W. Maynard Sparks

Methodism
Part of a series on
John Wesley
Background History (in the United States) Christianity Protestantism Nonconformism Pietism Anglicanism Arminianism Wesleyanism
Doctrine Articles of Religion Four Sources of Theological Authority Prevenient grace Penal substitution Governmental atonement New birth Imparted righteousness Christian perfection Assurance Conditional preservation of the saints Works of Piety Works of Mercy
People John Wesley Charles Wesley George Whitefield Richard Allen Francis Asbury Thomas Coke William Law William Williams Pantycelyn Howell Harris Albert Outler James Varick Countess of Huntingdon Bishops Theologians
Groups Churches World Methodist Council African ME Church African ME Zion Church Church of the Nazarene CM Episcopal Church Free Methodist Church Methodist Church of Southern Africa Methodist Church of Great Britain Methodist Church in Ireland Methodist Church in India Primitive Methodist Church United Methodist Church Wesleyan Church
Organization Connexionalism Methodist Circuit
Related groups Holiness movement Moravian Church The Salvation Army United Church of Canada Uniting Church in Australia
Other topics Circuit rider Homosexuality and Methodism Saints in Methodism
Methodism portal

W. Maynard Sparks (16 December 1906 – 17 August 1999) was an American Bishop of the Evangelical United Brethren Church (E.U.B.) and of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1958.

Birth and family

He was born on 16 December 1906 in Rockwood, Pennsylvania, a son of the Rev. George A. and Sarah (Heefner) Sparks. His father was a Pastor in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (i.e., New Constitution). Bishop Sparks was married to Blanche May Frank Sparks, who died in 1989. They had three sons: Lynn (a clergy member of the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference of the U.M. Church, who died in a mountain climbing accident in 1978), Fred of Elk Grove, California, and Robert of Lebanon, Pennsylvania. The Sparks also had four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren (at the time of the Bishop’s death).

Education

W. Maynard Sparks earned a B.A. degree from (United Brethren) Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania. He earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree from his denomination’s only seminary, United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. He went on to earn a Master of Education degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

Ordained ministry

W. Maynard Sparks was granted a Quarterly Conference License to Preach at the age of thirteen! This was followed by a permanent license. Later, he entered the ministry of the Allegheny Annual Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (i.e., New Constitution). He served as the Pastor of churches in Pennsylvania, as a Conference Superintendent, and as Assistant Professor of Religion and Chaplain at Lebanon Valley College. He was elected a delegate to the 1946 Uniting Conference, which joined the Evangelical Church and the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (i.e., New Constitution).

Episcopal ministry

Sparks was elected to the Episcopacy of the E.U.B. Church in 1958 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.^[1] As a Bishop he supervised his denomination’s Western Area. Among the highlights of his ministry, Bishop Sparks represented the E.U.B. Church in 1961 at independence ceremonies for the African nation of Sierra Leone, where he later also presided over several annual conference sessions. The E.U.B. Church had engaged in missionary activities in that Nation for many years.

Following the 1968 merger of the E.U.B. and Methodist Churches, Bishop Sparks was assigned to the Seattle Episcopal Area, serving there until his retirement in 1972. While in Seattle, he also served for approximately eighteen months as interim Bishop of the Portland, Oregon Area following the death of Bishop Everett W. Palmer in January 1971.

Death and funeral

Bishop Sparks died 17 August 1999 at his home in Sacramento, California, at the age of 92.^[2]

At the time of his death he was one of only two surviving Bishops of the former E.U.B. Church, the other being Bishop Paul W. Milhouse of Franklin, Indiana. At the time of the 1968 E.U.B.-Methodist merger, there were one retired and seven active E.U.B. Bishops. A memorial service for Bishop Sparks was held 25 August 1999 at 10:00 a.m. at the Faith United Methodist Church, 3600 J. Street, Sacramento, CA 95816.

References

↑ "Two Bishops Chosen By United Brethren". United Press International in the New York Times. October 12, 1958. Retrieved 2013-12-23. The Evangelical United Brethren Church today elected two new bishops at its thirty-ninth quadrennial conference.
↑ "W. Maynard Sparks Dead at 92". United Methodist News Service. August 19, 1999. Retrieved 2013-12-23. United Methodist Bishop W. Maynard Sparks, 92, one of two remaining bishops elected in the former Evangelical United Brethren (EUB) Church, died at his home in Sacramento, Calif., Aug. 17. ...

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.