Bishop’s installation Oct. 23
Installation service for the new bishop of the Oklahoma Area begins at 4 p.m. Oct. 23 in Tulsa at Asbury United Methodist Church.
(Can’t attend in person? Watch the live stream at www.okumc.org. )
All are invited to attend that afternoon and join in celebrating the assignment of Bishop James "Jimmy" G. Nunn.
Twelve years have passed since Oklahoma United Methodists received a new episcopal leader. This should be quite a party.
The event is "a collective way to welcome and officially name him as our bishop, as a whole area," said April Coates of the program planning team.
"We are his congregation, and he is our pastor."
Bishop Nunn leads both the Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conferences, about 600 churches total.
This is an area-wide service, emphasizing Christian unity amid many kinds of diversity, Rev. Coates said.
Representatives from both conferences will present the bishop with unique gifts. A pastoral staff is being made by an OIMC member. Cookson Hills Center is sewing a stole.
Nunn will receive the gavel that retired Bishop Dan Solomon used during his eight years in Oklahoma, according to Joseph Harris, director of Communications.
Linda Harker, senior pastor of McFarlin UMC in Norman, will introduce the bishop. She is the new chairperson of the South Central Jurisdiction’s Committee on Episcopacy.
At the request of Bishop Nunn, the program also will commemorate a milestone for women in ministry. During 2016, the denomination is celebrating 60 years of ordination for women in Methodism.
Nunn will preside at Communion, which will be served by 30 current and retired clergy women, both deacons and elders.
Also at the bishop’s request, the offering will go to the Clergy Crisis Fund.
A celebration service is traditional in annual conferences when episcopal leadership changes, said Rev. Dr. Harris.
Few people can attend the jurisdictional (regional) conferences where bishops are elected. So this event offers people an opportunity to personally meet the new episcopal family.
Coates expressed her appreciation for the generous invitation by Asbury to host the installation.
Asbury UMC is in southeastern Tulsa, across the street from Union High School. Address is 6767 S. Mingo Rd.
On Nov. 6, the OIMC community will host an installation service at Smith Chapel on the Oklahoma City University campus.