Hollering for Change: An interview with Bishop Dee Williamston

Hollering for Change is the name of a series of commentaries by The Rev. Dr. Tori Butler for United Methodist News. Graphic by Laurens Glass, UM News. 

“Hollering for Change” is beginning a new series highlighting Black women “firsts” across the denomination. The first interview is with newly elected Bishop Dee Williamston of the Louisiana Conference, the first Black woman elected to the episcopacy in the South Central Jurisdiction. The Rev. Dr. Tori Butler speaks with Bishop Williamston about her calling, the surreal experience of her election, and the “opportunity and honor” of being the first in her position.

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Church History
The Methodist Church’s 1956 General Conference meets from April 25 to May 7 in the municipal auditorium in Minneapolis. On May 4, the first Friday of the legislative assembly, the delegates voted to make women eligible for full clergy rights. “Now it is up to us to prove in clear and deep witness to the whole church our consecration and our loyal devotion to the work of the Kingdom of God,” said Margaret Henrichsen, a General Conference visitor, after the vote. In 1967, she became the first U.S. woman appointed district superintendent. Photo courtesy of Archives and History.

Why the 1956 women-clergy vote matters

Seventy years ago, the Methodist Church supported full conference membership for women clergy — a decision that would have a resounding impact when The United Methodist Church formed in 1968 and even today.
General Church
Bishops Tracy S. Malone and Ruben Saenz Jr. preside over a memorial service on April 26 during the bishops’ spring meeting in Jacksonville, Fla. Saenz is the new Council of Bishops president and co-convener of the 2026 Leadership Gathering’s design team. Malone, the council’s immediate past president, said the Oct. 20-24 event is part of the bishops’ commitment “to providing strategic, visionary, inclusive, innovative and missional leadership for the church.” Photo by Paul Gómez, United Methodist Communications.

Survey gives shape to Leadership Gathering

United Methodists participating in the Leadership Gathering got a preview April 25 of what they will be working on when they meet in October.
Bishops
Council of Bishops President Tracy S. Malone, who also leads the Indiana Conference, delivers her final presidential address during the bishops’ spring meeting in Jacksonville, Fla. She challenged the bishops to let go of anxiety about the institution and see how God is forming the church for the future. Screen shot courtesy of the Council of Bishops via Facebook by UM News.

Bishops urged to stop looking backward

In a time of great instability and injustice, United Methodist Council of Bishops President Tracy S. Malone encouraged fellow church leaders to move beyond institutional anxieties and be formed anew as witnesses for Christ.

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