Episcopal Area Reduction Meeting
On May 27, following the close of the annual conference session, you are invited to attend a special listening session led by Bishop Michael Lowry of the Central Texas Conference to offer your feedback to the College of Bishops as it makes decisions regarding the reduction of one Episcopal Area in the South Central Jurisdiction. The meeting will be held in the Aldersgate Room at The Woodlands UMC. Box lunches will be provided to those who reserve a lunch by notifying Mrs. Nancy Hinshaw.
In May, 2008 the General Conference approved a reduction of one Episcopal area per jurisdiction. The Discipline gives the College of Bishops the authority to re-align Episcopal areas. Any changes in conference boundaries require the approval of the Jurisdictional Conference.
At the Jurisdictional Conference, the College of Bishops outlined a plan to receive feedback regarding the reduction. With the assistance of the Lewis Leadership Center, they circulated a questionnaire inviting feedback from Jurisdictional Conference delegates. An on-line survey was offered to all interested persons in every annual conference. That material has been tabulated and is available on the conference web site. The final step in this process is annual conference meetings conducted by a bishop other than the presiding bishop of the area. Bishop Mike Lowry will lead our session. I led the session last month in Central Texas with about 75 people present. My role in our May meeting will be to welcome you and take notes.
In order to give time for implementation, the first and most basic decisions will be made at the June, 2009 meeting of the College of Bishops. One bishop framed the question this way, “Do we double the work load of one bishop or do we ask for a called session of the Jurisdictional Conference to re-align conference boundaries?” Several laypersons from the Central Texas delegation framed it this way, “Is it better for one bishop to serve multiple states or do we re-align all the annual conferences in one State of Texas.?” I encourage you to take a look at the material the College has gathered to date and give us your feedback.
This gathering is open to anyone. Lunches need to be reserved with Nancy Hinshaw at nhinshaw@txcumc.org. I look forward to seeing you there.
Grace and peace,
Janice Riggle Huie
