| United Methodist agency proposes cutting number of U.S. bishops By Joretta Purdue
United Methodist News Service A United Methodist agency is proposing that the church reduce its number of U.S. bishops next year. That proposal surfaced as directors of the General Council on Finance and Administration worked on the 2005-08 budget for the denomination. The $586 million budget proposal will go to General Conference, the churchs highest legislative assembly, when it meets April 27-May 7 in Pittsburgh. The finance and administration council also approved other legislation and reports during a Sept. 4-8 meeting. The budget sets spending limits and projects income for all of the churchs general agencies. It also includes administrative costs, such as General Conference, and supports other ministries and churchwide needs. The spending plan will include a projected increase of more than 20 percent for the Episcopal Fund, which supports active and retired bishops around the world. In light of that, the finance council will ask General Conference to change the formula used for determining how many bishops are elected. Every part of the church is being pressed to restructure and streamline, said Sue Sherbrooke of Seattle, in favor of the proposal. The church has 50 active bishops in the five U. S. jurisdictions and 18 in the central conferences regional units outside the United States. In addition, the Southeastern Jurisdiction could elect an additional bishop based on the current formula. With expected retirements next year, officials predict the retiree list could reach 92. The new formula would reduce by one the number of bishops each of the five U.S. jurisdictions is eligible to elect. If enacted as written, the change would become effective at the end of General Conference, reducing the number of bishops elected next year. Each jurisdiction would still elect one or more bishops to fill vacancies created by retirements next year. All of the jurisdictional conferences will be held in July. Proponents of the plan point to a potential reduction of about $1 million per bishop for the next four years in costs for salary, benefits, office, support staff and travel, as well as additional savings in what annual (regional) conferences contribute to expenses such as the parsonage and office. The Rev. Reuben Wilbur, Missouri Conference treasurer, opposed the proposal. Instead, he called for a four-year study to clarify the bishops role and reconsider the jurisdictional structure. Some metropolitan areas such as St. Louis and Washington, D.C. have more than one bishop because the city straddles annual conferences and even jurisdictional boundaries. Effective urban ministries must deal with a metropolitan area as a whole, he said. The Rev. J. Philip Wogaman of Washington, D.C., said he supported the change not only because of the $5 million in savings per four-year period but for the savings in future pension obligations. The growing number of retired bishops makes providing adequate support for all difficult, he said. This is a rare opportunity for equal impact to all the jurisdictions, he said. Members who worked on the plan said they did not think the 2008 election would provide the same opportunity to allow each jurisdiction to elect at least one new bishop while at the same time decrease the number of those serving in an equitable way. Robert Meyers, treasurer of the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference, objected to the proposed change. I think we need to look past the numbers (and) at the ministry. Im not sure that even with advance notice this is possible that a jurisdiction can reorganize itself in two months, he said. Its not only a matter of losing a bishop, its a matter that a jurisdiction is going to have to reorganize itself. He suggested having a task force study what bishops do and what their job descriptions ought to be. In explaining the proposal, the committee wrote that the change establishes church membership and financial stewardship as measures of jurisdictional and central conference effectiveness in fulfilling mission. The number of central conference bishops is fixed at the current numbers for 2005-08, but the legislation also specifies additions or reductions in those areas based on increases or decreases in church membership. The income for the $586 million budget will be supplied through seven funds that are apportioned that is, supported by each annual conference in amounts set by a formula. General Conference sets the base percentage used to compute the apportionments that are asked of each annual conference and, through the conferences, of each congregation. In other business, the council continued discussing the possible move of its headquarters from Evanston, Ill., to its offices in Nashville, Tenn., where the cost of living could result in eventual savings. | 
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