MENTONE – United Methodist Church’s highest authority in Indiana will be visiting the Mentone UMC March 17. It is the first time a bishop has ever visited the church as far as anyone can remember, according to The Rev. Amber Karkosky-Litten, pastor of Mentone UMC, Tuesday morning. Karkosky-Litten said Bishop Michael Coyner is the leader of the Indiana Conference of the UMC. Within the conference are approximately 1,200 UMCs. A UMC is led by a pastor. The district superintendents oversee pastors, and the bishops oversee the district superintendents. “The bishop is the highest authority in Indiana,” Karkosky-Litten said. Bishops then form the Council of Bishops. Coyner is serving his last four years as the Indiana bishop. Bishops serve terms of four years and then are reappointed. Coyner has served the last eight years in Indiana and was instrumental in unifying the North and South Indiana Conferences into one Indiana Conference. Before coming to Indiana, Coyner was a bishop in North and South Dakota. “He’s known as a unifier for the common good. He’s just been a tremendous unifier. The unifications have been really smooth,” Karkosky-Litten said. Bishops usually go around to churches where they are invited to preach, for dedications or other important church events. In October, Karkosky-Litten said, she received a letter saying for his last four years Coyner wants to reverse the process and invite himself to preach at churches. With the help of his Cabinet, he selected places to preach at and Mentone was one of the chosen churches. “The fact that he’s invited himself to preach is a huge honor,” Karkosky-Litten said. As soon as she received the letter in October, Karkosky-Litten said she replied back asking when Coyner would be available. It worked out that Mentone UMC was one of the first to accept his offer to come. He will preach at Mentone UMC at 9 a.m. March 17, and Karkosky-Litten said Coyner will be available after the service to meet people. Karkosky-Litten said she thought Mentone UMC was selected because over the last few years her church has been a strong, unified church. Many of the folks at her church worked together for the renovations the church has done to its building. “I know God has been at work because it’s been a smooth process for us to do what we needed to do to renovate the building,” she said. “It was quite unifying for our church.” It’s been a few years since the renovation, she said, but now the church can see the work God has done. The church never officially asked for money, but it came just the same. Mentone UMC made a conscious decision to stay in downtown Mentone, Karkosky-Litten said. In order to do that, that meant the church had to renovate the building. “We’ve kept the historic feel to it with a blending of modern equipment. We should be good to go for a long time. It’s been fun and really unifying,” she said. “I imagine the bishop caught wind of it and wanted to come. We’re a small church but it’s really neat he’s selected our church to come to. It’s a tremendous honor. I just can’t explain to you how much of an honor it is,” she continued. Coyner, she said, has been a wonderful leader and she looks forward to seeing what he will do the next four years. For more information about the UMC or Coyner, visit the official website inumc.org
