United Methodists consider new Northeast boundaries

By United Methodist News Service

When delegates to the Northeastern Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church meet next July, they could decide to merge two episcopal areas, folding four conferences into one.

The jurisdictional boundaries committee is expected to consider the proposal - coming from four United Methodist annual (regional) conferences largely based in New York - when it meets in February.

The new episcopal area and its one conference essentially would replace two current episcopal areas - New York West and Albany - and reduce the number of bishops in the jurisdiction from 10 to nine. The proposed date for the change is in 2010.

On Oct. 6, members of the four annual conferences in Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont linked together electronically and overwhelmingly approved the resolution in a historic special session.

The resolution reads: "The people of the North Central New York, Troy, Western New York and Wyoming, in order to revitalize the mission of The United Methodist Church in the region to make disciples of Jesus Christ, agree to request the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference to create a new Episcopal Area and a new Annual Conference from all or portions of these and/or other contiguous conferences, with the Pennsylvania churches of the Wyoming Annual Conference considering alignment with the Central Pennsylvania Annual Conference and the Vermont churches of the Troy Annual Conference considering alignment with the New England Annual Conference, to be implemented in 2010."

Both the Wyoming Conference, which includes some churches in Pennsylvania, and the Troy Conference, which has some Vermont congregations, had passed enabling resolutions related the possibility of realigning conference boundaries along state lines.

Through an Internet connection designed specifically for the Oct. 6 special session, all clergy and lay members present at the four locations came face-to-face with their counterparts.

Bishop Violet Fisher presented a message from Liverpool, N.Y., where the North Central New York Conference was in session. Bishop Susan Hassinger was at Marywood University in Scranton, Pa., for the Wyoming Conference, then appeared on screens in Liverpool and Jamestown, N.Y., as well as Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vt., to present her part of the message for the opening worship service.

Retired Bishop S. Clifton Ives, who served in West Virginia, presided in Western New York, and retired Bishop F. Herbert Skeete of New York presided in the Troy Conference.

"Three years ago, our four conferences began a dialogue which revealed a strong commitment and desire to respond effectively to Christ's claim upon our lives and service," Fisher said.

"We have been engaged in a spiritually grounded and prayerful process of discernment. We have been listening attentively for God's will for our lives … for our future."

Hassinger noted that the denominational boundaries have not always been the same as the current ones.

"We know we have not been all that we might be," she added. "Often, we focus more on survival and maintenance than on reaching out in 21st-century ways that connect Christ with the people around us. In our local congregations and in our annual conferences and in the general church, we struggle how to provide the mission and service and outreach that Christ asks of us when financially and numerically we are declining."

According to a formula in the United Methodist Book of Discipline, the number of bishops in a jurisdiction is based primarily on church membership. The recent membership decline in the Northeastern Jurisdiction meant a reduction in bishops was probable.

The Rev. Jan Marsi, who leads the Wyoming Conference's boundaries task force, also told the special session delegates it is expected that the denomination's 2008 General Conference will receive recommendations to reduce the number of bishops in each of the five U.S. jurisdictions by one.

Marsi pointed out that since the four conferences were among the jurisdiction's smallest and the Albany Episcopal area was the last formed, in 1990, "we in these four annual conferences have had reason to feel that changes would likely affect our areas."

The Rev. Bill Gottschalk-Fielding, chairperson of North Central New York Conference's boundaries task force, said the four conferences believe the new episcopal area with its one conference can fulfill a new missional strategy for the region.

"We look toward the creation of a new annual conference which is strong enough to recruit and deploy leaders creatively, to support the ministries of its local churches and to communicate powerfully beyond our church walls," he said.

*Information for this story was provided by directors of communications for the four conferences: Sandra Brands, Troy; Sharon Fulmer, North Central New York; Don Perry, Wyoming; and Marilyn Kasperek, Western New York.