Bishops examine roles, appointments process

By Linda Green

SPRINGMAID BEACH, S.C. (UMNS)-The United Methodist Church "must face an inconvenient truth" to reverse its 40-year decline in U.S. membership, worship attendance and church school attendance, its bishops agree.

"There are many roles to be played in facing the truth of our church in the United States," said Iowa Bishop Gregory Palmer, chairman of the internal Council of Bishops Episcopacy Study Task Force.

In a May 3 task force report to the denomination's Council of Bishops, Palmer told colleagues that retooling its leadership processes for lay members, clergy and bishops "is essential to reversing this decline."

Since 1964, United Methodist membership in the United States has decreased 27 percent, despite the nation's population growth by 54 percent. The percentage of youth members declined from one in seven in 1964 to one in 21 in 2005. Also in 2005, approximately 41 percent of its U.S. churches received no members on profession of faith.

The bishops are responding - beginning with themselves - by looking internally and asking "what is the role of episcopal leadership in making disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world?"

In examining their call, resources and accountability, the bishops must focus on their relationship to "God's vision for the church they have been called to serve," according to the report. "In this light, episcopal leadership gains its power not from the office but from its alignment with the larger call of God's purpose."

The episcopacy also is being studied by a separate task force created by the 2004 General Conference. That study group - with members from the Council of Bishops, jurisdictional episcopacy committees and the United Methodist Council on Finance and Administration - will report its findings to the 2008 General Conference in Fort Worth, Texas.

Clergy appointments
The task force identified the system of "guaranteed appointment" of clergy as one of the biggest hurdles to reviving the church. The bishops also addressed the issue of ineffective pastoral leadership.

"The greatest drain on our time and energy that keeps us from leading proactively in our mission of making disciples ... is dealing with ineffective clergy," said Missouri Area Bishop Robert Schnase, noting that the corporate world is shifting from a system of "guaranteed employment" to employees having to demonstrate that they are "guaranteed employable."

The bishops will ask the 2008 General Conference, the denomination's top lawmaking body, to redefine "guaranteed appointment" - in which ordained elders are assigned to local churches regardless of their effectiveness. The term was adopted in 1956 to protect pastors from arbitrary, sexist or racist abuses of authority, requiring bishops to appoint every elder in good standing in their respective annual conferences.

While not suggesting that the appointments system be completely replaced, the council is requesting General Conference to amend the "guaranteed appointment" section to enable bishops to deal with ineffective pastors.

The United Methodist Book of Discipline (Paragraphs 334.2 and 334.3) now place the burden on the bishop and the bishop's cabinet to determine a pastor's ineffectiveness. Palmer said the proposal would make pastors responsible for proving their effectiveness.

"It moves guaranteed appointment from a right of clergy to a privilege that requires evidence of growth in vocational competence and effectiveness and a willingness to accept the missional strategy of the bishop reflected in the appointment process," said the report.

Clarifying the role of the bishop
The bishops are submitting legislative petitions to improve the effectiveness of their own servant leadership and accountability as the council seeks to clarify the role of a bishop in the 21st century.

The council voted to continue discussing several recommendations from its Episcopacy Study Task Force including:
.Increasing the normal length of a bishop's assignment to an area beyond 12 years to assist conferences in accomplishing goals and foster relationships among bishops and political leaders;
.Raising the retirement age for bishops by two years, to 68;
.Requiring jurisdictional committees on episcopacy to set up an evaluation process to review bishop commitment to the transformation of the church and world, passion for unity of the church and ministry of administration, among other things.

Bishops are to vote on these items and respond by mail ballot before September so that petitions can be submitted to General Conference.

The council tabled the idea of dedicating one bishop to the four-year job as president of the Council of Bishops, rather than the current system in which the council president also maintains responsibilities for an Episcopal area. The change would require a constitutional amendment.

*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.