Key points:
- Boye-Caulker, a longtime district superintendent, was the second bishop elected at the West Africa Central Conference.
- He will serve the Sierra Leone Area. Retired Bishop Warner H. Brown Jr. has been interim bishop of the area since the death of Bishop John K. Yambasu in 2020.
- After his election, Boye-Caulker shared his hopes for the future.
The Rev. James Boye-Caulker has been elected as a bishop in The United Methodist Church’s West Africa Central Conference.
Delegates elected Boye-Caulker, 60, Dec. 7 on the first ballot at the central conference’s meeting at Best Western Premier Hotel in Accra. He received 43 votes out of 59 valid ballots cast. He needed 36 votes to be elected. He was the second bishop elected at the Dec. 5-8 gathering.
Boye-Caulker has been in ministry for 34 years and served as full-time district superintendent of Sierra Leone’s Western District since 2016.
Retired Bishop Warner H. Brown Jr. has been interim bishop of the Sierra Leone Episcopal Area for the past four years, since the death of Sierra Leone Area Bishop John K. Yambasu in 2020.
“The peace that the people of Sierra Leone want, the two of us are going to make sure it happens,” said Boye-Caulker after his election, referring to the Rev. Edwin J.J. Momoh, who also was on the ballot.
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Boye-Caulker was elected by the central conference’s 60 total delegates, an equal number of United Methodist clergy and laity from the country’s three episcopal areas: Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Soon after the 2024 General Conference, the Côte d’Ivoire Conference, which had been part of the West Africa Central Conference, voted to leave The United Methodist Church and return to being an independent Methodist denomination.
In the West Africa Central Conference, like the United States, a bishop is elected for life on his or her first election.
Boye-Caulker was the endorsed candidate of Sierra Leone.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in theology from the Gbarnga School of Theology in Liberia, a diploma in theology from Cliff College in England and a Master of Philosophy degree in theology from the University of Sierra Leone. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone.
Boye-Caulker is married to Janet Juma Caulker, and they have three children, James, Jimmy and Julia.
In The United Methodist Church, bishops are ordained elders who are called to “lead and oversee the spiritual and temporal affairs of The United Methodist Church.” Bishops, in consultation with district superintendents, are responsible for appointing clergy. They also preside at annual conferences, jurisdictional conferences and General Conference, the denomination’s top lawmaking assembly.
In his post-election remarks, Boye-Caulker shared his hopes for the future.
“We want to create a stronger bond in (the) West Africa Central Conference. We will continue to give our service, not just for Sierra Leone but across the African continent.”
Chikwanah is a correspondent for UM News based in Harare, Zimbabwe.
News media contact: Julie Dwyer at (615) 742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digests.
