World Conference (Community of Christ) - Organization and Management

Organization and Management

The Conference Organization and Procedures Committee normally submits the rules and procedures to be followed at a particular conference. The conference manager attends to the logistics of the conference while the World Church Secretary serves as the legislative clerk. Voting is by a show of hands, however on close votes when the chair is in doubt, votes are counted by delegation and apportioned based on the relative membership of each mission center/jurisdiction. This rather complex voting procedure is designed to protect the voting rights of international delegations that may not have been able to recruit a full slate of delegates to represent them in the conference.

Delegates attend from a majority of the fifty nations where the church is organized. The largest numbers of delegates are from the United States, Canada and French Polynesia. Translators for more than a dozen languages sit overhead the main conference floor and present real time translations of the conference to any of the delegates on the floor who prefer to participate in a language other than English. Numbered lecterns in the conference chamber are available to those who wish to speak. They gain the floor to make motions or speak by submitting a card to a computer attendant at the lectern who enters the request into a queue. In this fashion, the presiding officer is able to call upon speakers with alternating pro and con viewpoints, as well as give preference to priority motions. According to church bylaws Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised is the parliamentary authority for the conference except where they may be in conflict with the bylaws, adopted rules of order for the conference, and past resolutions. Great deference is normally shown by most delegates to the President of the church in regards to the management of the agenda and debate, however, controversial issues are sometimes brought to the conference, thoughtfully considered from many viewpoints, and may be decided by close or split votes.