Samuel Clifton Ives (born November 13, 1937) is a retired American bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1992.

Birth and family

Ives was born in

Farmington, Maine Farmington is a town in and the county seat of Franklin County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 7,592. Farmington is home to the University of Maine at Farmington, Nordica Memorial Auditorium, the Nordica Homestea ...

. The son of a Methodist pastor, he lived in seven different Maine communities while growing up. He is married to Jane Petherbridge Ives. They have three grown children (Bonnie Marden, Stephen and Jonathan), and seven grandchildren. Ives enjoys running, gardening, swimming, sailing, skiing, carpentry, and mountain climbing.

Education

Ives graduated from the University of Maine in 1960. He earned both an

M.Div. For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and di ...

degree (1963), and a

D.Min. The Doctor of Ministry (abbreviated DMin or D.Min.) is a professional doctorate, often including a research component, that may be earned by a minister of religion while concurrently engaged in some form of ministry. It is categorized as an advanced ...

degree in Church and Society (1983) from Boston University School of Theology.

Ordained ministry

Ives was ordained deacon (1961) and elder (1963) by bishop James K. Mathews. Rev. Ives served for thirty years in the Maine

Annual Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main pu ...

, including pastorates at

Cape Elizabeth Cape Elizabeth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The town is part of the Portland– South Portland–Biddeford, Maine, metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 census, Cape Elizabeth had a population of 9,535. ...

, Bangor, Waterville and Westbrook. In addition to his service as a pastor, Ives served as the Director of the Conference Council on Ministries (1973–76) and as Superintendent of the Southern District (1986–92). Ives was elected a delegate from his Annual Conference to United Methodist Church Jurisdictional and General Conferences (1972–92). He also served on the

Board of Directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of the U.M. General Board of Discipleship (1984–88), and for ten years was a member of the World Methodist Council. With his wife he has also been involved in marriage enrichment leadership since 1976.

Episcopal ministry

Ives was elected to the episcopacy in 1992 by the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference of the United Methodist Church. He was assigned to the West Virginia Episcopal Area (the West Virginia Annual Conference). As a bishop, he also served as vice-president of the U.M. General Commission on Religion and Race (1992–96). He also maintained a special interest in World

Missions Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion * Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

, which led him twice to

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

with

United Methodist Volunteers in Mission The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelicali ...

, as well as to Russia and Africa.

References

InfoServ
the official information service of The United Methodist Church
The Council of Bishops
of the United Methodist Church

External links