bishops

Commentary: It’s time to re-think life tenure for U.S. bishops

April 5, 2013 Posted by Special Contributor Leave a Comment

By Joseph Stains, Special Contributor… One of the less-noted dialogues of General Conference 2012 that comes home for further review is the American way of electing bishops, untested, for lifelong tenure through retirement. While we have clung to this hierarchical model from our Anglo-Catholic forbears, worldwide United Methodism is bringing us fresh vision of shared servant ministry that compels us to rethink what we expect of fellow elders who assume the title of bishop. Term episcopacy, the electing of bishops for defined periods of eight years or less at a [...]

Question for UMC: Why should I trust you?

February 27, 2013 Posted by Special Contributor 7 Comments

By Ben Boruff, Special Contributor… As conversations about denominational vitality and increasingly global mission efforts move to the forefront of the UMC’s mind—as they should—trust-related issues pepper our thoughts. In a recent United Methodist News Service report about the Connectional Table, Bishop Bruce Ough, the group’s new chair, noted “the intense level of distrust that exists within the United Methodist Church.” Bishop Ough continued, highlighting the possibility of “reformation and reordering and re-energizing,” but his initial diagnosis should not be overlooked. Given the frequency and certainty with which we mention [...]

Transition Time – UM bishops leaning forward, looking back

August 24, 2012 Posted by Sam Hodges, Managing Editor Leave a Comment

As top official for the United Methodist Committee on Relief, the Rev. Cynthia Fierro Harvey bounced back and forth between New York, where UMCOR is based, and Houston, where she and her husband own a home and she was a longtime pastor in the Texas Conference. But on July 19 she became Bishop Harvey, elected in early balloting by delegates of the South Central Jurisdictional Conference. Now she’s trying to vacate her New York apartment, sell her house in Houston and give herself a crash course on the Louisiana Conference, [...]

Fresh Faces – New UM bishop elections, assignments

August 3, 2012 Posted by Sam Hodges, Managing Editor Leave a Comment

The Rev. Debbie Wallace-Padgett was congratulated by Bishop James King upon her election as bishop at the Southeastern Jurisdictional
Conference on July 18.

Every four years, the United Methodist Church’s U.S. jurisdictions elect and assign bishops, causing a fruit-basket turnover of leadership. The 2008 General Conference approved a plan that reduced by one the number of bishops in four of the five jurisdictions, beginning this year. The reason is shrinking membership in the U.S., a reality that also has led to combining of some conferences. Still, from July 17 to July 20, delegates in the South Central, Southeastern and Northeastern Jurisdictional Conferences elected 11 new bishops. The Western and North Central Jurisdictions, due [...]

What goes on a UM bishop’s ‘report card’?

July 30, 2012 Posted by Heather Hahn, UMNS Leave a Comment

Kids bring home report cards. Employees typically undergo annual reviews. And now, United Methodist bishops get formal evaluations as well. But just as each class has its own way of grading, each U.S. jurisdiction varies in how it appraises bishops. The 2008 Book of Discipline, the denomination’s law book, for the first time requires the United Methodist episcopacy committees that oversee bishops around the globe “to establish and implement processes” to evaluate each active bishop at least once every four years. The assessments must include self-evaluations from the bishops, input [...]

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Bishop Jane Middleton, bishops, Heather Hahn, John Ed Mathison

Eleven bishops elected; episcopal assignments made

July 21, 2012 Posted by Bill Fentum, Associate Editor 1 Comment

Eleven new United Methodist bishops were elected in three U.S. jurisdictions in conferences Wednesday through Friday. Jurisdictional conferences meet every four years, with half the delegates being lay people and clergy the other half. In 2010, conference realignments resulting from membership losses in the U.S. required that four of the five U.S. jurisdictions eliminate one episcopal post by 2012. For this reason, no bishops were elected in the Western and North Central jurisdictions after the retirement of Bishop Mary Ann Swenson (Los Angeles Area) and Bishop Linda Lee (Wisconsin Area). The Southeastern Jurisdiction [...]

Filed Under: Jurisdictional Conferences, News Tagged With: bishops, cynthia harvey, gary mueller, jim dorff, ken carter, methodist

Election Time: Three jurisdictions will choose bishops

July 13, 2012 Posted by UMR Staff 1 Comment

UM Bishops seen during a worship service at General Conference 2012.

By J. Richard Peck, United Methodist News Service… The attention of the denomination will be focused beginning July 18 on the jurisdictional conferences, where 11 new U.S. bishops are expected to be elected in three jurisdictions. Like General Conference, the worldwide legislative gathering that met April 24 to May 4 in Tampa, Fla., jurisdictional conferences meet once every four years. Half the delegates will be lay people, and half will be clergy. The Book of Discipline, the denomination’s law book, stipulates that each annual conference is entitled to send twice [...]

Term limits for U.S. bishops fails

April 30, 2012 Posted by Sam Hodges, Managing Editor Leave a Comment

A proposal to establish term limits for U.S. bishops of the UMC failed today. The petition got a bare majority – 463 for; 462 against – but didn’t get the two-thirds majority needed to amend the church constitution. The Rev. Michael Childs of the Mississippi Conference argued that passing term limits would help repair trust in the connection, and would be a matter of fairness if guaranteed appointment goes away for clergy. He also held that the UMC needs to shake things up in the face of clear decline numerically in the U.S. [...]

Filed Under: Blog, General Conference 2012 Tagged With: bishops, term limits, umc

Commentary: It’s time to re-think life tenure for U.S. bishops

Question for UMC: Why should I trust you?

Transition Time – UM bishops leaning forward, looking back

Fresh Faces – New UM bishop elections, assignments

What goes on a UM bishop’s ‘report card’?

Eleven bishops elected; episcopal assignments made

Election Time: Three jurisdictions will choose bishops

Term limits for U.S. bishops fails

The United Methodist Reporter

Policies

Related Sites

Log In

The United Methodist Reporter

Policies

Related Sites