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Part of a series on United Methodism

John Wesley

Background Christianity · Protestantism Anglicanism · Methodism Evangelicalism · Pietism · Arminianism Reformed · Brethren · Mennonite

Doctrinal distinctives Articles of Religion Prevenient Grace Governmental Atonement Imparted righteousness Christian perfection

People Charles Wesley Francis Asbury Thomas Coke Jacob Albright Philip William Otterbein Martin Boehm Albert C. Outler Bishops · Theologians

Predecessor groups The Methodist Church Evangelical United Brethren Church Methodist Episcopal Church Methodist Episcopal Church, South Methodist Protestant Church Evangelical Association Church of the United Brethren in Christ

Related movements Holiness movement Salvation Army Personalism Pentecostalism This box: view • talk • edit

An Episcopal Area in the United Methodist Church is a basic unit of this denomination. It is a region presided over by a Resident Bishop similar to a diocese in other Christian denominations. Each Annual Conference in the U.M.C. is within a single Episcopal Area; some Episcopal Areas include more than one Annual Conference. Episcopal Areas are found in the U.S.A. as well as internationally. In some cases, such as the Western Jurisdiction of the U.S. as well as some places internationally, an Episcopal Area covers a very large territory (several U.S. States, or Countries, respectively).

Contents 1 Beginnings 2 1939 Methodist Reunion 3 1968 Methodist-E.U.B. Merger 4 Central Conferences 5 See also 6 Sources

In the early histories of the denominations which formed the U.M.C., Bishops were elected at-large, not having specific "residential responsibilites," 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 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 began to observe a similar practice to that of the M.E. The Methodist Protestant Church (M.P.) had no Bishops until the eve of the 1939 reunion with the M.E. and M.E., S. Churches, when M.P. delegates elected two Bishops to serve in the new Methodist Church. The Evangelical Church and the Church of the United Brethren in Christ placed their Bishops over larger, multiple-State regions, primarily because of the lesser density of their respective congregations.

With the merger of three Methodist denominations in 1939 to form The Methodist Church, 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.

The Jurisdictional system was a compromise with southern Methodists who did not want "Yankee Bishops" in charge of their conferences. Another compromise in 1939 was the Central Jurisdiction, which provided for African-American Bishops to preside over African-American Annual Conferences scattered throughout the U.S. These conferences were not necessarily geographcally contiguous (as are the other five Jurisdictions).

The Central Jurisdiction began to be dismantled in the 1960's, integrating African-American Bishops into the five geographical jurisdictions. By the 1968 merger of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, all Bishops were assigned to these Jurisdictions, and within them, each to one Episcopal Area.

The other slight exception is the Central Conference system outside the U.S.A. These Conferences also elect their own Bishops, often limiting them to terms (though most also provide for subsequent lifetime election, as in the U.S.). 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 U.M.C.

• Conferences of the United Methodist Church
• Diocese

• Cyclopaedia of Methodism, Matthew Simpson, D.D., LL.D., Ed., (Revised Edition.) Philadelphia, Louis H. Everts, 1880.[1]
• Books of Discipline (various years) of the Methodist Episcopal, Methodist, Evangelical United Brethren and United Methodist Churches.
• Norwood, Frederick A., The Story of American Methodism, Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1974.
• Norwood, Frederick A., Sourcebook of American Methodism, Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1982.