Outgoing United Methodist bishop makes final visit to area
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
The Rev. Thomas Bickerton (left) talks with the Rev. Dennis Zimmerman, pastor of Kantner United Methodist Church in Somerset County, during the bishop’s visit to Calvary United Methodist Church.
During a visit to the Calvary United Methodist Church in Uniontown, the Rev. Thomas Bickerton (center), Bishop of the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church, speaks with Rev. Marvin Watson of Mount Pleasant (left) and Ken Urbach of South Connellsville.
The Rev. Thomas Bickerton, Bishop of the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church, and his wife Sally Bickerton take in sights of the sanctuary of the Calvary United Methodist Church in Uniontown.
Bickerton
Bishop Thomas Bickerton of the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church spoke with some sadness as he recently made his final visit to the area.
“This is the farewell tour,” said Bickerton, 57, who will be transferred to another conference in late summer after 12 years in this assignment.
“We are crying our way out of here. We love western Pennsylvania. It’s our home,” said Bickerton, accompanied by his wife, Sally, before attending a dinner and speaking event with members of the Connellsville District at the Calvary United Methodist Church in Uniontown. “We’ve met good people wherever we go and God takes good care of us. We’re excited to see what God has in store for us next.”
The Rev. Andrew Spore, who pastors Calvary as well as Otterbein in Connellsville, said the church was honored to host the event.
“I think his contribution to western Pennsylvania has been monumental just in the energy he brings,” Spore said of the bishop. “He seems tireless.”
Spore’s wife, the Rev. Beverly Spore, pastor of Wesley in Connellsville and the Indian Creek area churches, said, “He’s the only bishop I’ve known. He ordained me. I will miss him.”
Bickerton leads 168,185 members in 826 churches in 23 counties in western Pennsylvania, according to the latest figures supplied by the conference, headquartered in Cranberry Township, Butler County.
The Connellsville District is one of 10 in the conference and includes 99 churches from Monongahela in the west to Mount Pleasant in the north to Hooversville, Somerset County, in the east and the borders of West Virginia and Maryland in the south.
The Rev. William Blair, Connellsville superintendent, said of the bishop, “I’m in my fifth year working with him and it’s been a delight. We’ve been fortunate to have his leadership.”
Bickerton explained bishops can only serve 12 years in one place by church law. He will receive his new assignment in July when he attends a meeting in Lancaster for the northeastern jurisdiction which runs from New England to West Virginia. He’ll start his new job Sept. 1.
Born in Glen Dale, West Virginia, Bickerton earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology/psychology in 1980 from West Virginia Wesleyan College and a master of divinity degree in 1983 from Duke University Divinity School as well as a doctor of ministry degree from United Theological School in 1994.
Ordained in 1985, Bickerton served as a pastor and then a district superintendent in West Virginia before becoming the youngest United Methodist bishop when he was installed as head of the Western Pennsylvania Conference in 2004.
Since then, Bickerton has seen a drop in the number of Methodists and churches in the conference, a combination of people moving out of the area and a national trend of more people choosing not to belong to a church.
Yet, the United Methodist Church remains the second-largest denomination in the area, behind Catholics.
“There are very few communities in western Pennsylvania where you will not find a United Methodist church,” said Bickerton.
In recent years, the area has seen an influx of Fijians come to the area to work in the gas industry. They are active in United Methodist churches in their communities as they were in Fiji.
Bickerton noted, “We’re a very diverse denomination. Both George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton are devout United Methodists. We’re liberal, conservative and moderate– a real mix of diversity. That causes us some challenges, but on the whole, it’s one of our biggest assets.”
The Rev. Bev Roscoe, who pastors churches in Gans and Point Marion where many Fijians worship, said of Bickerton, “He never forgets anybody’s name. He makes you feel valued and important. He encourages the laity to live their calling as equally as the clergy.”
The Rev. Sandra Fitzgibbons, associate pastor of the Mon Valley Parish, said, “The work he’s done has been absolutely amazing. He’s an awesome man.”
Her husband, Wyatt, a layperson, noted, “About four years ago at Grove City, he gave a very good talk. When he was done, he asked people to come receive the Lord. I felt I had to. He’s changed the way I live.”
In addition to local duties, Bickerton has become the denomination’s roving ambassador as he promotes the United Methodist Church’s Imagine No Malaria campaign.
Since 2008, the United Methodist Church has raised more than $68 million toward a $75 million goal to fight malaria. Bickerton said the Western Pennsylvania Conference raised $2.3 million.
“Equally inspiring is the average contribution has been $87.23. That’s a commentary on how people have become involved in the campaign: kids selling lemonade, youths doing basketball shoots, college campuses doing fundraisers,” Bickerton said.
The United Methodist News Service reported in a recent article that campaign funds are being used to purchase rapid diagnostic kits, better educate people to use insecticide-treated bed nets and strengthen infrastructure, including the denomination’s more than 300 hospitals and rural outposts across sub-Saharan Africa.
In his work, Bickerton has spoken on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., and at the United Nations in New York City.
“I’ve hung around with celebrities and sports stars. It’s opened a world of collaboration and it’s great,” said Bickerton.
The bishop also visited 15 nations in Africa where he’s been touched by people he’s met, saying, “Sometimes they give you their only meal. It’s very humbling. You encounter people who have nothing but because of their deep spirituality, they have joy.”
Results are already being seen in eliminating malaria-related deaths as officials report a child was dying from malaria every 30 seconds in 2008. Now it’s every two minutes.
Bickerton said, “I believe our relationship with God calls us to go into the world. We’re a global village and we have a responsibility to each other.”
He noted that people can practice this by contributing to their local food bank and thrift store.
Bickerton said, “It’s the church’s role to say joy and peace fit into our lives and we have to be ready to carry that message into the world.”