Ruling Opens Door for United Methodist Bishop Elections in 2022

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The Holston Conference’s Bishop Mary Virginia Taylor embraces the Rev. David Graves following his election as United Methodist bishop at the 2016 Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference. Taylor is among the 11 U.S. bishops who retired last year, and Graves is among the bishops now taking on extra work because of the retirements. The Judicial Council issued a decision May 20, addressing the question of whether jurisdictional conference can meet to elect new bishops. File photo by Annette Spence, Holston Conference.

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Paragraph 407 spells out a process for filling bishop vacancies on an interim basis.

The Judicial Council also addressed concerns about the formula and number of bishops allotted to each jurisdiction.

In a decision last year, the Judicial Council ruled that the budget adopted by the 2016 General Conference remains in effect. That same logic applies to the question of the number of bishops assigned in each jurisdiction, the church court said.

The 2016 General Conference approved supporting 46 bishops in the United States — 13 in the Southeastern Jurisdiction; 10 in the South Central Jurisdiction; nine in the Northeastern Jurisdiction; nine in the North Central Jurisdiction and five in the Western Jurisdiction.

“Absent General Conference action, the formula and number of bishops for each jurisdiction approved by the 2016 General Conference remain legally binding and effective until replaced by a new formula,” the Judicial Council said.

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hhahn@churchleaders.com'
Heather Hahnhttps://www.umnews.org
Heather Hahn, who grew up in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service.

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