Baltimore Washington Conference United Methodist Bishop John Schol brief web site bio

Baltimore Washington Conference United Methodist Bishop John Schol brief web site bio

http://www.bwcumc.org/content/about-our-bishop

http://www.bwcumc.org/print/2269

Published on Baltimore Washington Conference (http://www.bwcumc.org/)

Retrieved September 18, 2008

About our Bishop

John Roland Schol is the Bishop of the Washington Area of The United Methodist Church.

Elected to this office in 2004, Bishop Schol provides leadership to almost 1,000 clergy and 200,000 lay people and oversees the administration, mission and minstry of the Baltimore-Washington Conference.

Before coming to the Baltimore-Washington Conference, Bishop Schol served as pastor of the West Chester United Methodist Church, in West Chester, Pa., near Philadelphia, since 1997. There he helped instill new vitality and vision in a declining downtown congregation, thus expanding its membership, facilities, mission involvement and witness for justice and compassion in the community.

From 1993-97, John Schol directed the Office of Urban Ministries at the denomination’s worldwide missions agency, the General Board of Global Ministries, in New York City. There, he led the development of two major initiatives that are still operating and still popular among many churches and conferences: a holistic urban ministry training program known as the Holy Boldness Urban Academy and the innovative, collaborative community development program known as Communities of Shalom. The latter ministry engages churches and communities in creative ministry together in urban and rural communities across the United States and in Africa.

After earning a Master of Divinity degree at Boston University School of Theology in 1981, Bishop Schol became executive director and pastor of the Frankford Group Ministry, a cooperative parish ministry in Philadelphia, from 1981 to 1993. He later earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Boston in 1995.

Bishop Schol is a member of the board of trustees of Wesley Theological Seminary, American University and Sibley Hospital, in Washington D.C. He also serves on a number of United Methodist groups, including serving as chair of the General Board of Archives and History and the National Shalom Committee.

The architect of the Baltimore-Washington Conference's "Discipleship Adventure," Bishop Schol brings to the church a visionary, strategic mind, a servant-leader's spirit and a prophetic voice that expresses his faith in the transformative and renewing power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church 7178 Columbia Gateway Dr., Suite D Columbia, MD 21046 410-309-3400 Directions to BWC

20080918 Bishop John Schol brief web site bio