Bishop Trimble to return to Iowa; Assignments of Bishops announced

Bishop Julius Calvin Trimble will return as the Bishop of the Iowa Annual Conference.  Bishops’ assignments for 2012-2016 were announced at the close of the Thursday afternoon business session of the 2012 North Central Jurisdictional Conference. 

United Methodist Bishops serve areas/annual conferences for a quadrennium (4 years) and usually serve two consecutive terms.

The Conference assignments are:
• Dakotas/Minnesota – Bishop Bruce Ough
• Detroit/West Michigan (Michigan area) – Bishop Deborah Kiesey
• East Ohio – Bishop John Hopkins
• Illinois Great Rivers (Illinois area) – Bishop Jonathan Keaton
• Indiana – Bishop Michael Coyner
• Iowa – Bishop Julius Calvin Trimble
• Northern Illinois (Chicago area) – Bishop Sally Dyck
• West Ohio – Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer
• Wisconsin – Bishop Hee-Soo Jung

A bishop serves as a general superintendent for the church, assigned to a geographical area.  In the United Methodist tradition, bishops are not “ordained” as bishops, but are clergy elected and consecrated to the office of bishop.  Bishops give general oversight to the worldly and spiritual interests of the church. Bishops also have the responsibility to see that the rules and regulations developed by General Conference are carried out. Bishops are responsible for setting all clergy appointments in the annual (regional) conferences they serve. Most bishops also serve on a general agency board, often as the president. The bishop is the presiding officer at the annual conference session and rules on points of law.

The announcement was made by Dr. Maggie Jackson who served as the Chairperson of the Jurisdictional Committee on the Episcopacy.  The Committee’s work was moved earlier in the agenda by action of the delegates – the announcement of assignments had been slated for Friday morning.