1505. 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 life-style are shaped.
3. To ensure that the board's programs and policies address the needs and concerns for ministry with racial and ethnic persons.
4. To provide counsel, guidance, and assistance to annual conferences through their Boards of Ordained Ministry, Diaconal 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 representative ministries, ordained and diaconal, including identification of new types of ministry.
6. To develop and maintain standards and procedures for certification in ministry careers, for consecration into the diaconal ministry and for ordination into the ordained ministry.29
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/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 and diaconal 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 and racial and ethnic persons 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 (1454.9).
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.
General Conference Webmaster: Susan Brumbaugh
PETS Creator: John Brawn
1992 Book of Discipline: ¶ 1505
1996 United Methodist General Conference