Bishops seek to end elders’ job guarantees

United Methodist News Service
SPRINGMAID BEACH, S.C—The United Methodist Church “must face an inconvenient truth” to reverse its 40-year decline in U.S. membership, worship attendance and church school attendance, its bishops agree.
“There are many roles to be played in facing the truth of our church in the United States,” said Iowa Area Bishop Gregory Palmer, chairman of the Council of Bishops Episcopacy Study Task Force.
In a May 3 task force report to the Council of Bishops, Palmer told colleagues that retooling its leadership processes for lay members, clergy members and bishops “is essential to reversing this decline.”
Since 1964, United Methodist membership in the United States has decreased 27 percent while the nation’s population has grown by 54 percent. The percentage of youth members declined from one in seven in 1964 to one in 21 in 2005.
Forty-one percent of its U.S. churches received no members on profession of faith during 2005.
The task force identified the system of “guaranteed appointment” of ordained elders as one of the biggest hurdles to reviving the church. The bishops also addressed the issue of ineffective pastoral leadership.
“The greatest drain on our time and energy that keeps us from leading proactively in our mission of making disciples ... is dealing with ineffective clergy,” said Missouri Area Bishop Robert Schnase.
The corporate world, he noted, is shifting from a system of “guaranteed employment” to employees having to demonstrate that they are “guaranteed employable.”
The bishops will ask the 2008 General Conference, the denomination’s top lawmaking body, to redefine “guaranteed appointment.” At present ordained elders are assigned to local congregations regardless of their effectiveness.
The term was adopted in 1956 to protect pastors from arbitrary, sexist or racist abuses of authority, requiring bishops to appoint every elder in good standing in an annual conference.
While not suggesting that the appointments system be completely replaced, the bishops are asking the General Conference to amend the “guaranteed appointment” section to enable bishops to deal with ineffective pastors.
The Book of Discipline (Paragraphs 334.2 and 334.3) now places the burden on the bishop and the bishop’s cabinet to determine a pastor’s ineffectiveness. Palmer said the proposal from the council would make pastors responsible for proving their effectiveness.
“It moves guaranteed appointment from a right of clergy to a privilege that requires evidence of growth in vocational competence and effectiveness and a willingness to accept the missional strategy of the bishop reflected in the appointment process,” the task force report said.
The bishops are submitting legislative petitions to improve the effectiveness of their own servant leadership and accountability as the council seeks to clarify the role of a bishop in the 21st century.
The council voted to continue discussing several recommendations from its Episcopacy Study Task Force including:
> Increasing the normal length of a bishop’s assignment to an area beyond 12 years to assist conferences in accomplishing goals and to foster relationships between bishops and political leaders.
> Raising the retirement age for bishops by two years to 68.
> Requiring jurisdictional committees on episcopacy to set up an evaluation process to review a bishop’s commitment to transforming the church and world, passion for unity of the church, ministry of administration and other qualities.
Bishops are to vote on these items and respond by mail ballot before September so that petitions can be submitted to General Conference.
The council tabled the idea of dedicating one bishop to the four-year job of council president. The current system has the council president maintaining responsibilities for an episcopal area. The change would require a constitutional amendment.