IV. Ministers in Official Positions

168 Traveling Preachers who are elected to official positions by the General Conference shall be Members of such Annual Conferences as, with the approbation of the Bishops, they may select.

V. Termination of Conference Membership
1. By Location

¶ 169. An Annual Conference may grant to any Member who is in good standing therein a Location, certified by the President of the Conference. Such Minister shall thereupon hold his membership, as a Local Elder or Deacon, in the Quarterly Conference where he resides. ¶ 221, § 4.

¶ 170. Whenever a Member of an Annual Conference applies for a Location it shall be asked: Is he indebted to the Book Concern? If it be ascertained that he is so indebted the Conference shall require him to secure said debt, if judged necessary or proper, before a Location is granted.

2. By the Surrender of Ministerial Office

171 Any Member of an Annual Conference in good standing, who may desire to surrender his Ministerial Office and withdraw from the Conference, may be allowed to do so by the Conference at its session; in which case his Credentials shall be filed with thế papers of the Annual Conference of which he was a Member, and his membership in the Church shall be recorded in the Society where he resided at the time of such surrender.

3. By Withdrawal

¶ 172, § 1. When a Minister in good standing withdraws to join the Ministry of another Church, his Credentials should be surrendered to the Conference, and, if he shall desire it, they may be returned to him with the following inscription written, plainly across their face, namely:

"A....... B...... has this day been honorably dismissed by the Annual Conference from the

......

§ 2. When in the interval of the Annual Conference a Member thereof shall deposit with a Bishop or with his District Superintendent a letter of withdrawal from our Ministry, or his Credentials, or both, the same shall be presented to the Annual Conference at its next session for its action thereon.

4. By Judicial Procedure

173. Conference Membership may be terminated also by Judicial Procedure.

For Causes and Methods, see ¶¶252-269.

CHAPTER III

DEACONS

1174. A Deacon is constituted by the election of the Annual Conference and the laying on of the hands of a Bishop.

¶ 175. A Deacon has authority to preach; to con

duct Divine Worship; to solemnize Matrimony; to administer Baptism; and to assist the Elder in administering the Lord's Supper.

176. Preachers of the following classes are eligible to the Office of Deacon:

§ 1. Those who (1) have been Local Preachers for four consecutive years; (2) shall present a recommendation for Deacon's Orders from the District Conference or from the Quarterly Conference where no District Conference exists, duly attested by the President and Secretary thereof; and (3) shall have completed, satisfactorily to the Annual Conference, the studies prescribed for Local Preachers who are candidates for Deacons' Orders.

are for

NOTE.-Preachers on Trial in an Annual Conference purposes of ordination, as for amenability, considered as Local

Preachers.

§ 2. Those who (1) have been Local Preachers for two full years; and (2) also at and during the same time have been regular students in one of our theological seminaries; (3) shall have been received on Trial; and (4) shall have completed, satisfactorily to the Annual Conference, the first two years of the Conference Course of Study.

§ 3. Those who (1) have been on Trial in an Annual Conference for two years, and (2) shall have completed, satisfactorily to the Annual Conference, the first two years of the Conference Course of Study.

§ 4. Those Preachers on Trial who shall be appointed by a Bishop to a foreign Mission, or to a remote field in any Conference, or to a Church in a foreign country outside of the boundary of a Mission or Annual Conference, or to a Chaplaincy in the Army or Navy, in a Prison, Reformatory, Sanato

rium, or a Charitable Institution, provided, that the presiding Bishop and a majority of the District Superintendents recommend such election.

CHAPTER IV
ELDERS

177. An Elder is constituted by the election of the Annual Conference, and by the laying on of the hands of a Bishop and of some of the Elders who are present.

¶ 178. An Elder has authority to preach; to conduct Divine Worship; to solemnize Matrimony, and to administer the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

179. Preachers of the following classes are eligible to the Office of Elder:

§ 1. Those who (1) have been for four consecutive years Local Deacons; (2) shall present a recommendation for Elders' Orders from the District Conference or from the Quarterly Conference where no District Conference exists, duly attested by the President and Secretary thereof; and (3) shall have completed, satisfactorily to the Annual Conference, the Studies prescribed for Local Deacons who are candidates for Elders' Orders.

NOTE 1.-Preachers on Trial in an Annual Conference are for purposes of ordination, as for amenability, considered as Local Preachers.

NOTE 2.-The Election of such Preachers to Elders' Orders properly precedes their Admission to Full Membership.

§ 2. Those who (1) have been in Full Membership in the Annual Conference for two successive years, and (2) also Deacons during the same time, and

(3) shall have completed, satisfactorily to the Conference, the Conference Course of Study.

§ 3. Those who (1) have been received on Trial, and elected to the office of Deacon under the provision of ¶ 176, § 2; (2) have completed, satisfactorily to the Conference, the Conference Course of Study, and (3) have been admitted into Full Membership.

§ 4. Those who (1) are members of, or have been received on Trial in an Annual Conference, and (2) have been appointed to a Chaplaincy in the Army, or Navy, or to a foreign Mission, or to the Pastorate of a Church in a foreign country outside of a Mission or Conference, or to a Mission among foreign people within an English-speaking Conference.

¶ 180. When a Preacher shall have passed his examination, and shall have been admitted into Full Membership, and elected to the Office of Deacon, but fails of his Ordination through the absence of the Bishop, his eligibility to the Office of Elder shall count from the time of his election to the Office of Deacon.

¶ 181. The Annual Conferences in India are authorized, with the concurrence of the Bishop presiding, to elect to the Office of Deacon or Elder, Local Preachers who have been engaged in the regular work for two years, or four years, respectively.

CHAPTER V

PASTORS (Preachers in Charge)

1. Duties

182. The duties of the Pastor of a Station or Cireuit are: