| Methodist Church of Cte DIvoire becomes mission of UMC By Linda BloomUnited Methodist News Service In ceremonies lasting three days in early October, the Protestant Methodist Church of Cte dIvoire (Ivory Coast) became a mission of The United Methodist Church. Now known as the Eglise Methodiste Unie Cte dIvoire, the West African church began its celebration Oct. 4 with ceremonies at the Flix Houphout Boigny Stadium in Abijdjan, attended by more than 20,000 people.  A year earlier, the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries granted mission status to the autonomous 1.4-million-member Methodist denomination, an outgrowth of the British Methodist Church. Under the United Methodist Book of Discipline, the agency is allowed to initiate, administer and coordinate a mission, defined as an administrative body for work inside or outside the structures of an annual or missionary conference.
The Oct. 4 celebration, witnessed by Laurent Gbagbo, the countrys president, was led by the Rev. Benjamin Boni, president of the Church of Cte DIvoire. United Methodist participants included the Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the Board of Global Ministries, and Bishop Ruediger Minor of Moscow, president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops. Ceremonies continued with an Oct. 5 worship service that recognized the 86 active pastors, elders and evangelists. An afternoon concert sponsored by the women and youth, provided the color, movement, sound and rhythm of African praise music. The celebration concluded Oct. 6 with groundbreaking for a new conference building, which will replace the one built by the British mission in 1928. The land for the office is strategically located between the National Assembly and the High Court of Cte dIvoire. With mission church status, Cte dIvoire Methodists may later request a provisional conference status. The church brings a 100-year history, schools, a hospital, orphanage and ministries with women and youth, board officials pointed out. In a nationally televised interview in Cte dIvoire, Boni said integration with United Methodists would allow the church to make its witness as a part of a global church. The Council of Bishops has named Bishop John Innis from neighboring Liberia as the presiding bishop for the transitional period. Rena Yocom, special assistant to the Rev. R. Randy Day, supplied information for this story. | 
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