An episcopal area in the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelica ...

(UMC) is a basic unit of this denomination. It is a region presided over by a

resident bishop A bishop is a senior role in many Methodist denominations. The bishop's role is typically called the "episcopacy", based on the Greek word ''episkopos'' (), which literally means overseer. Superintendent is another translation of ''episkopos'' but i ...

that is similar to a

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

in other Christian denominations. Each annual conference in the UMC is within a single episcopal area; some episcopal areas include more than one annual conference. Episcopal areas are found in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

as well as internationally. In some cases, such as the Western Jurisdiction of the US as well as some places internationally, an episcopal area covers a very large territory (several US states or countries, respectively).

Beginnings

In the early histories of the denominations which formed the UMC, bishops were elected

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

, not having specific "residential responsibilities", but expected to exercise episcopal supervision throughout the denomination (including internationally), traveling throughout "the connection". Beginning with the General Conference of 1872, the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. ...

(MEC) designated certain cities as proper locations for episcopal residences. The objective was to secure for each part of the church more certain and constant episcopal supervision. Each bishop was therefore assigned to one of these residences by his colleagues. The

Methodist Episcopal Church, South The Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MEC, S; also Methodist Episcopal Church South) was the American Methodist denomination resulting from the 19th-century split over the issue of slavery in the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). Disagreement ...

(MECS) began to observe a similar practice to that of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Methodist Protestant Church (MPC) had no bishops until the eve of the 1939 reunion with the MEC and MECS churches, when MPC delegates elected two bishops to serve in the new Methodist Church. The

Evangelical Church Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual experi ...

and the

Church of the United Brethren in Christ The Church of the United Brethren in Christ is an evangelical Christian denomination with churches in 17 countries. It is Protestant, with an episcopal structure and Arminian theology, with roots in the Mennonite and German Reformed communitie ...

placed their bishops over larger, multi-state regions, primarily because of the lower density of their respective congregations.

1939 Methodist reunion

With the merger of three Methodist denominations in 1939 to form the

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

, jurisdictions were established, in which bishops were elected by jurisdictional conferences and assigned to episcopal areas within each jurisdiction (to itinerate within thereafter). Methodist bishops continued to serve as episcopal leaders of the entire denomination, but with specific residential and presidential duties to the annual conferences within their areas. Also established in 1939 was the Central Jurisdiction, which provided for

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

bishops to preside over African-American annual conferences scattered throughout the US. These conferences were not necessarily geographically contiguous (as are the other five jurisdictions).

1968 Methodist–EUB merger

The Central Jurisdiction began to be dismantled in the 1960s, integrating African-American bishops into the five geographical jurisdictions. By the 1968 merger of the Methodist Church and the

Evangelical United Brethren Church The Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB) was a North American Protestant church from 1946 to 1968. It was formed by the merger of the Evangelical Church (formerly the Evangelical Association, founded by Jacob Albright) and the Church of t ...

, all bishops were assigned to these jurisdictions, and within them, each to one episcopal area.

Central conferences

One exception is the central conference system outside the US. These conferences also elect their own bishops, often limiting them to terms (though most also provide for subsequent lifetime election, as in the US). Nevertheless, these central conference bishops are also assigned to episcopal areas within each central conference. The bishops therein elected also become members of the Council of Bishops of the UMC.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* ''Books of Discipline'' of the Methodist Episcopal, Methodist, Evangelical United Brethren and United Methodist Churches. Various years. * * * * {{Portal bar, Methodism United Methodist Church Episcopacy United Methodism by region Dioceses (ecclesiastical) Dioceses in the United States