Beginnings
In the early histories of the denominations which formed the UMC, bishops were elected at-large, not having specific "residential responsibilities," 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 (MEC) 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 (MECS) began to observe a similar practice to that of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Methodist Protestant Church (MPC) had no bishops until the eve of the 1939 reunion with the MEC and MECS churches, when MPC 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, multi-state regions, primarily because of the lower density of their respective congregations.
Read more about this topic: Episcopal Area
Famous quotes containing the word beginnings:
“Let us, then, take our compass; we are something, and we are not everything. The nature of our existence hides from us the knowledge of first beginnings which are born of the nothing; and the littleness of our being conceals from us the sight of the infinite. Our intellect holds the same position in the world of thought as our body occupies in the expanse of nature.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“Those newspapers of the nation which most loudly cried dictatorship against me would have been the first to justify the beginnings of dictatorship by somebody else.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“The frantic search of five-year-olds for friends can thus be seen to forecast the beginnings of a basic shift in the parent-child relationship, a shift which will occur gradually over many long years, and in which a child needs not only the support of child allies engaged in the same struggle but also the understanding of his parents.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)