Jurisdictional Conferences Prepare to Elect Bishops

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U.S. United Methodists were making plans this week to travel to one of five jurisdictional conferences scheduled Nov. 2-5 at various locations across the country. The main agenda for all five gatherings will be to elect between 14 and 20 new bishops to lead the denomination as it travels through a tumultuous time of slow-motion disintegration.

All the jurisdictional agendas make some reference to the UMC's break-up, emphasizing loyalty to the denomination as essential to the church's official mission of "making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world."

The schedule and proceedings of jurisdictional conferences were thrown into chaos by the global coronavirus pandemic that caused the 2020 General Conference to be postponed three times, finally settling on 2024. Typically held once every four years after General Conference, Jurisdictional Conferences received special dispensation from the Judicial Council to meet this year to elect successors to the 20 active bishops who are retiring or have retired since 2020.

Thanks to the miracle of today's technology, United Methodists throughout the world should be able to view both livestream and recorded videos of the proceedings in all but one of U.S. jurisdictions, according to information from their websites. United Methodist Insight compiled the following information from the five jurisdictions regarding their venues, agendas and themes. Links are provided to the multiple candidate bios on various jurisdictional websites and to other notable information.

The Western Jurisdiction tops the election roster with 33 candidates for three bishop vacancies. The jurisdiction used an open system of nominations in an effort to provide a bigger field of clergywomen and clergy of color as candidates. Historically, each annual conference has put forth one endorsed candidate, while special-interest groups such as racial-ethnic caucuses also have proposed candidates. The conference-endorsement process remains standard in the other four U.S. jurisdictions.

Northeastern Jurisdiction

The Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference will be held in College Park, Md. The theme will be “One in Ministry to All the World” taken from Philippians 2.

Jurisdictional leaders are divided on how many bishops to elect. The NEJ College of Bishops has recommended only one bishop be elected, while the jurisdiction's Committee on the Episcopacy, which sets bishops' assignments, has recommended two elections. Delegates will be asked to vote on the number of bishops' elections as the first order of business. Unlike the other jurisdictions, Northeastern doesn't provide a list of candidates.

In the introduction to the conference agenda, the Rev. Thomas Salsgiver, Northeastern Jurisdiction secretary, urged delegates to "have the mind and heart of Jesus" as they consider bishops' elections.

"One in ministry to all the world means that we will gather together with our goal being to follow Jesus Christ so that we can be in ministry not just in our own community, but throughout the Northeastern Jurisdiction and beyond to all the world. It will be critical as we gather for these days of Holy Conferencing that we read and hold in mind the words of Philippians 2. Meeting as one body for interviews, for discussion, debate and voting we must 'do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves (ourselves). Let each of you (us) look not to your (our) own interests, but to the interests of others.”

The Northeastern Jurisdiction didn't list any candidates on its website.

North Central Jurisdiction

The North Central Jurisdiction (NCJ) will convene in Fort Wayne, Ind. The theme for the conference is "We Press On."

Jurisdictional Conference will gather delegates (lay and clergy) from across Illinois (Northern Illinois, Illinois Great Rivers), Indiana, Iowa, Ohio (East Ohio and West Ohio), Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin for a time of worship and collective discernment regarding the election of episcopal leadership and receiving episcopal assignments.

"The first order of business will be consideration of a joint recommendation of the NCJ Committee on Episcopacy and the NCJ College of Bishops to elect three new bishops, who will assume office on Jan. 1, 2023," says the jurisdiction's website. Candidates list.

Click here to read a preview. To follow news from the conference gathering, visit ncjumc.org.

Southeastern Jurisdiction

As always, the Southeastern Jurisdiction will convene at the United Methodist Center at Lake Junaluska, N.C., a site owned and operated by the jurisdiction. Details and livestream infomation.

The conference theme will be "This I Know." The Advance Daily Christian Advocate, the document containing the conference's agenda, features a description of the logo:

"The logo for this conference features pieces of 'stained glass' that are as diverse as we are: different colors, shapes, and sizes. These diverse pieces, when brought together, reveal a single symbol: the cross, the Church's primary symbol of God's love. If any one of these pieces is removed, the cross becomes more obscure. It takes every piece working together to reveal the cross most clearly."

Southeastern's ADCA includes reports from its 13 episcopal areas: Alabama-West Florida; Birmingham, Ala.; Charlotte N.C.; Columbia, S.C.; Florida; Knoxville, Tenn.; Louisville, Ky.; Mississippi; Nashville, Tenn.; North Georgia; Raleigh, N.C.; Richmond, Va.; and South Georgia.

The jurisdiction's Committee on the Episcopacy has recommended the election of three bishops to cover five vacancies. As it has since pandemic retirements, the jurisdiction will have to assign some bishops to serve more than one of the current episcopal areas if the recommendation is followed by delegates.

South Central Jurisdiction 

The South Central Jurisdictional Conference will meet at the Westchase Campus of First United Methodist Church in Houston, TX. The theme is "Together in Christ, Rooted in Love," which seems ironic given that there are an estimated 500 congregations either disaffiliating or in process to vote on disaffiliation among the 2,000-plus churches in Texas.

Currently there are seven candidates for the three elections that were recommended by the South Central Committee on the Episcopacy and the College of Bishops. Candidates list.

According to the South Central website: "With three elections, the SCJ would have a total of eight bishops available to be assigned to the ten episcopal areas. The Committee on Episcopacy along with the College of Bishops will meet again in Houston before jurisdictional conference convenes to make a recommendation for episcopal assignment and/or coverage for the ten episcopal areas with terms beginning January 1, 2023."

The jurisdictional conference will livestream its proceedings; it just hasn't posted a public link yet, said the Rev. Eddie Erwin, South Central Jurisdictional conference secretary.

Western Jurisdiction

The Western Jurisdiction, which covers the eight westernmost of the United States, will meet at Christ United Methodist Church in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The West has always gone its own way when it comes to episcopal elections. In 1984 it made history by electing the Rev. Leontine T. C. Kelly as the UMC's first female African American bishop after her candidacy was rejected by her native Southeastern Jurisdiction. This year Westerners opened their episcopal nomination process in an effort to gather a more diverse class with more clergywomen and clergy of color in the running. Read about the Western Jurisdiction nomination process.

The jurisdiction apparently will use its ongoing theme, "Where Love Lives," as its motto for the 2022 conference. Western Jurisdiction leadership initiated a campaign of welcome to LGBTQ persons and their allies using the slogan after the 2019 special called General Conference at which the draconian bans and punishments of the so-called Traditional Plan were enacted by a margin of fewer than 60 votes.

The Western Jurisdiction also drew fire in 2016 when delegates elected a married lesbian, the Rev. Karen Oliveto, then senior pastor of Glide Memorial UMC in San Francisco, as bishop. Currently serving the Mountain Sky Area covering Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana and part of Idaho, Bishop Oliveto's consecration was held to be a violation of the Book of Discipline by the Judicial Council in 2017. However, the UMC's "high court" left the question of Bishop Oliveto's continued service up to the Western Jurisdiction College of Bishops, which has never removed her from office.

This year Western Jurisdiction delegates will choose from a class of 33 candidates, many of whom have put themselves forward rather than being endorsed by an annual conference in the traditional vetting process. The candidates include more Asian and Pacific Islander clergy than in the past, along with more African American and Hispanic/Latino candidates.

Selected proceedings will be livestreamed via the jurisdiction's website.

Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011. To reproduce this content elsewhere, please email Insight for permission.