William Ragsdale Cannon - Episcopal Ministry

Episcopal Ministry

Bishop Cannon was highly influential in the Council of Bishops of the U.M. Church. For example, he delivered the Episcopal Address at the 1984 General Conference, the highest honor conferred on a Bishop by his/her episcopal colleagues. As a Bishop, Cannon stressed Christian education and evangelism, and was known for his classically orthodox, Wesleyan positions.

As a Bishop he was assigned, successively, to the Raleigh Episcopal Area (1968–72), the Richmond Area (1970–72), the Atlanta Area (1972–80), and the Raleigh Area again (1980–84). Bishop Cannon also served as a member of the Board of Trustees at Emory, Asbury College, and Duke University. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the World Methodist Council for a time, as well.

He retired to Georgia in 1984, becoming Bishop-in-Residence at the Northside U.M.C. in Atlanta. In 1994 he was one of the principal founders of The Confessing Movement of the U.M. Church. This movement focused on the Church's mission to "retrieve its classical doctrinal identity, and to live it out as disciples of Christ."

Bishop Cannon died in 1997 at the Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta. He is buried in West Hill Cemetery in Dalton. Cannon Chapel at Emory is named in his honor.