Committee on Episcopacy
Kent McNish, Chairperson
Over the last year, the Tennessee Conference Committee on Episcopacy supported the strong efforts by Bishop Bill McAlilly to focus on God’s mission for our conference and the Nashville area. The foundational focus of McAlilly’s leadership is the great commandment—love God and love those God loves and the great commission: To go and make disciples. This faith foundation is given life among with the new five-district structure and the restructuring of the conference staff in order to move resources closer to the local church.
In this past year, McAlilly has brought new vision through meetings with clergy and laity of all five districts in the Tennessee Conference and the four districts in the Memphis Conference. Based on Psalm 46, the bishop has strongly, boldly, and faithfully with the unanimous support of both conference cabinets, declared “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.” Psalm 46.4 (NRSV).
This vision calls us to put aside the rivers that has separated us both geographically and structurally. McAlilly has called us to look beyond the rivers to deepen our connection.
His words have resounded through the entirety of the two conferences, “It is here and now that we are in ministry. This is the appointed time. We claim this moment without fear. We do so compelled by faith to unite our voices and our ministry, to demonstrate what it means to come together in order to achieve the great things of God,” said McAlilly. “As an area, I’m calling us to reclaim our nature as the ‘people called Methodists,’ so that we can be agents of grace in our mission field. We can be ‘repairers of the breach’ in many hearts and lives. We can claim the year of the Lord’s favor and announce that in Jesus there is liberation for all.
“I want to make it clear: I believe we best fulfill our call to follow Christ in this season by creating a new conference,” said McAlilly. “After living with you as your bishop for the past six years, I am persuaded that we are better together.” (NOTE: By the time this report is presented to the Tennessee Annual Conference, the decision to move forward on joining our two annual conferences will have been deliberated and made).
“Our conferences have done good work in recent years discerning, naming, and claiming our mission as an area for a time such as this. We’re called to discover, equip, connect and send lay and clergy leaders who shape congregations that offer Jesus Christ to a hurting world, one neighborhood at a time. He noted that in so many ways we are like those who first sang Psalm 46—we’re in that season between what and where we’ve been and where we’re going.” He added, “While we are composed of two historically distinct conferences, the power of our witness is most effective when our voices are unified. In fact, unity is in itself a distinct witness in a time when our world and our Church seems ever more divided.”
The bishop asked us to join in common discernment concerning this vision. Hopefully all of us have participated in the Lenten40 Days of Prayerin both the Memphis and Tennessee conferences.
The committees of the episcopacy of both conferences have encouraged and supported McAlilly and the cabinets in this bold vision. We stand unanimously with them at this Kairos time given to us by God. We trust you have done the same.
The Book of Disciplineassignsthe annual conference’s Committee of the Episcopacy responsibility to serve as liaison and wise counsel to the bishop. We provide the bishop with constructive, honest feedback; the voice and sentiment of our conference as we have heard it expressed to us; while offering guidance and direction to the bishop.
Together with the Memphis Conference Committee, we have worked jointly on the aforementioned task. In our meetings, we have discerned the bishop’s effectiveness through the use of a standardized evaluation form from the Southeastern Jurisdiction. I am pleased to report that McAlilly received very positive evaluations from both committees for this year (voted unanimously at the Area Committee of the Episcopacy meeting in Nashville on April 21, 2018). We owe a deep debt of gratitude to Lynn McAlilly for her love and support of her husband, Bill McAlilly.
The continuing construction of the Mama Lynn Women’s Center shows the fruit of our partnership with the East Congo Conference. At home, our local missional efforts continue to grow. We have seen this area expand with the support of the bishop. We have broken ground on a project to provide a dignified, loving and hospitable bridge housing community for some of the most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness. This was born out of a partnership between a local church and a non-profit. In addition, a formerly closed church property has reignited with one of our new church plants with additional innovative plans for the remainder of this large facility. We have churches engaged in efforts to stop sex trafficking, in ministry to those imprisoned, in church school partnerships, to lead important conversations regarding race relations, to offer support to immigrants in our communities, and to provide food and clothing to those who lack the basic necessities of life—just to name a few.
In addition to leading two conferences, McAlilly also has served as the president of the Southeastern Jurisdiction College of Bishops (May 2016-May 2017), president of the board of directors of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (2016-2020), and as a member of the Connectional Table. Each bishop has a slate of responsibilities and with these leadership positions, come additional meetings and travel. McAlilly also serves on the board of trustees for Martin Methodist College and Emory University, as well as the board of directors for Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare.
As we move into the 2018-2019 conference year, we are cognizant of the called General Conference in February 2019. This report is submitted prior to the final report of the Commission on the Way Forward which we will receive at Annual Conference. We will trust in the guidance of the Holy Spirit as The United Methodist Church steps into the future unafraid. This Tennessee Conference Committee on the Episcopacy believes that we have the best episcopal leader possible to lead and guide us in this transition.