Beata Ferris, file photo.

Beata Ferris, reserve lay delegate for the Dakotas Conference to General Conference has been elected secretary to the denomination’s committee that determines the number that need to be elected bishops in the United States.

As defined in the Book of Discipline for The United Methodist, ¶ 512, an Interjurisdictional Committee on Episcopacy is elected by the General Conference. On Saturday, April 27 in Charlotte the committee was elected during the morning plenary session.

The Discipline further defines that “the committee shall meet by the end of session on the fifth day of General Conference to elect an executive committee consisting of a chairperson, vice chairperson, and a secretary.”

Immediately following the plenary session on day five of General Conference, April 27, members of the newly elected committee met. Rev. Kim Ingram of the Western North Carolina Conference was elected chairperson, Rev. Jasper Peters, Mountain Sky Conference vice chairperson, and Beata Ferris, Dakotas Conference was elected secretary.

Ferris is a certified lay ministry who serves as the Discipleship Coordinator at First United Methodist Church in Pierre, South Dakota. “I am humbled and honored to serve,” she said.

The functions of this joint committee are to discuss the possibility of transfers of bishops across jurisdictional lines each quadrennium; and to determine the number of episcopal leaders [bishops] need to be elected based on the missional needs of the jurisdiction. The Discipline states, “by number of its church members as provided in ¶ 404, would experience a reduction in the number of its bishops, and recommend the number of bishops to which that jurisdiction should be entitled.”

The Dakotas Conference is part of the North Central Jurisdiction (NCJ) which will hold its conference July 10-13 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The current Interjurisdictional Committee on Episcopacy determined that there would be no elections of bishops in 2024.