¶ 1405.
Objectives--All the objectives assigned to the divisions shall be
considered to be the objectives of the board. In summary, the board shall have
authority:
1. To maintain the historic
mission of The United Methodist Church in higher education and to serve as
advocate for the intellectual life of the Church.
2. To seek to understand and
communicate the significance of the Christian mission in higher education and
ministry throughout the world as the context in which values and Christian
lifestyle are shaped.
3. To ensure that the board's
programs and policies address the needs and concerns for ministry with racial
and ethnic persons and people with disabilities.
4. To provide counsel, guidance,
and assistance to annual conferences through their boards of ordained ministry
and higher education and campus ministry, and other such program units as may be
organized in the annual conferences.
5. To study needs and resources
for ordained and diaconal ministries, including identification of new types of
ministry.
6. To develop and maintain
standards and procedures for certification in professional ministerial careers
and for ordination into the ordained
ministry.31
[FTN] 31. See Judicial
Council Decision 507.
7. To promote and give direction
to work among racial and ethnic groups for enlistment, training, and placement
of persons in the professional Church-related ministries.
8. To coordinate and make visible
information about career assessment opportunities and continuing education that
will assist persons in professional Church-related ministries with their
professional growth and development.
9. To recruit, endorse, and
provide general oversight of United Methodist ordained ministers, including
persons who speak languages in addition to English, who desire to serve as
chaplains in specialized institutional ministry settings in both private and
governmental sectors.
10. To represent The United
Methodist Church in, and provide liaison with, United Methodist ordained
ministers certified by professional certifying and accrediting organizations
related to ministry in specialized settings.
11. To plan and implement a
continuing ministry to United Methodist laity in institutions and armed forces
who are separated from their local churches.
12. To develop and provide
services directed to enlistment for specialized Church-related ministries,
professional growth and development, and counseling.
13. To offer personnel and
placement assistance for persons involved in professional Church-related
ministries.
14. To conduct research on human
needs to be met by the Church through its resources in higher
education.
15. To provide for the allocation
of funds to institutions and to programs related to the
board.
16. To maintain adequate
fiduciary and legal relationships with institutions and ministries and to assist
annual conferences and other judicatories in their responsibilities in these
matters.
17. To provide counsel, guidance,
and assistance to institutions of higher education in their relationships with
governmental agencies.
18. To guard property and
endowments entrusted to the institutions and to maintain and enforce adequate
trust and reversionary clauses.
19. To monitor and interact with
public higher education in terms of its reflection on the wholeness of persons
and the meaning of life, and to study and inform constituencies of public policy
issues related to higher education, both independent and
public.
20. To promote, in cooperation
with the General Commission on Communication, special days and funds: Black
College Fund, Ministerial Education Fund, United Methodist Student Day, World
Communion Sunday, and other funds and special days ordered by the General
Conference.
21. To evaluate United Methodist
higher education and professional Church-related ministries with concern for the
quality of their performance and the integrity of their
mission.
22. To provide standards and
support for and interpretation of the work of United Methodist theological
schools.
23. To analyze needs of those in
Church-related ministries for continuing education, including assessment of
effectiveness, professional growth and development, and
funding.
24. To provide professional
ministerial courses of study for orderly entrance into ordained ministry. In
providing these courses of study, consideration shall be given to languages
other than English.
25. To provide for a continuing
discussion of the theological bases for professional Church-related ministries
and higher education.
26. To provide such services as
will create a climate of acceptance and empowerment for women, racial and ethnic
persons, and people with disabilities in higher education and professional
Church-related ministries, and to be alert to the necessity of advocacy in
behalf of these professional ministries in questions of equity and
justice.
27. To provide counsel, guidance,
and assistance to professional associations and fellowships related to diaconal
and other Church-related special ministries.
28. To interpret, promote, and
administer the loan and scholarship programs of the board, and to cooperate with
the General Board of Global Ministries in matters related to the Crusade
Scholarship Program.
29. To engage in research related
to personnel needs and interpretation of occupational opportunities in the
Church.
30. To provide such support
agencies as are deemed necessary to carry out the functions of the
board.
31. To give priority to the
planning and policy development functions of the board on behalf of the
Church.