NCNYUMC.ORG |

Members of the Episcopacy* and Episcopal* Residence Committees from the four annual conferences in Upstate New York gathered together on Sunday, October 18 at the McKownville United Methodist Church in Albany, New York. Committee members, along with Bishop Hassinger (Albany Area) and Bishop Matthews (New York West Area), entered into dialogue on matters relating to the upcoming transition of episcopal leadership. On July 1, 2010 Bishop Hassinger will re-enter retirement and Bishop Matthews will become Resident Bishop of the Upper New York Area.

A topic of primary interest for both committees was the future of the Albany Episcopal Area residence. After thoughtful discussion, the decision was made to recommend to the Trustees of both Troy and Wyoming Conferences that the residence be sold. Committee members also recommended that the Troy and Wyoming Conference Trustees transfer their portion of the proceeds from the sale of the Albany Episcopal Area Residence to the new Upper New York Area Episcopal Residence Fund.

The meeting concluded with an opportunity to ask questions of the bishops. When a member raised the topic of the scale of the new conference and the possibility for a loss of connection, Bishop Matthews reassured the committee members that his experience has been that making close, meaningful connections is entirely possible in large conferences. He shared the examples of his home conference, South Carolina, which had over 250,000 members when he first started in ministry; and his many years of ministry in the Baltimore-Washington Conference, the largest conference in the Northeastern Jurisdiction. The committee members then had an opportunity to break bread together where they began making those connections for themselves.

*The terms “episcopacy” and “episcopal” refer to the office of bishop.

Marilyn J. Kasperek
Director of Communications
North Central New York Conference
of The United Methodist Church
PO Box 1515
Cicero NY 13039
MarilynKasperek@ncnyumc.org