September 12, 2017

To the People of God in the Diocese of Northern California:

Grace to you and peace through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We write to you, as Bishop and Standing Committee President of this diocese, to inform you of an expectation that Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will be with us on June 29, 2019. The purpose of his visit will be the ordination and consecration of a new bishop diocesan, at which point your present bishop will "retire". We anticipate that a new bishop will have been elected by you on or about February 9, 2019.

The formal call for an election will be on the agenda of Diocesan Convention this November. Our Standing Committee will govern this process. They have met with Bishop Todd Ousley, who oversees episcopal elections for the Presiding Bishop, and with Ms. Judy Stark, who will serve as our consultant for the search and transition processes. Those processes are now underway, under the direction of the Standing Committee. Members of the Standing Committee will be present at the October 14 Deanery Convocations to discuss all of this in detail; further communications from the Standing Committee will be coming to you soon.

A personal message from your bishop can be found here.

We ask that every member of this diocese begin now to pray for God's guidance and blessing in all the work before us these next two years – especially in meeting the challenge of conducting a successful search while staying faithfully focused on our mission and ministries here and now. We are grateful to be your servants in that work.

God bless you now and on this new part of our journey together.

Yours in the love of Christ,

The Rev. Elizabeth Armstrong The Rt. Rev. Barry L. Beisner



