2025 GNW Episcopal Address

2025 Greater Northwest Area Episcopal Address

For the 2025 Annual Conference Season • Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth

In an episcopal address preceding the annual conference season, Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth outlines the Greater Northwest Area’s bold path forward, centered on the M.I.L.E. framework: Ministries that Matter, Itineration and Location, Lay Leadership Enhancement, and the Elimination of Racism. He highlights top ministry priorities—housing, health, discipleship, Indigenous ministries, and anti-racism—and emphasizes that no congregation can thrive alone; collaboration is key.

A major shift toward team-based superintendency is underway to provide more contextual, sustainable leadership. Laity are being empowered to claim their calling beyond committee work, with new training in spiritual leadership, conflict resolution, and practical skills.

The bishop reinforces that every ministry must be examined through the lens of eliminating racism, with ongoing equity work, cultural competency training, and truth-telling initiatives. Stewardship of church properties is also evolving, aligning assets with mission, not mere survival.

In closing, Bishop Bridgeforth calls for courage and collective commitment. The ambitious goals ahead demand partnership across clergy, laity, and communities, all rooted in the conviction that Christ walks this M.I.L.E. with us.

PUBLISHING NOTE: The links provided below can be used to navigate the address. Audio is provided for those who prefer to read along as the bishop shares his address with us.

1. The M.I.L.E. – a container for the journey

In this season of significant change, I want to share some of what is happening within our Greater Northwest Area and each of our conferences and connect that with what’s happening in the world around us. I want to show how we are using diverse experiences, ideas, and tools to live out our United Methodist mission today, adapting our work and our structure to changing realities.

When we started this journey, our government was in a very different place, and we were just getting to know one another. I was learning the context and all the needs of the area. I remain grateful for all the ways that so many of you have engaged in opportunities to learn more about who we are, where we are, and what we can be about in this season.

In this address, we will revisit our M.I.L.E.—the framework that has guided our journey in the Greater Northwest Area. Remember, the M.I.L.E. (Ministry that matters, Itineration and location, Lay leadership enhancement, and Elimination of racism) is not a vision but a container; it’s a way to organize our work and clarify how we are called to be the church God needs us to be in this season.

The M.I.L.E. is not a vision but a container; it’s a way to organize our work and clarify how we are called to be the church God needs us to be in this season.

We will also discuss the Ministry Priorities set during our Special Sessions last December for the Greater Northwest Area and our annual conferences.

Finally, we have our annual conference themes that change year to year. While these themes are important opportunities to ground and inspire our ministries and understandings in our faith, conference themes are short-lived and less directive.

In this address, I will explore how these pieces interconnect, helping us understand who we are, where we are, why we do this work, and where we’re headed next. We will also walk through some ambitious goals and new models for our connectional ministry emerging from the work we have done to this point.

2. Ministries that matter: Grounded in shared priorities

So, let’s begin by revisiting the heart of our work: the ministries that matter most to us, as identified in our Ministry Priorities.

Adopted in of 2024, after a season of deep listening and interpretation, our Ministry Priorities show us what ministries matter most to us on conference and area levels. What we learned also guides how we appoint pastoral leaders (Itinerancy and Location), strengthen lay leadership, and pursue the elimination of racism. Let me share how these priorities intersect in practical ways with the M.I.L.E.

All across the area, we identified housing and health as priorities that we wanted to focus on through the M.I.L.E.’s M – ministry that matters. We identified health and housing as ministry areas where, by coming together, we could have a greater impact.

We also identified spiritual formation and discipleship as areas of focus for us within our conferences and our area. Our top ministry priorities also include young people, Indigenous ministries, and eliminating racism. And again, these are ministries that matter; they matter because they impact those within our communities and those within our congregations.

By coming together, pooling our resources, learning, growing, and doing this ministry together, we can have the greatest impact. So that’s where our priorities come into play, complementing and defining our ministries that matter.

Identifying our ministry and administrative priorities related to the M., L., and E. of our MILE in partnership with our ministry priorities, then informs how the Cabinet manages the I. of the M.I.L.E. – itineration and location.

The cabinet wants to ensure that every ministry setting has the best leadership possible, with both lay and clergy working in collaborative teams. Even though it may be hard, this is what we must do in this emerging age.

This time calls for us to bind together and find our strengths, not out of some need to survive. We do this because of our strengths, and because it ultimately helps us circle back to the ministries that matter.

We do not have a local congregation strong enough to do everything alone. Several congregations are flourishing and fulfilling their mission, but if you look closely, they are not doing everything independently. They have partnered with local community groups, ecumenical partners, nonprofits, educational institutions, and broader networks to accomplish the mission. This time calls for us to bind together and find our strengths, not out of some need to survive. We do this because of our strengths, and because it ultimately helps us circle back to the ministries that matter.

In summary, we’re using our priorities to help us allocate our conference resources appropriately. It’s also a way to invite our local churches to align around the priorities that matter in our settings, and work with others on that same journey to fulfill the same needs, interests and skills in our ministry contexts.

3. The power of teams: Rethinking itineration, location, and superintendency

To fully live out these ministry priorities, we must also rethink how we deploy leadership through itineration and superintendency—key tools for supporting ministries that matter.

As we look at itineration and location more closely, we also encounter the matter of superintendency. I have spent a great amount of time over the past few months examining how we do superintendency and how we might deploy superintendents differently so that we can live into our ministry priorities and respond to what we learned as we identified those priorities.

One of the things we heard repeatedly was that leadership and resources must be as local as possible, contextual, and show up in ways that let lay and clergy know that who they are and what they are doing matters. Our practices should communicate that they are not merely cogs in machinery, keeping the conference or denomination running. The ministries they are doing, the relationships they’re developing, and their impact in their areas really matter.

Our practices should communicate that they are not merely cogs in machinery, keeping the conference or denomination running. The ministries they are doing, the relationships they’re developing, and their impact in their areas really matter.

So, we are embarking on a new venture. Instead of having one district superintendent, we’ll have teams of pastoral leaders serving part-time as a superintendent team of two or three. Then, those teams will work together to fulfill all the needs we place upon our current district superintendents. This coming year, we will live into this model and this new reality with our first team appointed to the SeaTac District. I’ll share more about this change later in this address.

We are at a time when we have more and more pastoral leaders with “limited itinerancy.” This means they can’t just go everywhere for a variety of reasons. We must acknowledge that there are real downsides to this current reality. When pastoral leaders are not as mobile, we won’t always have a pastoral leader to send to every place, even when those places are full-time, have a parsonage, and may be a wonderful, thriving church community.

Because of this, the Cabinet needs to get creative in providing pastoral leadership and finding and appointing people willing to serve from other denominations, parts of the country, and even other parts of the world.

This creative process by the Cabinet risks the emergence of subconferences that are not well connected with the rest of the annual conference and are sometimes prone to wandering away from who we are. We shouldn’t be surprised when they wonder why it even matters that they are part of the conference, or even a part of the denomination.

I want to name the impact of “limited itineration” here because it is a reality. When our pastoral leaders are unwilling or unable to go and serve in large parts of our annual conference, this can create and exacerbate feelings of disconnection while undermining a sense of shared purpose and identity.

We also can no longer expect that every pastoral leader will serve only one pastoral charge. One congregation, one pastor, is a model of ministry that is quickly dissipating.

We also can no longer expect that every pastoral leader will serve only one pastoral charge. One congregation, one pastor, is a model of ministry that is quickly dissipating.

We are working feverishly to prepare pastoral leaders and congregations to live into the reality that a pastoral leader may need to serve multiple faith communities simultaneously to cobble together a full-time appointment. If the value is a full-time appointment, we can get to that. However, that will mean fewer appointments for people we are not obligated to appoint, and those with guaranteed appointments may have to serve more than one congregation at a time.

The erosion of the one congregational, one pastor model also means that some who have been accustomed to a full-time appointment may elect to serve in a part-time capacity because of their limited itineracy. Again, limited itineracy is determined by the pastoral leader, not by the Cabinet. Though we are obligated to appoint some categories of pastoral leaders, we are not obligated to bend to every whim and every need of every pastoral leader.

The Cabinet has and will continue to do our absolute best to keep people in their homes, keep children from having to move and disrupt their educational journey, and to avoid disrupting family systems that require multi-generational living situations. However, we cannot forget our responsibility to the needs of our local ministry settings, which we are here to serve. We will do our best to keep those things in alignment. However, there will come a point where that part of the system will no longer function, and many who have been accustomed to full-time appointments will not have access to them in the area where they need to reside, and decisions will need to be made.

The changing needs and capacities of our churches drive us toward more shared ministry, clusters, and co-ops to develop within our episcopal area. This is not a deficit. This is really an opportunity to lean into our connectional strengths. Each of our places of ministry has strengths, and we’ll call them serious realities. No congregation can do everything well, but a few congregations working together can cover a wide array of needs and gifts and really flourish in a particular region.

No congregation can do everything well, but a few congregations working together can cover a wide array of needs and gifts and really flourish in a particular region.

This new reality also requires a shift in thinking and openness to change within our congregations. We must take advantage of our connectional nature, particularly with shared ministry opportunities, to collaborate and let go of some things that may be in the way.

We are moving to team-based ministry at the conference level with our superintendents. We are doing it within our staffing across our area and in each conference. So, doing it at the local ministry level is just a natural progression, and we believe it is the best way forward for our collective future.

This foundational work in leadership structure directly shapes how we equip and empower the laity, which is the next essential piece.

4. Equipping the called: Enhancing lay leadership

The ‘L’ in the M.I.L.E.—lay leadership enhancement—generates the most feedback and interest from both laity and pastoral leaders eager to know what we can do. This is a great mindset to have! Lay leadership is not just about getting people to serve on administrative committees or making sure you have all the spaces filled on your nominations report.

Our focus on lay leadership really calls for us to do some rudimentary work around what it means to be called, and what it means to respond to God’s call. Calling, after all, is not limited to ordained or licensed ministry. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are all called into the service of others. Questions like the following are essential for all of us:

Calling, after all, is not limited to ordained or licensed ministry. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are all called into the service of others.

What is God placing on your heart?
What passion has God ignited within you?
What change do you want to help bring into the world?
What faith conviction motivates you to step forward in this season?
What word or example from Jesus compels you to act, speak out, and invite others to join you?

Lay leadership enhancement is about helping people listen for and respond with their gifts to their calling. It’s more than just recruiting people for committee work.

There are some basic theological conversations we need to have. Of course, addressing housing, health, climate care, and eliminating racism are necessary. However, if we don’t understand what God is saying about it – if we don’t understand what Scripture says about what we feel so passionate about – then why are we doing it? What compelling witness is the Church bringing in these vital areas of ministry?

This might seem basic, but we sometimes skip past it. We know people need affordable housing and clean air to breathe. But what is it about our Christian faith and our United Methodist witness that says we must be involved as the Church?

Considering what’s available for lay leadership enhancement, we must utilize the conveners we discussed in our ministry priorities. These conveners will unite individuals with shared affinities to discuss, dream about, and plan collaborative future ministries.

Another opportunity we have is to train laity across the area to lead and engage well in conflict resolution, helping congregations move through difficult conversations that are not uncommon in many ministry settings.

We will also seek grant writers, program evaluators, and strategic planners. These are skills that we need to develop and plan to deploy around our area, particularly as we consider redistributing the work of superintendents to ensure we’re supporting the work that needs to be done. These are all roles that laity can move into very quickly.

Many lay members have professional experiences that they don’t get to use within their faith community, and I want us to function differently.

Many lay members have professional experiences that they don’t get to use within their faith community, and I want us to function differently. If you have a gift or a skill that can support the ministry, I want to know about it. I want to bring you together with others who share those skills, so that we can learn together, work together, and move our conference and our area ministries together in ways that matter.

We have other lay-focused efforts with conferences in the Western Jurisdiction. Groups are working on how we support laypersons assigned to lay-led congregations, our certified lay ministers, and our lay servant ministries across the jurisdiction. Each conference has a program to offer development courses for laity, and each operates quite differently. We’re looking for ways to collaborate across the jurisdiction and do more resource sharing to deploy more people and have more specialized ministries among our laity.

We want all of our laity and lay leaders to be versed in what it means to start a new ministry, lead a meeting well, disciple others, and disciple yourself so that as we go out into the world, we go out with an understanding of who we represent, why it matters, how it impacts the world that we live in, and how it helps to shape the world that we want to see and be a part of in the future.

5. Eliminating Racism: A lens for all we do

Just as equipping laity is vital, so too is ensuring that every aspect of our work is viewed through the essential lens of eliminating racism—the ‘E’ in M.I.L.E.

As we think about the ‘E’, the elimination of racism, we note it’s last again, but only so we can spell M.I.L.E., not because it’s of least importance or the last thing we do. You’ve heard me say it before, and I’ll repeat it here and in other places. Everything that we do needs to be done through this lens of eliminating racism. Everything.

If we pay attention to eliminating racism, we will begin to understand the systems that have restricted housing policy and access in this country. If we pay attention to eliminating racism, we also begin to see why our health systems—mental, physical, and public—are shaped the way they are.

Right now, our focus on eliminating racism helps us think about how we deploy, employ, and support our pastoral and lay leaders across our area. It also informs how we examine systems that affect us and those that we perpetuate within our broader society and within our denomination.

Everything that we do needs to be done through this lens of eliminating racism. Everything.

Some of you are aware that over the last 18 months, we’ve hosted learning sessions that we’ve called equity cohorts. Individuals in key leadership roles and select congregations came together for a nine-month learning experience about what it means to practice equity in our everyday lives and our collective ministry.

As a part of this effort, we trained a cadre of leaders who will continue to serve in this area and work with pastoral leaders, laity, and ministries across our area to help us examine our policies, our practices and our structures. One of the equity tools we were exposed to is universal design. Universal design asks that we consider those who are most marginalized, their needs, and the barriers that keep them from participating in our work and call to ministry, as we do our work and ministry. When we tend to those needs, we begin to address those barriers that have kept everyone from participating in our call, because we begin with those most marginalized.

We will continue to support this work, shaping practices and policies and delivering equity tools that help eliminate racism across our churches, districts, conferences, and the wider world.

6. Cultural competency and truth-telling

Building on that commitment to racial equity, we are also expanding our capacity for cultural competency and truth-telling—both essential for meaningful change.

Beyond our equity training, we’ve also identified and trained a group of Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) administrators. These individuals will be able to work with us individually and collectively, around matters of intercultural competency, to help us understand where we are individually and as an organization. Then we can develop plans and practices to help us move toward a more equitable way of living in the world. This work, which the Rev. Lisa Talbott will direct on an area level, helps us identify blind spots in race, culture, and openness. This is not something to fear or resist.

IDI is not a blame game. It’s a way of learning so that we can change our ways of being, internally and externally.

This also aligns with the truth-telling work we’ve embarked upon, which was first introduced by our Western Jurisdiction Committee on Native American Ministries (CONAM). Here in the Greater Northwest, this exploration of our church’s history with those who were here long before us is being coordinated by our Circle of Indigenous Ministries, led by Rev. Dr. Allen Buck. Our truth-telling work is not Allen’s work to do; it’s Allen’s to coordinate and champion. The work belongs to all of us.

The truth-telling project is underway across our Greater Northwest Area. We’ll continue to hear from those who are participating, and we will follow through on recommendations and conversations that emerge because of the truth-telling exploration that’s happening in various places.

Our truth-telling work is not Allen’s work to do; it’s Allen’s to coordinate and champion. The work belongs to all of us.

We will also gain some tools and ways of being and serving together. That will help us in other areas, such as being able to have difficult conversations.

The final topic related to eliminating racism concerns cross-racial, cross-cultural appointments. We have many of those in our area, and, unfortunately, we have even more areas in our conferences where cross-racial, cross-cultural appointments—in the classic sense of the designation—will not be possible in the near future. Regardless, we will continue forward and do the necessary work to prepare every one of our ministry settings to receive a cross-racial, cross-cultural appointment.

If you think about it, most of our appointments are already cross-racial, cross-cultural appointments. When we consider age, class, geography, theological difference, and other variables, we have many ministry settings that would benefit from the heightened awareness that cross-racial, cross-cultural training brings.

We want to do the work necessary to cultivate places of ministry where folks who bring difference, diversity, and a variety of perspectives can go, serve, and flourish.

7. Property assets and Shared Services

Even as we advance critical equity work, we must also steward our physical and financial resources wisely, ensuring they serve ministry faithfully. That’s why, during the past year, I established a task force to examine how we use the assets of our closed church properties.

In each conference, there are practices and formulas associated with what happens with the funds resulting from the sale of closed church properties. Our boards of trustees work diligently to ensure we are good stewards of those funds. Our superintendents work closely with congregations as they close to identify their wishes regarding those assets.

However, when those properties remain on the books for our annual conference, problems can arise. We either hold them too long or sell them too quickly. I’ve charged this task force to help us think through and develop a process to assess closed church properties so that we can make informed decisions about how we use the resource of the land or any proceeds that come from any sale. Rev. Kathy Neary has my gratitude for staffing this task force and moving its work forward.

As they started this work, it became evident that what they’re doing is just as much about how we deal with properties of active or functioning local churches as it is about the properties of closed churches. Their work naturally connects with conversations that congregations are having about redeveloping their properties. The task force’s report is ready for the Cabinet to receive, and the Cabinet has already agreed to use their recommendations to pilot a process within at least one of our districts, with the help of the districts’ boards of church location and building. We’ll try it out and adjust it as needed before bringing it to the annual conference or the conference trustees for adoption. We hope this effort will lead to policies us behave differently, as it relates to our properties.

Since housing is one of our ministries that matters and one of our priorities, some congregations are convinced that the only option for them is to get rid of their property and develop it into low-income housing, senior housing, or something of that sort. For some congregations, that’s exactly what they need to consider and what may really be needed and possible. However, that’s not the case for all our places of ministry.

If your congregation’s housing discussions are primarily driven by survival concerns, I urge you to reconsider.

Developing housing is not going to save our local churches. If your congregation’s housing discussions are primarily driven by survival concerns, I urge you to reconsider. That is not the conversation we are called to have. We want to solve housing because we’re called to bring about mercy and justice in the world.

Solving the housing crisis is not just about ensuring every individual we know has a key that they can put into a lock to a door with their home behind it. We’re equally called to help change policy, to challenge the perceptions of what it means to care for God’s beloved, which means thinking beyond housing. Caring for God’s beloved includes the earth beneath our feet, the sky above us, and the air that fills the space between. We must care for all of it—in diverse, faithful ways.

Now, some of us are called to repurpose some or all of the properties that we steward to provide space for housing God’s beloved or for those working on providing housing for all God’s beloved to have a place to do their work.

This is where the notion of Shared (Administrative) Services across the Greater Northwest Area comes into play. With Shared Services, we’re bringing together our finance and administration expertise—human resources, pensions, property asset management, and finances—under one office to serve the area. With our property and asset management unified with the support of the other administrative staff, we can be more effective in developing processes and managing this work.

A staff position in our shared services team will focus on managing property and assets. This person will work with our trustees and others who hold properties in the name of our annual conferences to help guide our decisions. They will help us think through what we do with property, how we manage it, and how we maintain it over time.

Let’s talk more about our shared services.

As your bishop, I value collaboration, working in teams, and leaning into the places where you have strength. This is a way of working together that will, over time, improve and amplify the services available to our local ministries. I applaud the efforts of our staff, finance and administration teams, who have come together over the past several years to bring this idea to fruition.

As your bishop, I value collaboration, working in teams, and leaning into the places where you have strength. This is a way of working together that will, over time, improve and amplify the services available to our local ministries.

This year’s annual conference members will receive a proposal to elect a treasurer and an assistant treasurer who will serve across the area. This will help us maintain continuity and keep our work focused on moving forward. It doesn’t change the policies or particularities of each of our annual conferences; it just centers our resourcing in one office.

So far, Brant Henshaw (AK, PNW Treasurer) and Sara Goetze (OR-ID Acting Treasurer) have worked very closely together in their current roles. Over the last year, we’ve brought on Kristi Durham to serve in our human relations and pensions office. We are already benefiting from her long history and expertise in human resources, for which we are grateful. As I mentioned earlier, we are also in the process of bringing on a person who will help us with property and asset management, supporting our trustees’ work greatly as we go forward.

All of our current staff within our finance and administration offices are being brought into these conversations so that we have people specializing in the areas they are trained and gifted to serve in, and so that our entire area has everything it needs.

8. From innovation to transformation – learning from the past

Alongside our work on stewardship and shared services, we’ve also reflected on innovation—how we can adapt, create, and transform ministries for today’s realities while learning from the past.

Throughout my time here in the Greater Northwest, there’s been a lot of conversation about innovation and vitality. This area-wide focus and ministry has had some missteps. There remain opportunities for our development work to grow, to be changed, and to just be looked at differently. I do not intend to minimize the hurt, harm, danger, and woundedness that folks feel for themselves, friends, colleagues, and others involved in starting new ministries and funding them.

There are various stories across time, and I do not wish to vilify anyone. I also do not desire to dismiss or demean any of our projects, planters, or innovators. In fact, I want to do the total opposite. I want to honor the work that has been done, both with completed projects and ongoing ministries. It’s helpful to be aware that we still have planters and innovators who are faithfully at work.

We must create systems and practices that avoid harm and amplify the good that we want to see in the world.

We’re in a transitional season where we have assigned a consultant, Teri Watanabe, to help us continue supporting our ongoing plants and planters, and to support our congregational development boards that provide the funding, while training and supporting our innovators and planters across the area.

Additionally, we are gathering a group of clergy and laity in each annual conference, who will work with a professional to design a request for proposals for consultants to work with each of our conferences to do culture change work. I know some are ready to do an autopsy on our innovation and vitality process, and how we got to where we were or are. That’ll be a part of what we do. But, beloved, I’m convinced that we can’t do that alone. We might learn something from that, but it wouldn’t help us evolve. It wouldn’t get at all the systems, ideas, and practices that made it possible for the hurt, harm, and danger that we easily name.

This culture change work will help us unearth who we are and who we want to be. We need to develop policies and practices with an equity lens that help us live out the best of who we are. We must create systems and practices that avoid harm and amplify the good that we want to see in the world.

We’ll be sure to align these practices, policies and behaviors with our M.I.L.E. container. Going at it this way will create a pathway forward as healthier, more informed disciples of Jesus Christ.

9. Team-based superintendency: A new way forward

In our ministry priorities work, we named three things that we would do to live into them. One was that we would train conveners, which is getting off the ground and moving. We also said that we would streamline our funding processes, which is also underway. And the third thing was a commitment to try things. Many of you are already trying things out in your local ministry settings, and that’s exciting.

I want to encourage that to continue as much as possible. As your bishop, I am also trying things. I am rethinking how we supervise and deploy superintendents to support our churches and ministries.

As we consider superintendency and how we endeavor to deploy them differently in this next season, I want to share a few highlights and responses to some of the questions we’ve already received. We can’t answer every question now, but we can start with a few things.

For answers to some of the questions we are encountering, click here.

The role of district superintendent is overburdened, too administrative, and responsible for far more than any one person should ever be asked or expected to do. I’ve heard you say that you want leaders who know you and respond to you. You want resourcing that is contextual and that you have some confidence in. This redesign of superintendency, I believe, is a response to your requests.

A part-time superintendency is not the same as having a part-time district superintendent. We are asking each of our superintendents to serve in a team where they lean into and identify the areas of ministry where they flourish and excel.

As we start, it’s important to note that in the Alaska Conference, we’ll continue to have a single conference superintendent. A single district superintendent will continue to oversee the Crater Lake and Cascadia Districts of the Oregon-Idaho Conference. In all the other districts, starting with the SeaTac District this year, with the rest transitioning in 2026, we will have superintendency teams to serve and support congregations across our conferences.

For a while, we will have a both/and structure as we learn. We acknowledge that where we begin might not be where we land in another year or two, but we must start somewhere.

A part-time superintendency is not the same as having a part-time district superintendent. We are asking each of our superintendents to serve in a team where they lean into and identify the areas of ministry where they flourish and excel. Covenanting together, they will create a team that serves our churches with other partners, to create a whole team.

One of the things people ask is, “Aren’t you just asking people to take on two full-time jobs?” The answer is “no.” What I’ve asked for is half or one-third of a pastor’s work week, not half or a third of their life. To get to that, each pastoral leader serving the superintendency must be clear about what they are releasing to allow time and space to serve as a superintendent and a pastor. They must be clear about their boundary setting and observation. As their bishop, I, too, must be aware of how much I ask of them beyond what’s already on their plate, as a superintendency team or as a pastor in a local setting.

Our local churches and ministries must adjust as well. The superintendent is not at your beck and call. They are not waiting there just to help you when you’re in a difficult situation. They will be there to support you when you need it, or they will deploy someone to support you when in a difficult situation.

I’m asking these new superintendents to come alongside our leaders and ministries to help you discover what you can do together, while optimizing the impact our ministries can have in the communities we serve. As they do, there are two things I’ve asked them to focus on: development and connection. Development is about nourishing and supporting spiritual, principled leaders, lay and clergy, in each of our ministry settings.

When I think about connection, I am concerned not just with our United Methodist connection. I also want us to consider how we connect with ecumenical partners, educational leaders, and those in the nonprofit sector to do the ministry to which we’ve been called.

I’m encouraging the superintendents to avoid those things they don’t do well and find somebody else to do them. To that end, we will train and deploy conveners, whom you’ve already heard about in our priorities work, to work on specific needs and projects.

We will also train and support a cadre of elders to conduct charge conferences throughout the area. We’re already in the process of auditing our charge conferences so that we’re asking the right questions and scaling back unnecessary forms and processes that limit local congregations’ ministry opportunities.

This is in addition to the teams of clergy and laity I’ve mentioned before who will be trained to help local ministries maneuver through conflicts or challenges.

We’re asking our leaders to be more creative and innovative. Therefore, we ask every local ministry to be more innovative, creative, and open. If the only time you can come together is on Sunday, we probably need to ask about your ministry and your capacity.

We can’t have people in meetings all the time, because that keeps them from doing the ministry they are called to do.

With this new model, we will also want to ensure we use individuals’ time wisely. This means addressing how we conduct our Cabinet meetings across the area. We can’t have people in meetings all the time, because that keeps them from doing the ministry they are called to do. Planning is good and necessary, but ultimately, we want people in the field, living out the ministry God has entrusted to them.

Over the next several months, we’ll continue to prepare our incoming superintendents with capacity-building experiences, learning experiences, and some team-building exercises. We’ll also do the same for our congregations with pastoral leaders serving as superintendents. There’s a lot to do, but it’s all possible because our connectional resources are coming alongside us to help us.

10. Concluding thoughts

I’m grateful for your prayers and openness as we continue to walk this M.I.L.E. together. We will continue to live into our ministry priorities, trust that God has spoken to us, and consider what it means to be blessed and broken in this season.

This season demands courage—not just from leaders, but from every United Methodist. We need courage to release what no longer serves, to embrace new models of ministry, and to stand firmly for justice and compassion in every aspect of our common life. I am grateful to walk this path alongside you, trusting in your wisdom, faith, and willingness to work together across differences for the sake of God’s beloved world.

We need courage to release what no longer serves, to embrace new models of ministry, and to stand firmly for justice and compassion in every aspect of our common life.

The ambitious goals we’ve set—whether in team-based leadership, lay empowerment, anti-racism, or resource stewardship—cannot be met by staff and clergy alone. They require the prayerful, active commitment of laypeople, ministry partners, and every This is work that belongs to all of us: to imagine, to build, and to sustain. We will not legislate our way forward, and we will not pretend we have all the answers. We will wrestle with tough questions. We will pray and fast. We will study, act, and reflect. We will face the future unafraid, together. The gift of our connection is that we do not walk alone. We must continue to nourish that connection so that our shared ministries might flourish and bear fruit for years to come. Together, with God’s help, we can meet this moment with boldness, compassion, and hope. And as we continue this M.I.L.E., may we walk it with faith, courage, and the conviction that Christ goes before us and with us.

Bishop Cedrick D. Bridgeforth
Greater Northwest Episcopal Area

An invitation to ask questions or leave comments

Thank you for taking the time to read my 2025 Episcopal Address to the Greater Northwest Area. I sincerely hope that it summarizes all the good, important work underway in the area. I know it was long, and still, there were things that I could have included that I didn’t, which you may be curious about. And as you read through all that is underway, you may have new questions I didn’t think to answer.

With this last part of my address, I invite you to submit any feedback you have, including your comments and questions, using this short survey. I hope that we will be able to find some time at our upcoming annual conference sessions to address some of the questions you will submit, especially when they are asked by multiple people.

As your bishop, I believe that we will do our best work when we stay in the conversation together. Thanks again for reading my address and all you do to support our Church at work across the Greater Northwest. I’m looking forward to your questions and feedback.

– Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth

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