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Bishop Bickerton delivers State of the Jurisdiction Address
July 11, 2024 / By Rev. Erik Alsgaard, Daily Christian Advocate contributor / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Editor's Note: The Rev. Erik Alsgaard is a Daily Christian Advocate contributor and serves as the pastor at the Community United Methodist Church of Crofton.
United Methodists stand at the ribbon cutting of a new church, but the question is: Are we ready to walk through the door? And, if so, will we do it together?
Those were just two of the questions Bishop Thomas Bickerton posed to the NEJ Wednesday afternoon during a 55-minute “State of the Jurisdiction” address. Bishop Bickerton serves the New York Area, and at the end of General Conference, turned over the gavel as president of the denomination’s Council of Bishops.
After outlining six key corporate management principles, Bishop Bickerton explained that the seventh — “shared values” — is the capstone that holds the other concepts together. Without shared values, he said, things quickly fall apart.
“What we have now is the ribbon cutting on the beginnings of the next expression of Methodism,” Bishop Bickerton said. “The door has now been unlocked and opened for us to take our shared values and create the elements, relevant elements, for the ministry in this modern context.”
The Methodist Church, he said, was started by John Wesley with at least four shared values: the doctrine of salvation, the essential element of Prevenient/ Justifying/Sanctifying Grace, the role of faith, and Personal and Social holiness of heart and life.
“These were the core principles upon which every strategy, structure, and system was built,” Bishop Bickerton said. “It’s what led to expansion into the colonies and later into the mission field. It was the basis upon which pastors were trained and congregations were evaluated. It was the foundation for class meetings and accountability groups.”
The result, he said, was that the early Methodist movement got organized — not around its mechanics but its values. “Wesley discovered the ‘why’ of Methodism and then found the ‘how’ – the manner by which that relevant message could be heard.”
United Methodists today, the bishop said, can learn a lot from that. He cited the recent actions at General Conference as evidence of what can happen when people gather around a set of shared values.
“Most of us in this room were witnesses of that very thing,” Bishop Bickerton said. “What was truly miraculous was to witness a new set of expressions to our shared values being approved – get this – on a consent calendar! Are you kidding me?”
We have been fighting in this denomination for decades, he noted. “And yet, we found ourselves in a position where there was an ‘awakening’ and a ‘resolve.’ And it was beautiful!”
Bishop Bickerton confessed that the actions of our General Conference made him proud once again to be a United Methodist.
“We are now in a position to create a new, relevant, and responsive set of practices that will give us a chance, a real chance, to once again become a movement of grace, hope, joy, love, and justice. And, God knows, we need the injection of grace, hope, joy, love, and justice in a country that is about as close as you can get to a civil war without having a civil war,” he said.
“The timing could not be more perfect, the opportunity could not be more evident, and the urgency could not be more dramatic.”
The church stands at the doorway to the “promised land,” Bishop Bickerton said, quoting from Deuteronomy 3:24-25. But, he cautioned, Moses and the people never did enter the promised land.
“What they so quickly forgot, as they always quickly forgot, was that just because you see the promised land doesn’t mean that you have what it takes to inhabit it,” he said, “... unless you trust in the presence of God to guide you into that new reality.”
Will we United Methodists trust God or ourselves to guide us through the open door? the bishop asked.
“Will we find a way to truly collaborate together?” he asked. “The temptation is to think that our idea is best or that someone has some sort of superiority over the other. Will we deeply listen and not race to answers that may not have examined all the angles? Will we revive our own sense of spirituality? How do we position ourselves to receive the latest conversion experience that will shape our understanding of the will of God? When was your last conversion experience?
“Can we agree to disagree and find an honest depth of respect for one another and realize that relationship is not contingent on agreement but on a desire to grow in grace together? Can we – using Bishop Schol’s illustration from this morning — make the windshield bigger than the rearview mirror and set our sights on what lies ahead, to build upon past mistakes and work together toward a preferred future?
“Will we give ourselves a chance not just to complain but dance ... to celebrate the moments, acknowledge how God has seen us through and find joy, not fear, in the journey God has laid before us? And probably more than most, will we decide to start? When will we decide this time?”
It’s time, Bishop Bickerton said, for the church to get beyond, “ready, aim, aim, aim, aim, aim, aim …”
Noting that Jurisdictional Conferences, per the Book of Discipline, offer the rare opportunity to enhance, promote, complement, and add to the ministry of the Annual Conference and its work of evangelism, education, mission, and benevolence, Bishop Bickerton asked is this not needed in every Annual Conference.
“We will never succeed as a Jurisdiction if all we do are the administrative functions,” he said. “We stand a chance if we find our groove with the shared values that will help all of us succeed. What are the shared values that we can glean from our work over these past several years? You’ve gotten a hint at them from our first day here together.”
Noting that at a January 2024 meeting of the NEJ Vision Table, the College of Bishops, the Committee on Episcopacy and the Boundaries Committee, the following values began to emerge: Spirituality (Christ-centered and listening for the Holy Spirit), Inclusivity and diversity, Antiracism, Engagement in God’s World, Connectionalism (building relationships
and loving one another), Collaboration; Innovation, experimentation and learning; Intentionality in making new disciples and creating new places for new people.”
What would it look like, the bishop asked, if we as a jurisdiction focused on clergy well-being, practical church leadership skills, innovation and ministry, fresh expressions, community development, educating ourselves on how to embrace the changes in the disciplinary language, how we support our LGBTQIA pastors and leaders in a new discipline and a new opportunity.
“The Promised Land is on the horizon,” Bishop Bickerton said. “We can see it more clearly today than we could just a few short months ago. But we are not there yet. Will we take the step to cross the river? The choice is ours: It requires humility, grace, respect, deep love, the power of forgiveness, and the ability to look forward not backward.”