Bishop B. Michael Watson has been appointed the new episcopal leader of the North Georgia Conference. After 12 years of service in North Georgia, Bishop Lindsey Davis and Jennifer Davis will return to their home. Bishop Davis was appointed to the Louisville Area, which includes both the Kentucky and Red Bird Missionary Conferences.  ... read more

United Methodists in the Southeastern Jurisdiction elected Dr. Paul Leeland from the North Carolina Conference to be the next episcopal leader.

This announcement was made Thursday morning at 9:05 a.m.  Leeland was elected on the sixth ballot, receiving 298 votes (296 were needed for election) out of 498.  ... read more

• Follow episcopal elections in other jurisdictions

With both the 2008 United Methodist General Conference and the North Georgia Annual Conference now adjourned, denominational attention shifts to July gatherings of jurisdictional conferences.

The primary business of jurisdictional conferences, which meet every four years, is the election and assignment of bishops. After 12 years of service by Bishop Lindsey Davis, the North Georgia Conference will find out Friday night of SEJ Conference who the new episcopal leader will be. The Southeastern Jurisdiction, to which North Georgia belongs, will elect one new bishop.

The jurisdictional conferences will meet simultaneously July 16-19 in their respective regions. The SEJ meets at Lake Junaluska, N.C. Other locations are:  North Central, Grand Rapids, Mich.; Northeastern, Harrisburg, Pa.; South Central, Dallas; and Western, Portland, Ore.

Here is a primer on some of the issues and changes related to this year's jurisdictional meetings:

Fewer U.S. bishops

General Conference approved a plan that will result in one less bishop in four of the five U.S. jurisdictions, beginning in 2012.

Under the new U.S. formula, all but the Southeastern Jurisdiction will have one less bishop. The Southeastern Jurisdiction already has one less than the current formula allows, and it is not requesting an additional episcopal leader.

The new formula will take effect Jan. 1, 2009, however, so it will not affect the number of bishops elected in the United States in July.

A Task Force to Study the Episcopacy, mandated by the 2004 General Conference, proposed the reduction to save money. The proposal was approved 457-401, and delegates also agreed by a vote of 435-394 that the $4.8 million anticipated savings will be used to fund new episcopal areas outside the United States. Those new areas-each to be led by a bishop-will not be created until the 2012 General Conference.

The current formula entitles each jurisdiction with 500,000 church members or fewer to have six bishops. Jurisdictions with more than 500,000 members are entitled to one additional bishop for each 320,000 members. There is a provision for additional bishops if episcopal areas average more than 55,000 square miles.

The task force noted that the current formula results in inequities in the number of churches per bishop (ranging from 256 to 928) and the number of members per bishop (ranging from 58,970 to 225,814).

The new formula provides for one bishop for every 150,000 members, or one bishop for 100,000 members in jurisdictions where episcopal areas average more than 55,000 square miles.

Retirement age and limits

The assembly also voted to raise the retirement age of bishops from 66 to 68. A bishop must retire Aug. 31 following the regular session of the jurisdictional conference if the bishop reaches his or her 68th birthday on or before July 1 of the year in which the jurisdictional conference is held.

Before the 2008 General Conference, a bishop was required to move to a new episcopal area after serving two four-year terms unless a two-thirds majority of the jurisdictional committee on episcopacy and a two-thirds majority of the jurisdictional conference approved the bishop remaining in that appointment an additional four years. General Conference deleted the two-thirds vote requirement, so bishops may remain in an episcopal area for a third term without special action.

Assigning bishops

Twice as many U.S. delegates participate in jurisdictional conferences as in General Conference. Equal numbers of lay and clergy members are elected by their respective annual conferences. North Georgia will send 28 lay and 28 clergy delegates to Lake Junaluska.

Within each jurisdiction, a committee on episcopacy consists of one clergy and one lay person from each annual conference. The committee is responsible for reviewing the work and character of the bishops, and the committee assigns the bishops to their areas. The jurisdictional conference has the authority to affirm or reject the assignments. If the conference rejects the assignments, the committee must make new assignments.

The assignment for bishops elected at the 2008 jurisdictional conferences becomes effective Sept. 1, 2008.

In rare cases, an Inter-jurisdictional Committee on Episcopacy, elected by General Conference delegates, can transfer bishops across jurisdictional lines if the bishops and the jurisdictions consent.

Electing new bishops

People considered for the episcopacy are generally nominated by an annual conference or endorsed by jurisdictional conference delegates from the various annual conferences. Delegates from those annual conferences are not required to vote for the candidate from their conferences, and balloting is not limited to nominees. In the Northeastern Jurisdiction, a person can be endorsed by a caucus listed in the United Methodist Directory.

Each jurisdiction devises its own means of providing information about the candidates. In the Western Jurisdiction, for example, nominees are invited to give speeches and later answer delegates' questions during "fishbowl" meetings prior to the first ballot. In other jurisdictions, candidates go from one small group to the next answering questions posed by delegates.

Each jurisdiction can establish the percentage of votes needed for election. The church's Book of Discipline recommends 60 percent.

The number of required ballots varies from year to year. Voting by ballot continues until someone reaches the required number of votes.

In 2004, the Northeastern Jurisdiction elected two bishops on the first two ballots. However, it took 34 ballots for the Southeastern Jurisdiction to elect the Rev. Mary Virginia Taylor as its sixth and final bishop.

A consecration service is held at the conclusion of the jurisdictional conferences in which bishops are consecrated (not ordained) to the office, and bishops are assigned to their episcopal areas.

--Adapted from a UMNS article by Richard Peck