Female Black Bishops
In the 40 years since Bishop Leontine T.C. Kelly broke the color and gender lines in the United Methodist episcopacy, the church has elected 11 clergywomen to its highest officer. From top: first row Cynthia Moore Koikoi, , Linda Lee, Violet Fisher; second row, LaTrelle Miller Easterling, Tracy Smith Malone, Sharma Lewis, third row, Deloris Williamston, Robin Dease, Kennetha Bigham-Tsai; fourth row, Leontine T.C. Kelly, Beverly Shamana. (Graphic by Rev. Michael Anthony Parker II. Used by permission)
July 12, 2024
I have lived in remarkable times. 40 years ago, the Southeast Jurisdictional Conference met right here at beautiful Lake Junaluska. Same place we always meet. Although we are in the same geographical space, the church (I am happy to say) is in a very different place. A more beautiful place. A more holy place. A place more aligned with God’s heart.
40 years ago this week, a handful of Clergywomen were working their hearts out to convince the SEJ to elect Leontine Kelly from Virginia to be a bishop. She would have been the first female bishop in the SEJ and the first black bishop ever—for the SEJ and the whole denomination. She was, at that time, head of the Board of Evangelism, could preach your socks off and had a lifetime of wisdom to offer to the church. We believed she was perfect for that historic step. She was from Virginia—the conference with the largest delegation of votes. But she was not the “favorite son”. The SEJ didn’t give Leontine the time of day in their considerations.
She was SO very committed to the SEJ. Every night we would meet at the Good News Resource Center to compare what had happened and see if there were any glimmers of hope. And every night, we got messages from our sisters in the Western Jurisdiction pleading with us to put Leontine on a plane, to send her to their jurisdictional conference where they believed she could be elected.
The rock solid stonewalling of the SEJ was heart-rending. Believing that Leontine had great gifts for the church, after she very reluctantly admitted the handwriting on the SEJ wall, we gathered around her for prayer and blessed her as she flew to Denver. And there, as our Western sisters had predicted, Leontine Kelly was elected to be the first black female bishop in United Methodism—or any other denomination. Although she was rejected from the area she loved most dearly, she was a barrier breaking bishop.
It would be another 10 years before the SEJ elected a white female bishop, Charlene Kammerer. And then there more years before the SEJ broke the barrier that Leontine first tackled. Barriers break slowly and those who break them pay a price for the progress. Now, we celebrate Bishop Sharma Lewis (Mississippi) and Bishop Robin Dease (North Georgia). Our SEJ -born daughter was the first female ebony bishop (bottom left hand corner of this collection of our female ebony bishops). But she did not get the opportunity to serve her home jurisdiction. Heartache for her and all of us who loved her. And a great loss of her gifts to our jurisdiction.
Today I am thanking God for the witness of Leontine T.C. Kelly…For the pain of sending her to another jurisdiction and the great joy to see her witness and her dreams for the church unfold. These dreams unfolded slowly here. But they unfolded. I am grateful that God works for good in all things for those who love Him. Looking at the SEJ bishops on stage 40 years from our searing 1984 heartache, I celebrate that we have come a long way. More progress still to make. But we have come a mighty long way.