wfn.org | United Methodists will meet to elect two bishops in Western states

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Jun 13, 2000 News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-21WJ-71B{273}

By United Methodist News Service

United Methodists from throughout the Western states will gather to elect
two bishops and assign all six of their episcopal leaders to areas of
service during a jurisdictional conference July 12-15 in Casper, Wyo.

The Western Jurisdictional Conference is one of five such events being held
simultaneously in the United Methodist Church's U.S. regions. The
conferences meet every four years, primarily to elect new bishops and assign
all bishops to areas of leadership in the jurisdiction. The office of bishop
is the highest position in the denomination. The church has 50 active
bishops in the United States and 17 in other countries.

Two Western bishops are retiring this year: Roy I. Sano, who leads the
church's Los Angeles Area (California-Pacific Annual Conference), and Melvin
G. Talbert, who leads the San Francisco Area (California-Nevada Conference).

Bishops continuing in the Western Jurisdiction are: William W. Dew Jr.,
Phoenix Area (Desert Southwest Conference); Elias G. Galvan, Seattle Area
(Pacific Northwest Conference); Edward W. Paup, Portland Area (Alaska
Missionary and Oregon-Idaho conferences); and Mary Ann Swenson, Denver Area
(Rocky Mountain and Yellowstone conferences).

Typically, United Methodist bishops serve two four-year terms in one area,
then are reassigned, but occasionally a bishop will be assigned to the same
area for a third term. Swenson has already served two terms in the Denver
Area and will likely be reassigned elsewhere. Dew, Galvan and Paup have been
in their respective areas for one term.

Any ordained elder is eligible for the episcopacy, but some groups in the
denomination have the practice of nominating candidates. So far, six people
have been nominated for the two bishops' slots that are coming open in the
Western Jurisdiction. The candidates are:

·	Marvin Abrams, 65, Native American, pastor of the Native American
United Methodist Church, Anaheim, Calif., endorsed by the Native American
International Caucus.

·	Eddie Kelemeni, 59, Tongan-American, superintendent of the Utah
Western District of the Rocky Mountain Conference, endorsed by the Pacific
Islanders National Caucus of the United Methodist Church.

·	Cheol Hwan Kwak, 45, Asian American, superintendent of the Santa Ana
District of the California-Pacific Annual Conference, endorsed by the Korean
and Asian-American caucuses of the California-Pacific Conference and the
Western Jurisdiction. 

·	Benoni R. Silva-Netto, 56, Asian American, professor at Pacific
School of Religion and American Baptist Seminary of the West, endorsed by
the National Filipino Caucus and the Asian American Caucus of the
California-Nevada Annual Conference

·	Evelyn "Tweedy" Sombrero, 46, Native American, pastor of Phoenix
Native American Ministries, Phoenix, endorsed by the Native American
International Caucus.

·	Lydia Waters, 57, African American, pastor of Crossroads United
Methodist Church, Compton, Calif., endorsed by the Black Clergywomen of the
United Methodist Church.

Each candidate's race is noted above because of the emphasis that the
denomination places on diversity in its leadership. The United Methodist
Book of Discipline  (Para.407.2a) states that jurisdictions "shall give due
consideration to the inclusiveness of The United Methodist Church with
respect to sex, race and national origin."  

Both Sano and Talbert have been among the denomination's most visible
leaders over the years. They are outspoken on issues of civil rights and
inclusivity, and both are also active in ecumenical work. Talbert has been a
bishop since 1980, and Sano became a bishop in 1984.

A retirement banquet will be held for them on July 13. "We'll be remembering
the breadth of their whole ministry with us as bishops in the jurisdiction,"
said the Rev. Linda D. Wiberg, program and arrangements chair for the
jurisdictional conference.

The Western Jurisdictional Conference will meet at the Parkway Plaza Hotel &
Convention Centre in Casper. The theme of the gathering will be "Ancient
Paths - New Beginnings." The Scriptural theme is from Jeremiah 6:16: "Stand
at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good
way lies; walk in it, and find rest for your souls."

About 350 to 400 people are expected, Wiberg said. That will include 112
delegates who will act on jurisdictional business.

The Western Jurisdiction has 450,700 lay members, according to 1997
denominational statistics. 

Swenson will lead the opening session as the host bishop of the area. The
conference will open with a memorial and communion service on the morning of
July 12 at First United Methodist Church in Casper. Afterward, participants
will adjourn to the Parkway Plaza for their first plenary session, and the
first ballot will be taken for the episcopal elections.

Besides electing bishops, the delegates will also act on other business
during the four days, including a proposed vision and mission statement for
the conference. The statement will be accompanied by an organizational
proposal for the creation of a jurisdictional leadership team.

The jurisdictional leadership team will represent "the future movement of
the conference," said the Rev. Sharon Moe of Seattle, who leads the steering
committee that has worked on the proposal. The team's members will be
appointed by the jurisdiction's college of bishops and will include people
in jurisdictional and annual conference positions. It will be representative
of the entire jurisdiction in terms of gender, ethnic diversity, etc., Moe
said.

"What we're trying to get at is a way of functioning for the future that
brings people to the table that really do have a hand in what's going to be
developing," she said, "and not continue to direct the jurisdiction from our
various little groups without that kind of cross connection. So it's an
effort to work much more closely as a team for the future of the
jurisdiction."

This approach will give the jurisdiction "a common sense of where we're
going, what our mission is and what God is calling us to."

"That is truly important to the church as a whole, given the results of
General Conference, that the Western Jurisdiction have a sense of the future
that God is calling us to and can respond to that in a much more cohesive
way," she said. General Conference, the denomination's top lawmaking body,
met May 2-12 in Cleveland.

"Of all the things that happened at General Conference, I think one thing
that was clearly evident was the regionalism that was at work at every level
and aspect of our decision making," Moe said. "The Western Jurisdiction,
with its 56 delegates, is not a very powerful player in that game of
regionalism." At the next General Conference, the jurisdiction will have
even fewer delegates. The jurisdiction believes it represents the direction
God is calling the church to move, Moe said, and "we need to be able to
function in ways that allow us to make that mission a part of the whole
church."

Other highlights of the jurisdictional conference will include the election
of individuals to serve on the boards of churchwide agencies, an episcopal
address by Talbert on July 13 and the concluding service of consecration on
July 15.

United Methodist News Service will provide ongoing coverage of the
jurisdictional conferences and the episcopal elections on its Web site at
http://umns.umc.org/elections.

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United Methodist News Service
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