Central and southern Europe elects Stefan Zürcher bishop
The newly elected Bishop Stefan Zürcher addresses delegates and guests at the Central and Southern Europe Central Conference. Zürcher was elected on November 18 at the conference in Basel, Switzerland. The Central Conference includes United Methodist Churches in 13 countries in Europe and North Africa. Photo by Pastor Jörg Niederer.
Core items:
- Zürcher was elected on November 18 in the fourth ballot and received 41 of 68 votes cast.
- Since 2015 he has been District Superintendent of Northwestern Switzerland. He has been a member of the United Methodist Connectional Table since 2016.
- Delegates met November 16-20 to elect a bishop to fill the vacancy that will be created when Bishop Patrick Streiff retires on August 1, 2023.
Rev. Stefan Zürcher of Switzerland was elected United Methodist Bishop by the delegates of the Central and Southern Europe Central Conference.
Zurich, 55, was elected at a specially convened central conference meeting in Basel on November 18th. In the fourth ballot he received 41 out of 68 votes cast. Since 2015 he has been the district governor of north-western Switzerland.
Delegates met November 16-20 to elect a bishop to fill the vacancy that will be created when Bishop Patrick Streiff retires on August 1, 2023. By then, Streiff will have chaired the conference for more than 17 years. Delegates also participated in dialogue sessions on Church unity and the future of the conference.
Upon his election, Zürcher told the gathering he was “joyful of the opportunity.”
“I will endeavor to fulfill the task assigned to me,” he said in German.
Zürcher was elected by the 68 voting delegates, an equal number of clergy and lay United Methodists, from the 13 countries that make up the Central Conference. The conference stretches from Algeria in the south to Poland in the north and from France in the west to Romania in the east.
The United Methodist Church is divided into major regions called Central Conferences in Africa, Europe, and the Philippines, and Jurisdiction Conferences in the United States. Each conference includes a series of annual conferences in the region, which in turn include districts of local churches.
Bishops Streiff and Zürcher will travel together to the annual conference meetings in 2023, and at the end of each meeting Streiff will hand over authority for that conference to the new bishop.
Bishop Patrick Streiff (middle) speaks after the election of Rev. Stefan Zürcher (left) as bishop of the United Methodist Central and Southern Europe Central Conference. Streiff, who will retire in August 2023, will have chaired the conference for more than 17 years. At right is Bishop David Bard, who leads the Dakotas-Minnesota and Michigan areas of the United States. Photo by Rev. Jörg Niederer.
Zürcher has held leadership positions at all levels of the Church. He has been a member of the United Methodist Connectional Table since 2016. He is also an instructor for Methodist eAcademy. At the level of the annual conference, he is involved in the training of lay preachers and has headed the crisis team of the UMC Switzerland since 2017. His work as a pastor also includes serving as an army chaplain.
He was ordained a priest in 2003 and served in the local church from 2000 to 2015. He studied at the Reutlingen Theological University from 1995 to 2000 and is currently on the board of the university. In 2019 he received his doctorate from the Theological Faculty of the University of Zurich.
He and his wife Valérie have four adult children.
In a written biographical statement, Zürcher said he wanted to strengthen and promote the cohesion of the church.
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“I’m not a strategist but see myself as someone who helps make things happen and creates space for people to experiment and where, when the time is right and God gives, something can grow,” he wrote.
Addressing the conference, Zürcher, who has a background in botany, said he was “always very happy when I see lots of flowers.”
“What connects us is the commonality, where our roots are, where we take our common strength, where we take our sustenance,” he said in German.
“The task for all of us and also for (the) bishop in particular is to find and cultivate this soil and to see that roots can grow in this soil, that fertility can arise from it. We need to nurture that bond that holds us together, so we depend on God’s life force, the Holy Spirit, for life…and fruition.”
On November 20, a consecration service will take place in Basel Minster. The award ceremony can be followed live https://emk-schweiz.ch/livestream/#ZK1 at 2:00 p.m. Central European Standard Time.
Zürcher serves a six-year term, ending when the Central Conference meets after the 2028 General Conference, the denomination’s top legislative assembly.
The United Methodist Book of Discipline, the statute book of the denomination, directs every bishop to “protect the faith, order, liturgy, doctrine and discipline of the church” and “all those entrusted to them in worship in the celebration of administering the sacraments and in their mission of witness and service in the world.” Bishops are also to be “prophetic voices and bold leaders in the cause of justice for all men.”
Tanton is the chief news officer for United Methodist Communications. Contact him at (615) 742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist News, subscribe to the free Daily or Friday Digests.
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