Russia conference endorses Minor for re-election
8/10/2000 News media contact: Linda Bloom · (646) 369-3759 · New York By United Methodist News Service The annual conference of the United Methodist Church in Russia has endorsed the re-election of Bishop Ruediger Minor.
Peter Siegfried, a United Methodist Board of Global Ministries executive who attended the July 27-30 event, said conference delegates first voted to have only one candidate for the episcopacy of the Eurasia Area and then unanimously backed the bishop.
In 1992, Minor, a native of Germany, was placed in charge of a new United Methodist mission to what had become the Commonwealth of Independent States. He was formally elected the next year.
"It shows great trust and confidence for Bishop Minor and his wife," Siegfried added.
Conference delegates also voted to request that its status in the denomination be changed from a provisional to full-fledged annual conference.
The episcopal election will occur next March during the United Methodist Northern Europe Central Conference. Besides Russia, the Ukraine and the far east of the former Soviet Union, that Central Conference includes church members in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. A second bishop will be elected at that time for the Nordic and Baltic Area. Bishop Hans Vaxby now holds that position.
Sixteen new churches were approved to join the denomination during the annual conference meeting in Russia, bringing the total to 88. Some of the new churches were outgrowths of Bible study groups, Siegfried said, while two were independent congregations who had received information about the United Methodist Church and wished to join.
The conference is renovating a former kindergarten building in Moscow for its seminary and conference and episcopal offices.
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