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North Central Episcopal Update |
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At the Minnesota Annual Conference 2010 session in St. Cloud, Minn., Rev. Judy Zabel, a Minnesota member of the Minnesota/Dakotas Transition Team, reported on the team's progress on planning for a shared bishop starting in September 2012. She outlined the process that led to the decision, beginning with action from the 2008 General Conference mandating that each jurisdiction reduce its number of bishops by one, no later than September 2012. Each jurisdiction was to decide how that would happen within its boundaries, and in January 2010, the North Central Jurisdiction Episcopacy Committee met with the North Central Jurisdiction College of Bishops and determined the Dakotas and Minnesota Conferences would share a bishop.
Rev. Zabel emphasized that although a new episcopal area is being formed, the two conferences are not merging. She outlined decisions reached by the Transition Committee at their March 23-24, 2010, meeting in Fargo.
The area office (headquarters) will be in Minneapolis.
There will be a full-time executive secretary in the area office.
The team continues to examine funding and finances for the episcopal area office and residence.
The team is looking at communication technology for efficient meetings across the area.
The appointment processes in each conference will remain separate, overseen by separate cabinets.
The team continues to meet and address concerns related to the sharing of a bishop.
The team will meet again in September 2010. |
