Appointments

Bishop’s Letter

“Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.”
Proverbs 16:3 CEB

Dear United Methodists of Eastern Pennsylvania and Greater New Jersey,

I greet you in the name and with the love of Jesus who is the Christ.

The superintendents of the Eastern Pennsylvania and Greater New Jersey Annual Conferences are continually engaged in consultation and discernment with regard to appointments. On January 7, 2025, the appointive cabinet (bishop, superintendents, and assistant to the bishop) formally began the appointment process for the 2025 appointment season. The retreat that marked the formal start of this appointment season included worship, prayer, training, consultation, reflection, bonding, intentional discernment, and intentional play. We began each day of our retreat with a time of devotion and included prayer throughout each day. Our days were tempered by the sacredness of the task before us and the joy we have as a cabinet in working with one another.

On the first day of our retreat, the entire extended/coordinating cabinet, which includes the appointive cabinet, participated in an implicit bias training. This training reminded us that every socialized human being has implicit bias. It helped us more effectively recognize our biases, determine when and how they do harm, and develop techniques to dismantle them before they cause harm. The appointive cabinet was charged with reflecting on how bias can impact the appointment process and addressing bias whenever it arises during the process.

On the second day of the retreat, the appointive cabinet discussed our values in making appointments. After a lengthy discussion and time of prayer and reflection, we identified five priorities that reflect our values for this 2025 appointment season. We all agreed that during the entire process—as we share information with one another from various sources, as we have collaborative conversations, as I seek and the cabinet shares their discernment, and as I make the final decision about appointments—we will hold one another accountable to:

  • Trusting the Holy Spirit
  • Discerning clergy/church/community matches that maximize discipleship
  • Relishing diversity
  • Fostering healthy stability
  • Balancing itinerancy with the needs of clergy families

Please pray for us and for those clergy members, congregations, and extension ministry sites that will be receiving a call from their superintendent over the next few months. Please pray that we as a cabinet will be faithful to the priorities that we believe God has called us to during this appointment year. Pray that the pastors and ministries receiving new appointments will embrace one another with grace, love, and hope-filled expectations. Please pray that every appointment made this year will be successful in glorifying God and making disciples so that all may experience God’s presence more fully.

We will post the appointments on the EPA and GNJ websites each week after they have been announced in the respective churches or appointments beyond the local church.

I invite you to frequently check the website so that you might lift those clergy persons and ministry sites in prayer.

Peace and blessings,

Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi
The United Methodists of
Eastern Pennsylvania & Greater New Jersey

BishopMoore-Koikoi@epagnj.org
EPA: 484-474-0939 | GNJ: 732-359-1010