Strangely Warmed

The Council of Bishops and the Need for Military Chaplains The Methodist Church came into existence on May 10, 1939, incorporating the 8 million members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and the Methodist Protestant Church. One year later, the reunited church held its first General of Conference in May 1940. The Methodist Church’s first Book of Discipline (1940) created the Council of Bishops as an official body of the church. "There shall be a Council of Bishops composed of all the Bishops of all the Jurisdictional and Central Conferences, the latter with vote limited to matters relating to their respective Central Conferences. The Council shall meet at least once a year and plan for the general oversight and promotion of the temporal and spiritual interests of the entire Church and for carrying into effect the rules, regulations, and responsibilities prescribed and enjoined by the General Conference, and in accord with the provision...

Bishop Adna Wright Leonard was the father of chaplaincy as an organized ministry of the Methodist denomination. He was killed on May 3, 1943 while visiting chaplains and service members overseas during World War II. The United Methodist General Commission on Archives and History provides this brief biography. Bishop Adna Wright Leonard was born November 2, 1874, in Cincinnati. He was the only son of Reverend and Mrs. A.B. Leonard. His father was the mission secretary of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Leonard married Mary Luella Day on October 9, 1901. Two children were born of their marriage. Leonard was educated at New York University, Drew Theological Seminary, and The American School of Archeology in Rome. After the completion of his education Leonard was ordained in the Cincinnati Annual Conference in 1899. He served churches in New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Rome, Ohio, and Washington State. In 1916 he was elected a bishop and served in San Francisco (1916-1924), Buffalo, (1924-...