Bishop David Alan Bard
Bishop David Alan Bard is the presiding bishop of the Michigan Conference of The United Methodist Church. Bishop Bard also served the Minnesota Annual Conference as interim bishop 2021-2022.
Before arriving in Michigan in September 2016, Bishop Bard had served at First United Methodist Church in Duluth, Minnesota, since 2005. He was elected to the episcopacy on July 13, 2016, at the North Central Jurisdictional Conference in Peoria, IL. He has been in ministry for more than 30 years and served in many roles within the Minnesota Annual Conference and the General Church.
Bishop Bard was a General and Jurisdictional Conference delegate in 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012. He was an episcopal nominee in both 2004 and 2008.
Within the Minnesota Conference, Bishop Bard was chair of the Episcopacy Committee and the Higher Education Ministry Team, and he served on the Board of Ordained Ministry and the Congregational Response Team. He was also the conference parliamentarian. He was a district superintendent from 1998 to 2005 and spent three years on the Commission on Religion and Race.
Within the General Church, Bishop Bard was recently elected chairperson of the Committee on Faith and Order. He has served on the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, the Commission on General Conference, the Commission on Theological Education, the Study on Ministry Commission, and the North Central Jurisdiction Committee on the Episcopacy.
Bishop Bard received a BA from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, in 1981; his Master of Divinity was earned at United Theological Seminary, Twin Cities, in 1984; and in 1994, he received a Ph.D. from Southern Methodist University focusing on Christian ethics. He has taught college and seminary courses in United Methodist history, doctrine and polity; medical ethics, and religious perspectives on death and dying.
Bishop Bard has a wife, Julie, three adult children, and two grandchildren. He enjoys music, reading, movies, baseball, and walking in his free time.
- ‘The world needs this kind of people’ (3/4/2025) - As Lent begins, Bishop David Bard calls us to pay close attention to our humanness in all its complexity and develop character qualities befitting such self-knowledge... The church season of Lent begins on March 5 with Ash Wednesday. For a number of years, many Protestant churches did not give much attention to either Ash Wednesday or Lent. To many, it seemed too Roman Catholic. I have almost no memories of Lent growing up, but my family was not the most active churchgoing family either. I have come to love this season. While its themes are difficult and the mood somber… ...Read More
- Open-eyed and resilient (2/5/2025) - In a chaotic world, Bishop David Bard invites us to stay grounded in resilient love as we care for one another, even in disagreement... How many of you remember past Februarys when you pasted colored construction paper over a shoebox, cutting a hole in the top and drawing hearts on the sides? This was the box for your valentines, which you brought to school along with cards for every student in your class. You put cards in their box, and they put cards in your box. Maybe you asked your parents, “Do I have to give a card to [insert… ...Read More
- Ways to speak prophetically (1/8/2025) - In his first blog of 2025, Bishop David Bard outlines how to speak prophetically as people of Christian faith in a world where moral speech is rapidly labeled partisan... Beginning my first blog of the new year with a quote from the 2020/2024 Book of Discipline may not seem like an auspicious start, but here goes. Among the disciplines by which bishops are encouraged to lead the church is “a prophetic commitment for the transformation of the world” (¶403.1d). The subparagraph continues: “The role of the bishop is to be a prophetic voice for justice in a suffering and conflicted world through… ...Read More