The General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA), has notified the North Central Jurisdictional (NCJ) leadership that the number of bishops representing the area could be reduced based on reported membership numbers.

Bishop Sally Dyck said this news came as a surprise since many thought projections earlier from GCFA would not show a drop below the threshold in this quadrennium. The membership total drops the jurisdiction .36% or 4,463 professing members based on the 2014 statistics. This is below the threshold necessary to retain our current nine episcopal areas. (¶ 404.2 of the Book of Discipline.)

Bishop Dyck says a process to address this has been set into place this week at the North Central Jurisdiction College of Bishops meeting in conjunction with the chair of the Jurisdictional Episcopacy Committee, Dr. Maggie Jackson. Recommendations could be made at the January Jurisdictional Episcopacy Committee meeting. If it is determined that a reduction needs to be made in the North Central Jurisdiction, then it will go into effect September 1, 2016 (less than a year from now). 

"This is not a 'done deal,' but something our representatives on the Jurisdictional Episcopacy Committee will need to work through at the January meeting and potentially beyond," Bishop Dyck emphasized.  "If the recommendation is made to reduce by one bishop or the General Conference decides that the North Central Jurisdiction needs to reduce (even if the recommendation is otherwise), then the Northern Illinois Conference may or may not be involved in the reduction."

If you have any questions, contact : Dr. Maggie Jackson, Chairperson of the NCJ Committee on Episcopacy mag.jackson@csuohio.edu.