Hollering for Change: Reflections on Bishop Williamston’s historic election


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. 

In the wake of the election of Bishop Delores “Dee” Williamston, the first Black woman elected to the episcopacy in the South Central Jurisdiction, the latest installment of “Hollering for Change” looks at the history-making event. The Rev. Dr. Tori Butler speaks with the Rev. Wanda Bass about what it was like to be in the room when Williamston was elected and what her hopes are for the new bishop’s leadership.


Watch interview with the Rev. Dr. Jalene Chase, former Metro Transit police officer in Washington and current pastor of Goshen United Methodist Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, about how clergy can ensure their own safety in challenging situations.

 

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Church History
Holding a banner for the Bishop Richard Allen Way street renaming celebration Oct. 7 at Historic St. George’s United Methodist Church in Philadelphia are (from left): the Rev. Carolyn Cavaness, pastor of Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal  Church; Yvonne Studevan, an Allen descendant; AME Bishop Samuel Lawrence Green Sr.; United Methodist Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi; and the Rev. William Wilson Sr., pastor of St. George’s. Surrounding them are other descendants and members of the Prince Hall Masons lodge named for Bishop Allen. Photo by John W. Coleman, UM News.

United Methodists help honor AME Church founder

Philadelphia renamed the street in front of Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church as Bishop Richard Allen Way, honoring the formerly enslaved Methodist preacher who founded the denomination in 1816.
General Church
Bishop Ande Emmanuel of Nigeria (right) leads a celebratory dance line to the song “We Are Marching in the Light of God” at the close of the United Methodist Leadership Gathering on Oct. 24 at Knox United Church in Calgary, Canada. After long hours of small-group discussion, Leadership Gathering participants revealed their recommendations for The United Methodist Church yet to be. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Gathering offers 16 ideas for church future

After long hours of small-group discussion, Leadership Gathering participants revealed their recommendations for The United Methodist Church yet to be.
General Church
The Rev. Eunice Iliya (center) joins with hundreds of others attending the United Methodist Leadership Gathering in waving their glowing cell phones to the tune of “This Little Light of Mine,” at the close of morning worship on Oct. 23 in the sanctuary of Knox United Church in Calgary, Canada, which is hosting the global event. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Ideas for the future church start to take shape

United Methodists at the Leadership Gathering began to imagine a church that, in the best Wesleyan tradition, connects passionate evangelism with prophetic witness that disrupts the global rise of tyranny.

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