Understanding the Roles in the Search for Our Ninth Bishop
As we move into the search for our ninth Bishop of Alaska, you will hear a number of different groups mentioned: the Standing Committee, the Search and Transition Committee, our Search Consultant, the Chancellor, Bishop Mark and the diocesan staff, and Diocesan Convention.
Each has a different role to play. Some provide oversight, others listen and discern, others provide guidance and support, and ultimately the clergy and lay delegates of the Diocese of Alaska will elect our next bishop. Understanding those different roles can help all of us see how the pieces of this process fit together.
The Standing Committee — Providing Oversight
The Standing Committee is responsible for overseeing the bishop search and election process on behalf of the diocese.
That begins with establishing the structure for the search, working with our Search Consultant, appointing the Search and Transition Committee, setting the calendar and expectations for its work, and making sure the process is thoughtfully structured, clearly communicated, and carried out in keeping with our governing documents and election procedures.
The Standing Committee and the Search and Transition Committee have separate responsibilities, and there will be no overlap in their membership. The Standing Committee will not participate in the discernment of candidates. That work is entrusted to the Search and Transition Committee.
Once the Search and Transition Committee has completed its discernment and presented its recommended slate, the Standing Committee will carry the process forward through the next stages leading toward the election.
The Search and Transition Committee — From Search to Transition
The Search and Transition Committee will carry much of the hands-on work of this process. Its work will happen in two distinct but connected phases: first the search, and then the transition.
During the search phase, the committee will listen to people throughout the Diocese of Alaska, help develop our diocesan profile, invite and receive applications and nominations, learn about and interview candidates, and prayerfully discern the candidates it believes should be recommended to the Standing Committee.
This is significant work, but the committee will not do it alone. Our Search Consultant will walk closely with the committee, and candidate discernment includes background checks, references, and other careful due diligence.
As the search moves into the transition phase, the nature of the work will change. The relationships and knowledge the committee has developed throughout the search will make its members natural leaders for this next stage. They will help introduce the final candidates to the diocese, support the election, and, after the election, help prepare for the transition from Bishop Mark to our ninth bishop.
The transition will also become a much more broadly shared effort. Congregations, deaneries, diocesan leaders, staff, and many others will be invited into the work. The Search and Transition Committee will help coordinate that work, but it will take many more hands to carry it out.
The Search Consultant — Guiding the Process
Our Search Consultant brings experience with episcopal searches and will guide both the Standing Committee and the Search and Transition Committee through a process that most of us will experience only once or twice in the life of a diocese.
The consultant will help us understand the steps ahead, prepare the Search and Transition Committee for its work, and provide guidance as questions and decisions arise along the way.
The Chancellor — Supporting a Careful and Thorough Process
Our Chancellor serves as legal and canonical counsel to the diocese and will be an important resource throughout the search and election. The Chancellor is already helping review the procedures that will govern the election of our next bishop and will continue to advise the Standing Committee as legal, canonical, or procedural questions arise.
The Chancellor will also have a role in the careful due diligence that accompanies the candidate process. Candidates for bishop undergo extensive background and reference work, and information that emerges through that process may require additional questions and conversations. The Chancellor helps make sure difficult questions are asked and important concerns are appropriately addressed as the process moves forward.
Together with the guidance of our Search Consultant and the broader support available through The Episcopal Church, this means the Search and Transition Committee will be entrusted with significant discernment, but they will not be doing that work alone.
Bishop Mark and the Diocesan Staff — Supporting the Transition
Bishop Mark and the diocesan staff will remain intentionally separate from the discernment of candidates for our next bishop. At the same time, they bring tremendous experience, knowledge, and perspective that will be valuable throughout this process.
Bishop Mark remains our bishop, with the full work of serving the Diocese of Alaska continuing throughout this transition. Throughout his ministry among us, Mark has been deeply engaged in the life of this diocese—listening, encouraging participation, making room for questions and concerns, and caring for our communities and the people within them. That ministry continues. He also brings a perspective no one else can offer about what it means to discern a call to the episcopate and to serve as Bishop of Alaska.
Our diocesan staff likewise bring an extraordinary depth of knowledge about the Diocese of Alaska and how we live and work together. They will be an important resource as questions arise and their experience is needed. At the same time, this transition affects them in very real ways, and we want to be thoughtful about what we ask of them. We will respect their boundaries throughout this process, and we ask the whole diocese to do the same.
Diocesan Convention — Electing Our Next Bishop
Ultimately, neither the Standing Committee nor the Search and Transition Committee elects the next Bishop of Alaska. That responsibility belongs to Diocesan Convention.
At our 2027 Convention, clergy and lay delegates will gather to prayerfully discern among the final candidates and elect our ninth Bishop Diocesan.
Before we get there, our October 2026 Diocesan Convention has work to do as well. The Standing Committee will talk more about the search process during our online Convention on October 3 and 10, and Convention will be asked to consider the rules that will govern the 2027 episcopal election.
Different Roles, Shared Work
The Standing Committee provides oversight. The Search and Transition Committee listens and discerns, and later helps lead the transition. Our Search Consultant guides the process. The Chancellor provides legal and canonical counsel. Bishop Mark continues to lead and care for the diocese. The diocesan staff continues to support its life and ministry. And ultimately, Diocesan Convention elects.
And surrounding all of that is the Diocese of Alaska.
The voices, prayers, participation, and hospitality of people throughout our congregations and deaneries will shape this process from beginning to end. As the search gives way to transition, even more of us will be called upon to help bring this work to its conclusion and prepare for the beginning of a new episcopate.
We each have different roles, but we share the same hope: to listen faithfully to one another and to the Holy Spirit as we discern who God is calling to serve as the ninth Bishop of Alaska.
For an easy-to-print overview of the search process: