General Commission on History and Archives
For Immediate Release
September 20, 2023
ARCHIVES & HISTORY HOLDS ANNUAL BOARD MEETING
Awards, New Initiatives Featured at Two-Day Virtual Event
Madison, N.J. – Recognizing the impact of the Rev. Dr. Randy Maddox, hearing details about the general secretary’s audience with Pope Francis, learning about a new oral histories app and receiving committee reports and motions from members serving across the globe comprised the activities when the General Commission on Archives and History held its two-day annual meeting virtually on September 14 and 15. Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, GCAH president and resident bishop of the Texas Conference of The UMC, presided over the two-day meeting.
Maddox, one of the foremost authorities on the theology of John Wesley and the theological developments of Methodism, was named as the 2023 Distinguished Service Award recipient. In presenting the honor to Maddox, Dr. Ted A. Campbell, board member and Albert C. Outler Professor of Wesley Studies and Church History at Perkins School of Theology at SMU, pointed out the specific impact of the Wesley Works Project of which Maddox serves as general editor.
“The project has been a great gift to the Wesley world,” Campbell said. “The Distinguished Service Award is our way of thanking you for that service.”
In other business throughout the two-day meeting, GCAH staff and board members shared reports from their respective areas of expertise, conferences and jurisdictions specific to work surrounding archives and history.
The board also affirmed the work of Dr. Ashley Boggan D. and unanimously elected for her to continue serving as general secretary.
During the general secretary’s report, Boggan shared details about the year’s activities, which included many months of travel known as the “Be More Vile Tour.” The presentations, which began in January 2022, have taken Boggan across the United Methodist connection to meet with United Methodists in local churches, at leadership conferences and at the Council of Bishops meeting last spring, sharing about the Wesleyan heritage and challenging one another to, like John Wesley, “submit to be more vile” in living out our faith. A more recent experience included attending the European Methodist Historical Conference, where Boggan and other Methodist leaders met Pope Francis. During the meeting, Boggan gifted a John Wesley bobblehead to the pope.
“He shook the bobblehead and started laughing,” Boggan recalled of the moment when she handed the figurine to the pope. “It was a beautiful moment when we were all laughing together, sitting there laughing with Pope Francis over a John Wesley bobblehead.”
Boggan also reported on outcomes from the GCAH Visioning Retreat, which was held in April. An American Methodist Pilgrimage, comprised of historically-relevant sites to Methodism in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., tentatively is planned to launch in 2025. Additional programming, such as a Methodist 101 class offered at no charge to United Methodist congregations, has been planned, as well as collaborations with Discipleship Ministries, the General Board of Higher Education and Drew University.
Committee and staff reports were shared with highlights including the announcement of the creation of a new oral history tool designed to capture and upload oral histories to a single repository. The innovation is set to launch in October at the Reconciling Ministries Network’s 2023 National Convocation.
The board approved the addition in 2024 of a new honor titled the Contemporary History Trailblazer Award (CHTA), which will be given to someone who has made significant contributions to the innovative sharing of the history of The UMC. The Distinguished Service Award will continue to be given to someone or an institution that has made significant scholarly contributions to the history and heritage of The UMC.
In her closing remarks, Harvey reminded the board members and staff of the commission’s vital work.
“This work is not boring,” Harvey remarked. “We are responding to the world that we are serving and the work is becoming more and more relevant. This is not just about dusty books and old stuff. It really is about preserving memories that help us shape a new future.”
The 2024 annual board meeting is set for September 9, 2024, in Bozeman, Montana. The 2024 gathering will mark the first in-person commission meeting since 2019 when the Methodist Theological School in Ohio hosted the commission in connection with the Wyandotte Mission being deeded back to the Wyandotte indigenous peoples.
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About General Commission on Archives and History
The General
Commission on Archives and History (GCAH), organized in 1968, is one of the general agencies of The
United Methodist Church, with offices located in the Archives & History Center. GCAH offers assistance to
local churches and Annual Conferences through publications, workshops, research services, and other programs. The
Commission maintains relationships with the five Jurisdictional Commissions on Archives and History, the Central
Conferences, the World Methodist Historical Society, the World Methodist Council, and the Charles Wesley Society.
Media contact:
Crystal Caviness
[email protected]
615-306-3401