A missionary bishop is one assigned in the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...

to an area that is not already organized under a bishop of a church. The term was also used in the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

churches at one time, but this was discontinued in 1964.

Anglican churches

In the Episcopal Church, the

House of Bishops The House of Bishops is the third House in a General Synod of some Anglican churches and the second house in the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

may, according to

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

, establish a mission in a geographic area that is not already governed by a diocesan bishop or by a church in communion with the Episcopal Church and appoint a missionary bishop to give oversight to that area. The mission may be a joint one with another church. Historically the title of missionary bishop was often associated with Episcopal Church mission activities in new geographic regions, both domestically and overseas such as in the work of the Protestant Episcopal Church Mission in China in the 19th century. While missionary bishops usually are assigned to areas within the jurisdiction of the national church, more recently some Anglican

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

have assigned non-geographic missionary bishops within other province's borders to minister to like-minded Anglicans those who are theologically opposed to the bishops under whose geographic jurisdiction they fall. The Church of the Province of Rwanda (as the Anglican Mission in America) and the

Church of Nigeria The Church of Nigeria is the Anglicanism, Anglican Church body, church in Nigeria. It is the second-largest Province (Anglican), province in the Anglican Communion, as measured by baptised membership (not by attendance), after the Church of Englan ...

(as CANA, the Convocation of Anglicans in North America)Convocation of Anglicans in North America
/ref> have assigned missionary bishops to the Episcopal Church primarily over the issues of

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

, which the African churches oppose.

Methodist churches

A missionary bishop was a category of

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of 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 nationally. In 1939, th ...

, The Methodist Church, and the

Free Methodist Church The Free Methodist Church (FMC) is a Methodist Christian denomination within the holiness movement, based in the United States. It is Evangelicalism, evangelical in nature and is Wesleyan theology, Wesleyan–Arminian in theology. The Free Met ...

, in use from the late 1800s until 1964. In the Methodist Episcopal Church a missionary bishop was elected for a specified foreign mission field of the church, with full episcopal powers, but with jurisdiction limited to the field for which he was elected. A missionary bishop was not a general superintendent of the church in the same way as a bishop, but neither was he subordinate to the general superintendents (bishops). Rather, missionary bishops collaborated with the bishops in authority in the field to which each was appointed. A missionary bishop was responsible for his conduct to the General Conference, as were bishops. Missionary bishops received their support from the Board of Foreign Missions, rather than from the Annual Conferences (as did the bishops). Missionary bishops were ''ex officio'' members of the General Missionary Committee of the church. This use was carried over into The Methodist Church (USA).

References

* ''The Doctrines and Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1908''. New York, Easton & Mains, 1908. * Leete, Frederick DeLand, ''Methodist Bishops''. Nashville, The Methodist Publishing House, 1948. * ''Constitution & Canons of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, 2006'', New York: Church Publishing Company, 2006.

Notes

{{Portal bar, Christianity *

Bishops A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Bishops by type