Apportioned Funds - Episcopal Fund - Overview

United Theological Seminary is offering six United Methodist courses this spring, including a UM Doctrine class in West Virginia, taught by Bishop Thomas Bickerton, Bishop of the West Pennsylvania Annual Conference.

Bishop Bickerton also serves as chairperson of the church’s Global Health Initiative, which deals with the church’s response to the killer diseases of HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria. Bishop Bickerton’s life has been significantly shaped by involvement in ministry beyond the walls of the local church. His work with Volunteer-in-Mission teams in his home state, as well as in Africa, Argentina, Israel, Mexico, Russia, Cuba, and the U. S. Gulf Coast, has given the Bishop a “true global perspective on the need to be in ministry to all of God’s children.”  

Our Bishops: Leading. Responding. Nurturing. 

Bishop Bruce Ough and Lois
Dauway of the United Methodist
Board of Global Ministries,
lay hands on David Goran as
he is commissioned as a
missionary during an Oct. 13
service in Stamford, Conn.
UMNS photos by Cassandra M. Zampini. 

 “As people of faith, we cannot and will not stand by in silence while young people die, families are separated, individual freedoms are ignored, and the immigrant community in the U.S. is treated unjustly and inhumanely. No more!”

--Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño, Phoenix Area

Bishop Joel Martínez and Bishop Bruce Ough commission Jennifer Battiest as a church and community worker with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries during an Oct. 13 service in Stamford, Conn.

What is the Episcopal Fund? 

The Episcopal Fund supplies United Methodist bishops worldwide with much-needed support. Bishops have a very special role as they are elected and consecrated to speak to the church and from the church into the world. Bishops are called by God from many settings and bring to the church" . ..varieities of gifts... the same Spirit...varieties of service...varieties of activities...the same God" (1Corinthians 12:4-6, NRSV). Their role is both practical and visionary since bishops oversee and promote the church's spiritual and temporal interests.

Reasons to Give:

Why give to the Episcopal Fund? Bishops oversee the United Methodist faith community. Their guidance depends on our financial support. The fund is a source of revenue for office operations, travel salaries, health insurance, pensions and other expenses of the bishops. The fund supports 69 active bishops and approximately 125 retired bishops and surviving spouses in the five U.S. Jurisdictions and the Central Conferences and Europe, Africa and the Philippines.

The bishops in The United Methodist Church oversee and are responsible for the congregations in their respective episcopal areas. Bishops determine which church each pastor will be appointed. Bishops counsel with pastors, encourage congregations and lead in many ways. Without bishops, churches and pastors would be very much on their own. Bishops, supported by the Episcopal Fund, lend a face to connectional ministry.