Bishop’s Corner

Bishop Bruce Ough oversees the Dakotas-Minnesota Episcopal Area of the United Methodist Church. This area comprises two separately governed conferences: Dakotas Annual Conference and Minnesota Annual Conference. Bishops facilitate strategies for equipping Christians for service in the church and world.   

Contact Bishop Bruce Ough or Sheilah Kyburz at the Dakotas-Minnesota Episcopal Area office at (612) 230-3334(612) 230-3334. Mailing address is 122 W. Franklin Ave., Suite 200, Minneapolis, MN 55404.

The bishop’s assistant

The bishop's assistant

The administrative assistant to Bishop Bruce Ough is Sheilah Kyburz. She has served professionally in the administrative ministry of the United Methodist Church for over 30 years. She became administrative assistant to the bishop in the former Minnesota Area episcopal office in 1990. Now she also works closely with staff in the Dakotas Conference offices. Read more about Sheilah here.

 

Unleashing new life prayer movement

Bishop Ough urges United Methodists in Minnesota and the Dakotas to join him in praying daily for:

  • the Holy Spirit’s breakthrough to renew and revive our churches, unleashing new life
  • our clergy and lay leadership to be empowered to proclaim the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection power and promise
  • the Spirit to transform and boldly use us, without limits, delays, or excuses, to reach and make new disciples of Jesus Christ and to transform the world
  • God’s Spirit to work through us to raise the dead to new life

Download the table tent here to remind you to pray daily.

  • We recommend printing it on card stock or heavy paper.
  • Cut down the middle (shorter width of page) to make two table tents. Fold along line.
  • Print as many as you want (on 81/2 by 11 paper) for church members.

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Bishop Ough’s priorities

Bishop Ough has much experience in episcopal leadership and other church ministries. Read about his ministry priorities for the new Dakotas-Minnesota Episcopal Area.

Meet the Bishop

Bishop Bruce Ough is the resident bishop of the Dakotas-Minnesota Area of the United Methodist Church, where he has served since Sept. 1, 2012.

Prior to his election and consecration as a bishop in July 2000, Bishop Ough served as the senior pastor of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, a 2,800-member congregation in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

His previous appointments included five years as district superintendent of the Cedar Rapids District of the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church. During his tenure, the district began five new congregations and pioneered several effective revitalization models for existing congregations.

Bishop Ough also served as director of the Iowa Conference council on ministries for seven years, following three years as director of Oakwood Spiritual Life Center in the former North Indiana Conference. He has also served as council director of the former Dakotas Area and a camp program director for the former North Dakota Conference. He was ordained deacon in 1975 and elder in 1979 in the former North Dakota Conference.

His work has included numerous training events, seminars, and retreats in the areas of spiritual formation, leadership development, and new church development. He served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary.

A 1973 graduate of North Dakota State University, Bishop Ough earned a master of divinity degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 1978. In addition, he has done graduate work at Northwestern University and completed the Upper Room’s two-year Academy for Spiritual Formation program, for which he also served on the Leadership Team.

Bishop Ough has received numerous awards, honors, and professional recognitions. In 2009, he was the recipient of the inaugural Social Justice Award from the Columbus Metropolitan Area Church Council. He has also published a number of professional and inspirational articles, including a thorough study of the small membership church, Independent, Courageous, Stubborn (Dakotas Episcopal Area Program Staff, 1978), and devotional articles for The Upper Room Disciplines and Weavings. Bishop Ough was a contributor to The Spiritual Formation Bible (Zondervan, 1999) and is co-editor of the book The Future of the United Methodist Church: Seven Vision Pathways (Abingdon, 2010).

Bishop Ough will chair the United Methodist Connectional Table for the 2012 to 2016 quadrennium. He was a delegate to the 1988, 1996, and 2000 General Conferences of the United Methodist Church and to the 1988, 1992, 1996, and 2000 North Central Jurisdiction Conferences. He has served as a member of several jurisdictional and general church agencies, most notably the North Central Jurisdiction Committee on Episcopacy, the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women, and the General Board of Global Ministries (serving as the agency’s president from 2009 to 2012). He has served as the president of the North Central Jurisdiction College of Bishops and chaired the Council of Bishops’ Plan Team on Missional Focus. He is a past president of the Ohio Council of Churches.

He is married to Charlene Ough, and they are the parents of three sons: Lance (with spouse Cathie in Wilmington, Virginia), Stuart (with spouse Christine in Indianapolis, Indiana), and Matthew (with spouse Jory in Green Bay, Wisconsin). They are the proud grandparents of Dashua Henning Ough and Cailum Isaac Ough, both born in 2006; Ethan James Ough, born in 2009; and Lillian Hannah Ough, born in 2012.

Contact Bishop Bruce Ough at the Minnesota Episcopal Area office at (612) 230-3334(612) 230-3334.  Mailing address is 122 W. Franklin Ave., Second Floor, Minneapolis, MN 55404.