Set-Aside Bishop

Here I am, hard at work on the floor of General Conference!
Laptop: check; ipad: check; iPhone: check

Big discussion happening on the floor right now about whether or not we will decide to have a "set-aside" Bishop in our Council of Bishops. This would mean that the President of the Council of Bishops would not have an episcopal jurisdiction. Currently, our Council of Bishops has a President who also serves as the Bishop of a particular conference. As President, this Bishop has additional responsibilities that take up about 25% of their time. If this petition passes, we will approve a Bishop who will be "set-aside" to do the  administrative work of the Council of Bishops. However, this will require a change to our Constitution, which means that it will have to be approved by 2/3 of the Annual Conferences. Therefore, if we vote to do this, it will not be official unless the Annual Conferences approve it this summer. (whew!)

An amendment to the petition was made that suggested that we create a study committee to study this possibility for the next four years and vote on it in 2016. Bishop Goodpaster, our most recent President, reminded us that 1968 General Conference did approve this action, but it was not retained when the merger was completed that created the United Methodist Church. It has been studied numerous times since. The amendment failed.

A new amendment was made for the Council of Bishops to create a committee to nominate a set-aside Bishop. This nominee would be elected by the body of General Conference every four years. One of the concerns about the current petition is that the Council of Bishops is given authority to decide who this President will be. This does not maintain the 50% lay/50% clergy balance that we usually require. In answer to this is the argument that clergy and laity elect the Bishops at the Jurisdictional level: if a set-aside Bishop is elected from the floor of General Conference, this Bishop will have greater authority than the other Bishops. It is not the intent of this petition to create a Bishop who has more authority, but one that can dedicate themselves to the administrative work of the episcopacy and help the Council do their work without sacrificing the quality of work they are able to do in their home conference. The amendment failed.

We're headed for recess. I'll keep you posted!