delegates not to exceed that of the Clerical Delegates. § 1. The first meeting of the Central Conference shall be called by the Bishop in charge, at such time and place as he may select, to which all the Members of the Conferences and Missions concerned shall be invited, and at which a ratio of representation shall be fixed by the Conference. The time and place of future meetings shall be determined by the Confer ence; provided, that it shall meet at least once in four years. § 2. A Bishop, if present, shall preside over the Conference; but in his absence the Conference shall elect a President from among its own Members. § 3. This Conference may take under its supervision the educational, publishing, and such other connectional interests and work as may be committed to it by the Annual Conferences and Missions; but never in contravention of the Book of Discipline, or the orders of the General Conference; and it shall have no authority to involve the Missionary Society in any financial responsibility, nor to hold or control the property of the Society without the official permission of said Society. § 4. In the Central Conference the right shall be reserved to vote by Conferences or Missions whenever the Delegations from one third of the several Conferences or Missions represented shall so demand. In such cases the concurrent vote of the Delegations from two thirds of all the Conferences and Missions present and voting shall be necessary to complete an action. § 5. A Central Conference may fix the boundaries of the Annual Conferences within its bounds, proposals for changes being first submitted to the Annual Conferences concerned as prescribed in ¶¶ 450452; provided, however, that the number of Annual Conferences which may be organized within the bounds of a Central Conference shall first have been determined by the General Conference; and provided, further, that no Conference shall be organized with less than twenty-five Members. § 6. When a Central Conference has been duly or ganized the organization shall not be discontinued except by order or consent of the General Conference. § 7. The Journal of the proceedings of a Central Conference, duly signed by the President and Secretary, shall be sent to the General Conference for its consideration. § 8. The Central Conference of Southern Asia is authorized to fix the residences of the Missionary Bishops for Southern Asia. CHAPTER V MISSION CONFERENCES ¶ 90, § 1. Any Mission established under the provisions of the Discipline may be constituted a Mission Conference by the General Conference. ¶ 382. § 2. A Mission Conference is authorized to exercise the powers of an Annual Conference subject to the approval of the Presiding Bishop; and its Members shall share pro rata in the proceeds of the Book Concern with Members of the Annual Conferences, but shall not elect delegates to the General Conference nor vote on Constitutional changes. ¶¶ 73 86. § 3. The Bishop having Episcopal supervision of a Mission Conference may appoint a Superintendent, who may also be the District Superintendent where there are two or more Districts. It shall be the duty of the Superintendent to take the general supervision of the Conference, and yet not so as to interfere with the duties of the District Superintendents, and to represent the state of the work and its needs to the Bishop having charge, and to the Corresponding Secretaries of the Missionary Boards. § 4. If there is no Bishop present at an Annual Session of a Mission Conference, the Superintendent shall preside; but if there is no Superintendent present, the presidency shall be determined as in an Annual Conference. ¶ 77. § 5. Each Mission Conference at its Annual Session shall appoint a Standing Committee, whose duty it shall be, with the concurrence of the President of the Conference, to make an estimate of the amount necessary for the support of each Pastoral Charge, in full, or supplementary to the amount raised by the Charge thus aided; such estimates shall be subject to modification by the Managers of the Missionary Boards, and in the aggregate shall not exceed the amount appropriated by the General Missionary Com. mittees; and the amount to be expended in a Mission Conference shall be paid in quarterly installments to the Superintendent, or to the District Superintendent where there is no Superintendent. § 6. Any Charge within a Mission Conference may receive aid from the Missionary Boards without having been designated in the estimates made by the Conference at its Annual Meeting. [For MISSIONS, see ¶¶ 382, 398.] CHAPTER VI DISTRICT CONFERENCES I. Organization and Duties 91. The District Conference shall be composed of the Traveling Ministers, the Local Preachers, the Exhorters, and the District Stewards within the District, together with one Sunday School Superintendent, one President of an Epworth League Chapter, one President of the Methodist Brotherhood, one President of a Ladies' Aid Society, and one Class Leader from each Pastoral Charge in the District. But if there shall be more than one Sunday School Superintendent or League President, Brotherhood President or President of a Ladies' Aid Society in any Charge, then the Quarterly Conference shall designate one of each for this service, and it shall also select the Class Leader. ¶ 92. The District Conference shall meet once or twice each year as it may determine. The District Superintendent shall designate the time and place for the first meeting after the adoption of this plan by the District; but the District Conference shall at each meeting determine the place for its next meeting, the time to be fixed by the District Superintendent. 93. If a Bishop be present at the District Conference, he shall preside. In the absence of a Bishop the District Superintendent shall preside. If neither |