Getting to Know Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi

In March 2021, the Northeastern Jurisdiction College of Bishops announced that Bishop Sandra Steiner Ball and Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi will provide episcopal leadership and coverage of Susquehanna, West Virginia, and Western Pennsylvania Conferences during the interim period of September 1, 2021 through December 31, 2022 due to the postponed General and Jurisdictional Conferences. Get to know our new bishops by viewing this video and through the following letters.

Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi

The first Pentecost Day was so astonishing it almost overwhelmed the thousands of people who were gathered together. Indeed, God did a new thing as God, through the rush of the wind, poured out God’s Holy Spirit over thousands of diverse people; and the church was born. That rush of wind was such a seminal experience in the life of the church that 2,000 years later, not only do we commemorate that singular day, but we spend an entire season celebrating God’s gift of the Holy Spirit for the work of the church. Pentecost extends from May through the start of Advent in November.

Sometimes as a result of the typical summer programming lull in many churches, we don’t take full advantage of this time in the liturgical year to really celebrate and praise God for the new thing that God did for the church. This year, I am going to be more intentional about celebrating Pentecost in my personal devotion time, and I invite you to do the same. I encourage you to commit to praying, throughout this season, prayers of thanksgiving and praise to God for Pentecost. 

Here is one of my prayers for us all:

Almighty God, the only One who can impart the Holy Spirit like a rush of violent wind and tongues of fire, we thank you for all you have given to your church. We praise you for the gift of diversity that you blessed and made holy on that first Day of Pentecost. Thank you for the times that your Spirit breaks through our humanness and causes persons who come from different backgrounds, experiences, cultures, and perspectives to speak to one another in ways that lead to understanding, commitment to a common mission, and the conversion of others. 

Forgive us for the times we have sneered at and judged those whom you have gifted with the desire and ability to listen to and understand the other. Forgive us for the times we have squandered, ignored, been afraid of, mistrusted, or otherwise misused these and other gifts you have given us for the building up of your church. We thank you for your patience with us, God. 

O God, we ask that you ignite in us the same level of joy and awe those first churchgoers felt because of the presence of your spirit among them. Help us to continue to be or to become overwhelmingly, obnoxiously, astoundingly excited about being members of the United Methodist Church. Help us to feel the same urgency felt by those early converts who were “cut in the heart” and asked Peter and the apostles what they should do in response to their experience with your Holy Spirit. 

God, to You we give all honor, glory, and praise. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.  

One reason I want to be more intentional about celebrating this year is because I believe it is the providence of God that we will be embarking on our experiment in episcopal coverage for Susquehanna, Western Pennsylvania, and West Virginia during Pentecost. Bishop Steiner-Ball and I come to Susquehanna from different regions with diverse experiences, distinct expectations, and - because of all of the acronyms that we United Methodists use - different languages. We will need a little Pentecost to do this to work.

Because of my faith, I expect God’s Holy Spirit will come to us and we will be able to understand one another, be in awe and wonder of God, get excited about discerning what God would have us to do, and commit to doing God’s will. Bishop Steiner-Ball and I already experienced a little Pentecost when all three cabinets gathered in Hershey the second week in June. We were encouraged and invigorated by our connecting and planning. We are anxious to do God’s will.

So I will intentionally be praying for Pentecost to be fully experienced in these three annual conferences so that thousands might ask of us, “What must we do to be saved?” 

To God be the glory.

Three Conferences, Two Bishops

Jackie Campbell, Communications Director, Western Pennsylvania Conference UMC

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. — Isaiah 43:19 (ESV)

United Methodist leaders in the Susquehanna, Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia Conferences are preparing to move forward in faith, cooperating in ministry and mission across geographic boundaries as two bishops share leadership of all three areas beginning September 1, 2021. 

Bishops Sandra Steiner Ball of West Virginia and Cynthia Moore-Koikoi of Western PA have been assigned by the Northeastern Jurisdiction College of Bishops to provide coverage of the Susquehanna Conference, in addition to their current areas, as Bishop Jeremiah Park moves into vocational retirement. 

While it is common in the United Methodist Church for one bishop to lead more than one annual conference, this model for leadership is new. The two bishops have met weekly on-line and a few times in person to prepare for the launch of this experimental model for episcopal leadership. 

“I am excited because we are going to be able to work out of our own gift sets, our own passions, so that we can resource these three conferences and we can move forward together to be where God wants us to be in mission and ministry,” said Bishop Moore-Koikoi. 

“There’s nothing I like more than collaborating in ministry,” Bishop Steiner Ball said. I am just very excited that we have this new opportunity to work with three conferences and to be able to see what the movement of God’s spirit is going to bring about!”

“It’s exciting to work out of our own passions, but also to ignite passions of others in these three conferences so that they awaken to opportunities to work together in new ways and also to discover what God is already doing in these three conferences,” said Bishop Steiner Ball. “It’s just a creative moment a chance to be intentional about where

The experimental model is going to necessitate that “we grow and develop strong laity leadership in order to do what needs to be done,” Bishop Moore-Koikoi said. Groups of leaders will be asked to help the bishops discern and develop ways to support leadership development, better deploy laity leaders, share revitalization strategies, and support mission and ministry. 

“We have an opportunity...to dream God-sized dreams, to see where Christ is at work and see where we can move alongside” to meet the physical and spiritual needs, Bishop Steiner Ball added.

“This is not a forerunner to merging annual conferences!” Bishop Moore-Koikoi said. “We are NOT trying to do that. BUT what we can do is strip away some of the human-made boundaries. 

“We are going to keep episcopal areas, keep Annual Conference boundaries for some things we need to do around polity, around leadership development and those kinds of things. But the boundaries are going to be more porous in order that we can deploy resources where they are most needed,” she explained.

“It’s about multiplication of ministry and resources and congregations,” Bishop Steiner Ball added. “It’s biblical...to multiply life in every way.”

The extended Cabinets of the three Conferences met together in Hersey, PA in early June to get to know each other better, learn about leadership practices and organization in each area and share ideas. Participants shared their concerns and what excites them about the possibilities for reinvigorating ministry. 

Since then, there have been follow-up conversations and sharing of ideas and resources. Some aspects of the collaboration are not yet known. Additional details of the experiment will be announced in August and September.

“God has planted a seed with us and with these annual conferences. And, you know, when you plant a seed, you can’t see what is going to come up,” said Bishop Steiner Ball. “You can have an expectation, but you can’t see exactly where the branches are...or the fruit is going to look like. That’s the exciting adventure. But I am thankful that God has planted with us in our call to mission and ministry to work together to make Christ known and to bring the transforming power of Christ to these three annual conference in new and vibrant ways.” 

As the bishops and leaders watch the experiment, they’ll see what has worked and what has not and be able to share those things with the Jurisdiction and the denomination. The bishops said they hope to get good factual information and data from this experiment to help the denomination discern the role of a bishop in the life of the Church. 

“God does these new things so that we can learn … and help lead others into learning and thereby multiplying how we do ministry even better tomorrow and for future generations than we do it today,” said Bishop Steiner Ball.  

The experiment will last for at least a year and the Lewis Center for Church Leadership, based at Wesley Theological Seminary, will help to evaluate the model. 

The College of Bishops Northeastern Jurisdiction

To the United Methodists of the Northeastern Jurisdiction from the College of Bishops of the Northeastern Jurisdiction

Grace and Peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ,

We thank God for you and commend the clergy and congregational leaders for your leadership. These have been difficult and isolating times for many and yet you are leading our most vital ministry, congregations and community ministries with conviction and determination. You have demonstrated the gifts of courage, leadership, innovation and grace. Thank you.

On March 29, 2021, we announced the coverage of Episcopal Areas in the Northeastern Jurisdiction effective September 1, 2021.

The pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges in the life of the church. One area of challenge has been our ability to conference together in the General and Jurisdictional Conferences. General Conference sets the policies for the church, elects new general agency leadership and sets the global direction and budget for the church. The Jurisdictional Conference elects new bishops and assigns bishops to episcopal areas.

Due to the 2020 General Conference being postponed a second time, it has meant the continual postponement of the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference. Two of the Northeastern Jurisdiction bishops, Bishops Peggy Johnson and Jeremiah Park have requested and been granted voluntarily retirement starting September 1, 2021 under paragraph 408.2 (b) of The Book of Discipline.

Bishop Johnson will move to Virginia in August of 2021 to employ her gifts and experience to serve in ministry with congregations and provide consultation with deaf and disability ministry in the NEJ and across the connection.

Bishop Park will move to New Jersey in August of 2021 to employ his gifts and experience to serve in ministry as the Presiding Bishop with both the Northeastern Jurisdiction Korean Mission and the United Methodist Mission in Mongolia.

The 2020 postponed General Conference will gather in person August 29 through September 6, 2022 in Minneapolis, MN followed by U.S. Jurisdictional Conferences to be held in October of 2022 for the election and assignment of bishops.

Because two bishops will retire this year, effective September 1, 2021, The Book of Discipline authorizes the College of Bishops to provide coverage of open episcopal areas until new bishops are elected and assigned by the Jurisdictional Conference. This coverage will be for 16 months from September 1, 2021 through December 31, 2022.

The College of Bishops after consulting with the Northeastern Jurisdiction Episcopacy Committee and individual bishops, and after prayer and meeting several times about coverage during this interim period, announces the following bishops will provide episcopal leadership and coverage within the Northeastern Jurisdiction.

Bishop Moore-Koikoi

Bishop Steiner Ball

Episcopal Areas: West Virginia Area (West Virginia Conference), Pittsburgh Area (Western Pennsylvania Conference) and
Harrisburg Area (Susquehanna Conference), Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi and Bishop Sandra Steiner Ball.

Episcopal Areas: Washington Area (Baltimore-Washington Conference) and Philadelphia Area (Peninsula Delaware Conference) – Bishop LaTrelle Easterling.

Episcopal Areas: New Jersey Area (Greater New Jersey Conference) and Philadelphia Area (Eastern Pennsylvania Conference) – Bishop John Schol.

Upper New York Area (Upper New York Conference), Bishop Mark Webb.

Boston Area (New England Conference), Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar.

New York Area (New York Conference), Bishop Thomas Bickerton.

These are temporary arrangements and configurations to provide coverage. The next in-person Jurisdictional Conference will set the episcopal areas and assignments of bishops for the next quadrennium.

We thank you for your continued ministry and service within The United Methodist Church and the world. We invite you to pray for the church and our leadership as bishops as we serve together to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

In Christ,

Boston Area
Sudarshana Devadhar

Harrisburg Area
Jeremiah J. Park

New Jersey Area
John R. Schol

New York Area
Thomas J. Bickerton

Philadelphia Area
Peggy A. Johnson

Pittsburgh Area
Cynthia Moore Koikoi

Upper New York Area
Mark Webb

Washington Area
LaTrelle Easterling

West Virginia Area
Sandra Steiner Ball

Retired
George W. Bashore, Violet L. Fisher, William Boyd Grove, Susan W. Hassinger, Neil L. Irons, Clifton S. Ives, Alfred Johnson, Ernest S. Lyght, Marcus Matthews, Jane Allen Middleton, Susan M. Morrison, Forrest C. Stith, Peter D. Weaver, Joseph H. Yeakel