Speaker

Bishop John L. Hopkins

Bishop John L. Hopkins is a retired bishop of The United Methodist Church. Elected to the episcopacy in 1996, Bishop Hopkins served the Minnesota Conference for eight years and the East Ohio Conference for 12 before retiring in 2016. When the COVID pandemic postponed the election of new bishops in 2020, the Council of Bishops assigned him as interim bishop of the Chicago Area for two years.

From 2004-2012 Bishop Hopkins served as the first chairperson of the Connectional Table of The United Methodist Church, which provides a forum for the understanding and implementation of the vision, mission, and ministries of the worldwide denomination. During his tenure he helped lead The Call to Action-effort focused on increasing vital congregations around the world.

He currently serves on the board of Educational Opportunities, Inc., which provide clergy scholarships for study in the Holy Land. He previously served on the Council of Bishops Executive Committee, the United Methodist Publishing House Board, the General Board of Church and Society, the General Council on Ministries, and was instrumental in the formation of Operation Classroom in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Bishop Hopkins earned a B.A. with Honors in Psychology from Indiana University. He graduated from Yale Divinity School and was selected for the two-year Wheelock Residency at the Church of Christ at Dartmouth College where he practiced hospital, campus, and parish ministry.

Bishop Hopkins and his wife Elaine live in Indianapolis. They are the parents of three sons and grandparents of seven children.