Bishops are supposed to be pastors and guardians of the Christian faith, teaching truth and refuting error, winsomely and compellingly if possible; by applying discipline if necessary.
They should be examples of godly character, leading people in worship and mission, selecting, training and ordaining clergy, promoting unity, and managing essential administration for a group of churches over a wide area.
But what if bishops do not do this, perhaps because of incompetence (not having the necessary gifts), bad character, or heresy? Ideally, a healthy church would remove such people from leadership, but if this doesn’t happen, perhaps because the problem is with institutional culture not individuals, what then?
When secondary issues feel like primary ones
What are the ‘primary issues’, the essentials of the faith around which we unite as Christians; and what issues are …