The United Methodist Church has elected 21 new bishops to serve in the United States, including three blacks, four Asian Americans, a Hispanic woman and five white women.
The new bishops were elected during five regional meetings July 12-17 to serve at least one of the church’s 63 regional conferences. Twenty-nine other current bishops were appointed to additional four year terms.
Four other bishops will be elected later this year to serve the church’s 1.7 million members in overseas conference.
The new bishops included women and ethnic minorities who will bring greater diversity to represent the church’s 8.3 million U.S. members. A committee in each jurisdiction decides where each bishop will serve.
Bishop Hope Morgan Ward of Raleigh, N.C., was the first woman ever elected on the first ballot of the church’s fast-growing Southeastern Jurisdiction.
(RNS)
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