Bishop Rhymes Moncure dies of complications after surgery
Aug. 21, 2006 News media contact: Tim Tanton * (615) 7425470* Nashville {495}
NOTE: A photograph is available at http://umns.umc.org.
By Joan G. LaBarr*
DALLAS (UMNS) - Bishop Rhymes H. Moncure Jr., leader of 325 United Methodist congregations in North Texas, died Aug. 19 at Baylor Medical Center as a result of complications from neurosurgery.
Moncure had undergone surgery for a brain tumor Aug. 7. He was 61.
The Rev. James Dorff, North Texas Annual Conference provost, and the Rev. Pat Beghtel-Mahle, dean of the bishop's cabinet, announced the bishop's death on behalf of the North Texas Conference on Sunday morning, Aug. 20.
"We are greatly saddened by Bishop Moncure's passing," they said in a statement. "It is a tremendous loss for our area, and we are grieving with his family, even as we are grateful to God for his tremendous faith that is now fulfilled. Bishop Moncure and his family have been greatly loved by our laity and clergy."
Moncure served pastorates in Kansas and Missouri before being elected bishop in 2000 and assigned to the Nebraska Area. Four years later, he was named bishop of the Dallas Area.
Bishop Moncure was a very strong episcopal leader in his conference and on the Council of Bishops, said Bishop Janice Riggle Huie, president of the council.
"He led with an infectious sense of joy and delight in being a person of faith," she said. "His sense of humor, his quick laugh, his smile was such that it invited others to enjoy the prospect of being a Christian.
"I personally will miss his laugh (and) his bow tie, and so will the council," she said. "The Lord God may be delighting in a few extra jokes these days that Bishop Moncure brings."
The Rev. Larry Pickens, top staff executive of the denomination's ecumenical relations agency, said Moncure modeled what it meant to be a United Methodist committed to ecumenism and interfaith relations.
"The General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns has lost a great friend," Pickens said. He and Moncure worked together as members of the commission from 1996 to 2000, as well as in other settings, such as the Commission on Pan-Methodist Cooperation and Union.
"Rhymes had a sensitivity to the ecumenical movement and evidenced that in his service as a director of the general commission and also in the commitment that he had around our pan-Methodist relationships," Pickens said. The pan-Methodist relationships involve the three historically African-American Methodist traditions - the African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion and Christian Methodist Episcopal churches.
"I would hope that his model that he set for ecumenism and dialogue will be followed by not only other bishops but also other leaders in the life of the church."
Pickens also reflected on Moncure's personal touch.
"Rhymes had the ability to touch all kinds of people and reach out," he said. "... He made everyone feel welcomed and he made everyone feel good, and that's a unique gift for any of us to have, and it's something that I will miss."
Born in Oakland, Calif., to a naval officer father, Rhymes H. Moncure Sr., and schoolteacher mother, Estelle, Moncure lived in numerous places as he was growing up. He married Jewell Lena Wells on Aug. 6, 1968.
A 1974 graduate of Missouri Baptist College, Moncure received the master of divinity degree from Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Mo., in 1977, and the doctor of ministry degree from Carolina University School of Theology, with academic honors. In 1998, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Saint Paul School of Theology.
Ordained deacon in 1975 and elder in 1977 in the Kansas East Annual Conference, he served in a number of pastoral and administrative assignments until his election on the first ballot as bishop in 2000. At that time, he had been serving as senior pastor of Missouri United Methodist Church in Columbia, Mo., since 1996. When he was appointed to this historic church, it was the largest predominantly Anglo congregation served by an African-American pastor in American United Methodism.
In his 32 years of parish ministry, Moncure's appointments in Kansas and Missouri included urban and suburban congregations, such as Mason Memorial in Kansas City, Kan., and Sammatio and Union Memorial United Methodist churches in St. Louis.
In appointments beyond the local church, he served as superintendent of the St. Louis South District, director of congregational development for the Missouri East Conference, and executive director for urban ministries in the Kansas East Conference. He was a delegate to General and jurisdictional conferences from 1984 until his election to the episcopacy.
Moncure taught in regional and conference Schools of Christian Mission for the Women's Division and was part of the leadership faculty for training new district superintendents and directors of connectional ministry each year at Lake Junaluska, N.C., from 1996 to 1999.
While serving on the board of directors of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, he was chairman of the Africa, Europe, and Middle East Section. During his service on the board of directors of the Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, he co-chaired the task force for Acts of Repentance for Christian Unity, helping organize the Act of Repentance and Reconciliation for racism at the 2000 General Conference.
"He had a significant impact on the Acts of Repentance, which was a significant ecumenical event that happened in the life of our church as we reconciled with the historically African-American Methodist churches," Pickens said.
At the time of his death, the bishop was serving on numerous boards of trustees, including those of Southern Methodist University, Dallas; Southwestern University, Georgetown; and the United Methodist Publishing House, Nashville, Tenn.
Moncure is survived by his wife; a daughter, Roxanne, of St. Louis; son, Jason and daughter-in-law Patricia, of Atlanta; and two young grandsons, Jason Jr. and Jackson Moncure. Other survivors include a brother, Robert Moncure, of St. Louis.
*LaBarr is director of communications for the United Methodist Church's North Texas Annual Conference. United Methodist News Service writers Kathy Gilbert and Tim Tanton contributed to this report.
News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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