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Meet our Bishop

Biographical Information about Scott Jameson Jones

Scott Jameson Jones currently serves as the resident bishop of the Kansas Area of the United Methodist Church.

He was born in 1954 in Nashville, Tennessee and was raised in Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana and Colorado. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver, Colorado, the University of Kansas (B.A. in Philosophy, with highest honors and departmental honors, Phi Beta Kappa), and Perkins School of Theology of Southern Methodist University (Master of Theology, with high honors). In May 1992, he received a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Southern Methodist University. His dissertation research was focused on Wesley Studies and the History of Biblical Interpretation.

From 1986 to 1997, he served as pastor of three United Methodist churches in Prosper, Howe and Commerce, Texas. In 2003-2004, he served as interim pastor at Stonebridge UMC in McKinney, Texas. From 1997 to 2004, he served on the faculty of Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. There he taught Evangelism, History of Christianity, United Methodist Studies and Wesley Studies courses. He was the director of the Center for the Advanced Study and Practice of Evangelism at SMU and was awarded the rank of associate professor with tenure in 2003.

Scott was ordained deacon in the Kansas East Conference of the United Methodist Church in 1978 and ordained elder in 1987 in the North Texas Conference. On July 16, 2004, he was elected bishop and consecrated on July 17, 2004, at the South Central Jurisdictional Conference. He was assigned to serve as the resident bishop of the Kansas Area as of Sept. 1, 2004.

In 1996, 2000 and 2004, he was a delegate to the General and Jurisdictional conferences of the United Methodist Church. In 2000, he served as vice chairperson of the General Conference Legislative Committee on Faith and Order. For four years, he chaired the Equipping Disciples Team for the North Texas Annual Conference, where he participated in the development of “Bring a Friend Sunday” and “Home for Christmas.” From 1997 to 2006, he served as a member of the International Joint Commission for Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Methodist Council. For two years, he served as spiritual director of the Dallas Emmaus Community. From 1997 to 2004, he served on the board of directors of the SMU Wesley Foundation, being vice chairperson for the last five years of that term.

His most recent books are “Staying at the Table: The Gift of Unity for United Methodists” (2008), “United Methodist Doctrine: The Extreme Center” (2002) and “The Evangelistic Love of God and Neighbor: A Theology of Discipleship and Witness” (2003), all from Abingdon Press. His previous books are “John Wesley’s Conception and Use of Scripture” and “Gathered Into One: The World Methodist Conference Speaks.” He was co-author of “Wesley and the Quadrilateral: Renewing the Conversation.” He has been named associate editor of volumes 5 and 6 in the Bicentennial Edition of “The Works of John Wesley” and the scholarly edition of Wesley’s “Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament.”

Scott is married to Mary Lou Reece, who is president of Reece Construction Company. They have three children.