ABSTRACT
Many felt more comfortable with the label Methodist Church Overseas Division (MCOD) than with Methodist Missionary Society (MMS), as the new name reflected the reality that the organization was no longer primarily in the business of sending missionaries, or mission partners as they came to be called. One of the indicators of the new mood was the proposal for a moratorium on missionaries. Although MCOD, alone among the seven new Divisions, formally served the Irish Conference as well as the British Conference, the report made no explicit reference to Ireland. The MCOD education programme sought to counter such misapprehensions. MCOD produced guidelines on twinning which pointed out how easily the unidirectional flow of money could reduce partners and friends to sponsors and patronized how money generated power and dependence generated resentment. Much the most important of the controversies in which MCOD was caught up surrounded the World Council of Churches (WCC)'s programme to Combat Racism.
