Methodist and Nazarene Polity, Worship, and Sacraments — Unit 2: Conferences, Superintendents and Bishops

Key Verse

"For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you." (Titus 1:5, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Explain how conferences guide the life of a Wesleyan church, from Wesley's first gatherings to the annual and general conferences of today.

2. Tell how Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury became superintendents in 1784 and how the title "bishop" came into use.

3. Summarize what the New Testament says about elders and overseers.

4. Describe the Wesleyan view of the episcopal office as a work of oversight and not a higher order of ministry.

5. State the objection from apostolic succession and the objection from churches without bishops, and answer both.

The Voice of This Unit

This unit is written from inside the conservative Wesleyan tradition. The subject, who oversees the churches and how, is one on which faithful Christians disagree. Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians and some Anglicans teach that true ordination passes only through bishops in an unbroken line from the apostles. Many Baptists and Presbyterians hold that the Bible knows no office above the local pastor or elder. Wesleyans stand between these views. We state both objections fairly and answer from Scripture and from Wesley's own reasoning. As Paul says, "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

Unit 1 explained why Wesleyans are connected. This unit asks who guides the connection and how its decisions are made.

The Conference: How a Connection Decides

Wesley did not govern alone, though many thought he did. He called his preachers together in conference. The first met in London in 1744, and the practice continued as a yearly gathering. Course 1 told how the conferences developed. For our study, note what they did: they prayed, examined the preachers' teaching and conduct, asked how the work was prospering, and assigned the preachers to their circuits. The printed Minutes became the shared law.

The conference remained the heart of Methodist life. In most Wesleyan churches there are two main levels.

The annual or district conference. Pastors, and in most bodies lay representatives as well, meet each year over a region. Different churches use different names. It examines candidates for ministry, receives reports, assigns or confirms pastoral appointments in the bodies that use appointment, and conducts business for that region. In the Nazarene and Wesleyan churches the regional body is the district assembly or district conference, which Unit 3 describes.

The general conference. Delegates from every region meet for the whole denomination, usually every four years. In many Wesleyan bodies it is the highest legislative body. It can change the book of discipline or manual, elect general leaders in some churches, and decide matters of doctrine and structure for the church worldwide. In The Wesleyan Church and the Free Methodist Church this body is called the General Conference. The Church of the Nazarene calls its body the General Assembly.

Why gathering matters

Wesleyans value the conference for three reasons. It follows the pattern of Acts 15, where decisions were reached together. It prevents any one person from ruling alone. And it gives the church a way to correct itself.

The role of lay members grew over time. In the early Methodist Episcopal Church the conferences were made up of preachers. Some Methodists argued that laymen ought to have a vote, and this was one reason a group left in 1830 to form the Methodist Protestant Church. Laity were later admitted to the general conferences of the larger church. Today the Wesleyan-Holiness bodies give laity a place in their assemblies and conferences. We believe this is right, because the whole church, and not only its ministers, is the people of God (1 Peter 2:9).

Coke, Asbury and the Superintendents

The problem

By 1784 the Methodists in America were numerous, but they had a shortage of ordained ministers. Many Anglican clergy had left America during the Revolution. Many Methodists could not receive the Lord's Supper or baptism from a Methodist preacher, because the preachers were not ordained. Wesley asked the Bishop of London to ordain a man for America, and he declined. Wesley then acted.

Wesley's decision

Wesley had studied the question of church order for many years. He had come to believe that in the New Testament, bishops and presbyters, or elders, are the same order. In his view an elder had the right to ordain. He was also an Anglican who did not wish to leave his church. But he judged that the needs of souls in America were more pressing than the rules of church custom.

In September 1784 Wesley ordained Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey as elders for the work in America. He also set apart Thomas Coke, a clergyman of the Church of England who was already a leader among the Methodists, as a general superintendent. He sent them to America with a letter and with a revised prayer book for use in worship, called The Sunday Service of the Methodists, along with the Articles of Religion.

The Christmas Conference

The Methodist preachers met in Baltimore in December 1784. Francis Asbury, who had labored in America for years, agreed to serve as superintendent only if the conference elected him, and not simply on Wesley's appointment. The conference did so. According to the record, Asbury was ordained deacon, then elder, then set apart as superintendent by Coke, with other ministers assisting. The Methodist Episcopal Church was formed, with these two as its first superintendents.

How "superintendent" became "bishop"

Wesley had used the plain word "superintendent." Within a few years the American conference began to use the word "bishop," which also appears in the New Testament. Wesley disliked the change of title, and he made this known. Historians have debated why it happened. Some think ambition played a part, and Asbury has been accused of seeking power. Others point out that "bishop" was a familiar and respected title that people understood, and that Asbury lived a life of hardship and constant travel, hardly the life of a man seeking comfort. We need not judge hearts. What matters is that the office was accountable and was rooted in Scripture.

Asbury's life shows what the office was meant to be. He crossed the American frontier on horseback year after year, visiting the circuits, meeting preachers, preaching in cabins and meeting houses, and making appointments. His Journal records his work. For him the superintendent was a traveling servant of the churches.

What the New Testament Says

The offices of the church are not first a matter of history but of Scripture. Wesleyans notice several things.

Elders and overseers are the same people. In Acts 20:17 Paul called for the elders of the church at Ephesus. When he spoke to them, he said that the Holy Spirit had made them "overseers" (Acts 20:28). The word translated "overseer" is the word elsewhere rendered "bishop." The same Ephesian leaders are called both elders and overseers. In Titus 1:5-7 Paul tells Titus to appoint elders, and then calls the same men "bishop" when listing their qualifications. In Philippians 1:1 Paul writes to the saints at Philippi, "with the bishops and deacons." In 1 Peter 5:1-3 Peter urges the elders to "shepherd the flock of God" and to serve as overseers, "not as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock."

Some leaders oversaw many churches. Timothy and Titus were not pastors of a single congregation. Paul left Titus in Crete "to set in order the things that are lacking" and to appoint elders in every city (Titus 1:5). He sent Timothy to Ephesus to charge certain men not to teach other doctrines (1 Timothy 1:3). The apostles themselves traveled among churches. So the New Testament knows a ministry of oversight that reached beyond one congregation.

Elders laid hands on others. Paul reminded Timothy of the gift given "by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership" (1 Timothy 4:14). Here the presbytery, the body of elders, took part in setting a minister apart.

From this evidence, Wesleyans draw the following conclusion. The New Testament gives us the office of elder or overseer, and it shows leaders who supervised wider fields. It does not give us a fixed three-fold ladder of bishop, priest and deacon as the only valid order. The Wesleyan superintendent or bishop is an elder who has been given the work of oversight over a larger field for a time and by election. The difference is one of function and responsibility. It is not a difference in the order of ministry.

What a Superintendent or Bishop Does

The details differ among the Wesleyan churches, but the main duties are similar.

• Oversight of the churches. He visits, encourages and corrects the pastors and congregations in his area.

• Presiding. He presides at conferences and assemblies and sees that business is done fairly.

• Appointing or approving. In bodies with an itinerant system, he appoints pastors to churches. In others he advises, and the local church calls its pastor.

• Ordaining. He leads in the ordination of elders and deacons, usually with other ministers laying on hands.

• Guarding doctrine and discipline. He sees that the church's teaching and rules are kept, and he helps to deal with charges against ministers.

• Extending the work. He promotes missions and the planting of new churches. This was Asbury's main work.

Because the work is oversight, these leaders answer to the conference or assembly that elected them. Their authority comes from the church and from faithful service. It does not belong to them personally.

Other Wesleyan Bodies

Not every body follows the Methodist Episcopal pattern. The Free Methodist Church has bishops. The African Methodist Episcopal Church, founded by Richard Allen and others, has bishops. The Church of the Nazarene and The Wesleyan Church use the title "general superintendent," which returns to Wesley's own word. The Wesleyan Methodists who formed in 1843 left the Methodist Episcopal Church partly over bishops and slavery, and organized without bishops. The title is less important than the work. Unit 3 takes up the Nazarene and Wesleyan pattern.

Objections and Our Answers

Objection 1: Only bishops in apostolic succession can ordain.

Roman Catholics, the Orthodox and many Anglo-Catholics teach that Christ gave authority to the apostles, who passed it to bishops, and bishops have passed it on in an unbroken chain by the laying on of hands. On this view a minister ordained outside the chain does not have valid orders, and cannot validly celebrate the sacraments.

Our answer. We honor the early church and its bishops, and we do not despise those who hold this view. But we cannot accept it, for three reasons. First, Scripture shows elders taking part in ordination (1 Timothy 4:14), and shows elders and overseers as the same persons, so there is no biblical ground for saying that only a higher order of bishops can ordain. Wesley was persuaded of this by his study of the Scriptures and the early church. Second, the true succession that Paul stresses is the succession of the apostles' teaching: "the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2). A line of hands that has lost the apostles' gospel is not the apostles' church. Third, the Lord has plainly blessed the ministry of Methodist and Holiness preachers with conversions and holy lives. We say this without boasting, and with respect for those who disagree.

Objection 2: No office should stand above the local pastor or elder.

Many Baptists and Presbyterians, and some Wesleyans too, fear that bishops will become rulers. They point to Jesus' words that the rulers of the Gentiles "lord it over them," but "it shall not be so among you" (Mark 10:42-43). They recall Diotrephes, who loved to have the first place and refused to receive the brethren (3 John 9-10).

Our answer. The warning is a good one, and Wesleyans have felt it themselves. It may be one reason some Holiness bodies chose the title "superintendent" and not "bishop." But the Bible shows that oversight of more than one church existed, in Timothy, Titus and the apostles. Jesus' words do not forbid leadership. He said that the one who wishes to be great must be a servant. A superintendent who serves, who is elected, and who answers to a conference is not Diotrephes. Where leaders do become rulers, the remedy is discipline and the election process, not removal of the office.

Objection 3: The office came from ambition and not from Scripture.

Some historians say the American episcopacy developed from Asbury's wish for power and from the convenience of the church, and that Wesley's real intention was not honored.

Our answer. The history is mixed, and we should not claim more than we know. Wesley appointed superintendents, and he disliked the title bishop, so the debate is real. But a form of church order does not need to be perfectly begun in order to be useful, and what matters is whether it serves the Word and the flock. The office has been tested for more than two centuries and has helped the church to reach new regions, set pastors in churches and guard the faith, when its holders have been faithful. When they have not, the churches have had the right to correct them.

Pastoral Application

A pastor in a Methodist church in a mostly Roman Catholic town is visited by a young woman who grew up Catholic and has recently been converted. Her mother has told her, "Your pastor was never ordained by a bishop in the line of the apostles, so he cannot serve you the Supper." She asks, "Is my pastor really a minister?"

The pastor does not become defensive. First, he thanks her for asking, and he speaks respectfully of her mother and of the faith she was raised in. Second, he opens Acts 20 and Titus 1 with her and shows her how Paul used "elder" and "overseer" for the same men. Third, he reads 1 Timothy 4:14 and 2 Timothy 2:2, and explains that the Bible stresses the passing on of the apostles' teaching. Fourth, he tells her honestly that Catholics and Methodists disagree on this, and that she should not need to hide this difference at home. Finally, he invites her mother to visit and to see for herself whether Christ is preached.

Summary

Wesleyan churches make decisions by conference. Wesley's yearly gatherings of preachers grew into annual or district conferences and general conferences or assemblies, where ministers and laity decide together. In 1784 Wesley, who believed that elders and bishops belong to the same order, sent Thomas Coke to America as a general superintendent. At the Christmas Conference Francis Asbury was elected and set apart, and the title bishop soon came into use, though Wesley disliked it. Scripture shows that elders are also overseers, that leaders like Timothy and Titus oversaw many churches, and that elders took part in ordination. The Wesleyan superintendent or bishop is therefore an elder given oversight for a time, answerable to the conference. We answer the Catholic and Orthodox claim of apostolic succession by pointing to the succession of apostolic teaching, and we answer those who fear bishops by pointing to servant leadership and accountability.

Further Reading

• John Wesley, sermon "The Ministerial Office."

• John Wesley, Journal and Letters, especially his letter of 1784 to the American brethren.

• The Sunday Service of the Methodists (1784) and the Articles of Religion.

• Francis Asbury, Journal.

• John Wesley, Notes on the New Testament, on Acts 20 and Titus 1.

• Your own denomination's current manual or book of discipline, for its present rules.

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