The name of the new episcopal area that will include the Wisconsin Conference and the Northern Illinois Conference is the Northern Illinois–Wisconsin Episcopal Area.

Meeting on Feb. 26 in Kenosha, the task forces in both conferences that are working on sharing a bishop starting Sept. 1 agreed on this name.

Under the creation of the new episcopal area—determined by the North Central Jurisdictional Conference earlier this year—one bishop will oversee both the Wisconsin Conference and the Northern Illinois Conference. (Episcopal areas are distinct from annual conferences, though often the geographical boundaries of the two have coincided.)

From neighbors to partners

The two conferences are not merging. However, sharing a bishop will prompt more intentional sharing of ministries between the two conferences, which can strengthen both conferences’ efforts.

“Each conversation among the joint task force members makes it evident that shared contacts across the Northern Illinois–Wisconsin Episcopal Area will enrich United Methodists in both conferences,” said Rev. Steve Zekoff, chair of Wisconsin’s task force. “Of course, some unknowns come with moving from being neighbors to being more intentional partners in ministry. I remain excited about this adventure of discovering how our two conferences can retain distinct identities while collaborating in episcopal oversight and other ministry efforts.”

Rev. Myron McCoy, the chair of Northern Illinois’s task force, shares Zekoff’s confidence.

"Our two teams have discovered that envisioning a new episcopal area where a bishop serves much like a pastor leading a two-point charge requires everyone to think and function very differently from what we have known,” he said. “However, we are working on the fears and hopes of such an endeavor with a great deal of sensitivity and intentionality for the membership of our two conferences. Someone once said, 'All things are difficult before they are easy.' And we see our task as outlining a path to make it easy come Sept. 1.”

The two groups also agreed that the bishop of the new episcopal area will have the option of receiving a housing allowance, rather than a parsonage, funded by both conferences. This would enable the bishop to determine a suitable residence location.

Lisa Wink and Rev. Victoria Rebeck, the director of communications for the Wisconsin and Northern Illinois conferences respectively, will work together on developing a website for the episcopal area. It will contain information specific to the bishop. Both conferences will link to that site from their own webpages.

Further, the communicators will compile a list of questions and answers to help constituents of both conferences to understand the new relationship.

One of the next decisions facing the two task forces is the location of an episcopal area office. The bishop would not often be in an office as much work will take place on the road—in Wisconsin, Northern Illinois, or around the world for responsibilities across the connection. Location factors include ease of traveling in both conferences as well as proximity to an airport, for the bishop’s national and international obligations. Because an episcopal area is not equivalent to a conference, the episcopal area office need not be located within conference office suites.

Group members emphasized in discussion that the coming year or so should be considered a transitional time in which the two conferences and the bishop in the new area try new practices that will befit a shared situation. It may be that some practices are different in each conference. “Flexibility is paramount,” one participant said.

The two groups expect to meet together in late March.