III. Organization and Government. — The polity of the Church is outlined by the following constitution, established in 1841 :
We, the members of the Chnrch of the United Breth- ren iu Christ, iu the name of God, do, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edify- ing of the body of Christ, as well as to produce and secure a uniform mode of action, in faith and practice, also to de- tiue the powers and the business of quarterly, annual, and general conferences, as recognised by this Church, ordain the following articles of constitution :
Art. I, 5 1. All ecclesiastical power herein granted to make or repeal any rule of discipline is vested in a gen- eral conference, which shall consist of elders elected by the members iu every conference district throughout the society; provided, however, such elders shall have stood in that capacity three years in the conference district to which they belong.
§ 2. General Conference is to be held every four years; the bishops to be considered members and presiding of- ficers.
§ 3. Each annual conference shall place before the so- ciety the names of all the elders eligible to membership in the General Conference.
Art. II, 5 1. The General Conference shall define the boundaries of the annual conferences.
§ 2. The General Conference shall, at every session, elect bishops from among the elders throughout the Church who have stood six years in that capacity.
§3. The business of each annual conference shall be done strictly according to Discipline; and any annual cmiference acting contrary thereunto shall, by impeach- ment, be tried by the General Conference.
§ 4. No rule or ordinance shall at any time be passed to change or do away the Confession of Faith as it now stands, nor to destroy the itinerant plan.
§ 5. There shall be no rule adojjted that will infringe upon the rights of jniy as it relates to the mode of bap- tism, the sacrament of the Lord's supper, or the washing of feet.
§ 6. There shall be no rule made that will deprive local preachers of their votes in the annual conferences to which they severally belong.
§ 7. There shall be no connection with secret combina- tions, nor shall involuntary servitude be tolerated in any way.
§ S. The right of appeal shall be inviolate.
Art. III. The right, title, interest, and claim of all prop- erty, whether consisting in lots of ground, meeting-houses, legacies, bequests, or donations of any kind, obtained by purchase or otherwise, by any person or persons, for the use, benefit, and behoof of the Chnrch of the United Brethren in Christ, are hereby fully recognised and held to be the property of the Church aforesaid.
Art. IV. There shall be no alteration of the foregoing constitution unless by request of two thirds of the whole society.
Membership in the Church is conditioned upon a be- lief in the Bible as the Word of God, the experience of pardon of sins, a determination by grace and a good life to save the soul, and a pledge to obey the discipline of the Church. ^
Only one order of ministers is recognised by the Church, viz. that of elders. The bishops of the Cliurch are only elders elected for a term of four years as super- intendents of the whole field.
Her ecclesiastical bodies consist of official boards, quarterly, annual, and general conferences. The latter meet quadrennially. Her officers are, superintendents of Sabbath-schools; stewards, who attend to the finances of the churches; class-leaders, or subpastors, who have charge of classes for spiritual instruction and worship; preachers in charge, who have the pastoral care of a mission, circuit, or station ; presiding elders, who are elected by the Annual Conference from among the or- dained elders, and who travel over a certain number of fields of labor, preside at the quarterly conferences, and see that all the laborers in their respective districts faithfully perform their duties; and bishops, or general superintendents of the whole Church, who preside at all the annual and general conferences.
The method of supplying the churches of the denomi- nation with pastors is that known as " the itinerant system." Pastors in charge are subject to removal or reappointment at the end of each conference year by a committee constituted by the Annual Conference, com- posed of the bishop, the presiding elders of the past and the present year, and an equal number of local elders or preachers. A minister cannot remain in the same charge more than three years, except by the consent of two thirds of the members of the Annual Conference.
Presiding elders have no limit as to the time they may serve on a district, subject only to the option of the Annual Conference. Bishops may be re-elected every four years indefinitely by the General Conference.
The General Conference of 1877 made provision for lay representation in the annual conferences, leaving it to the will of the se\Teral annual conferences to accept or not. A considerable number of conferences have adopted it, and its introduction is believed to be advantageous.
IV. Numbers, Operations, and Sphere. — The statistics of the denomination in 1879 show 47 annual confer- ences, 3 mission districts, 2217 ministers, 4356 organized churches, 154,796 members, 2152 houses of worship, 319 parsonages, 3268 Sabbath-schools, 187,203 officers, teach- ers, and scholars in Sabbath-schools. During the year 1879 the Church contributed for the support of the Gos- pel and for connectional purposes •^661,662.56.