The US Bishop

The US National Conference shall elect an ordained minister to serve as US bishop for a four-year term. This person must have served as a United Brethren elder for at least six years. The bishop shall reside in the area of Huntington, Indiana.

521 Election of the US Bishop

1. Nominating Committee

The Executive Leadership Team shall appoint a nominating committee as soon as practicable after the election of delegates to the US National Conference.

2. Duties of the Nominating Committee

a. The nominating committee shall consider all elders eligible for election to the office of bishop. (See 12.2.)

b. The nominating committee shall confer with persons they desire to nominate to determine if there are circumstances which would prevent them from serving, if elected.

c. The nominating committee shall, when possible, notify the membership of the US National Conference of its nominations at least 30 days prior to the US National Conference.

3. Amendments to the Report

The nominating committee report may be amended by addition from the floor of the US National Conference. However, before the report can be adopted, those nominated by amendment must be interviewed by the nominating committee to determine if there are circumstances which would prevent them from serving, if elected.

4. Election

The election shall be conducted immediately after the report is adopted. Persons elected must receive a majority of the votes cast by ballot.

522 Duties of the Bishop

1. Develop and communicate the vision of the church in cooperation with the Executive Leadership Team.

2. Serve as an ex officio member of all national conference leadership teams.

3. Preside at meetings of the US National Conference and the Executive Leadership Team. The bishop shall be responsible for the general administration of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA. The bishop will oversee the work of the directors, the staff, and the national leadership teams.

4. Conduct ordination services or assign this responsibility to another ordained minister.

5. Ensure that accountability procedures are established for all directors, leadership teams, cluster coaches, and staff of the US national church

6. Interpret Discipline. The bishop shall interpret the Discipline, and this ruling shall stand until the next meeting of the US National Conference or the ELT.

7. Appoint Cluster Coaches. The bishop shall be responsible to appoint cluster coaches. Local churches that do not voluntarily join a cluster will be assigned a cluster relationship by the bishop.

8. Comply with International Agreements. The bishop shall ensure that US National Conference entities comply with any joint ministry agreements with any other United Brethren national conferences.

9. Represent the US National Conference. The bishop shall, at his discretion, participate in or designate someone to represent the US National Conference to parachurch and inter-denominational ministries, and to other evangelical denominations.

10. Develop and implement a strategy for recruiting future pastors and churches.

11. Station pastors in conjunction with others assigned to that task.

12. Promote and communicate the Core Values of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International, and the Standards of the Church as stated in Part 2 of the Discipline.

13. Encourage and promote continuing relationship with the international conferences.

14. The bishop is an ex-officio ministerial member to the General Conference.

523 Accountability

1. The bishop shall be accountable to the Executive Leadership Team for ministry performance and moral and personal conduct. An annual evaluation will be conducted according to provisions established by the Executive Leadership Team.

2. If the bishop becomes involved in immoral or imprudent conduct or otherwise proves to be incompetent in that office, the Executive Leadership Team will request the bishop's resignation or may remove the bishop from office by a two-thirds vote.

524 Succession

If a vacancy occurs in the office of bishop due to death, disability, resignation, or removal, the Executive Leadership Team shall appoint an elder to serve as acting bishop until the next meeting of the US National Conference.