McKenzie, Vashti Murphy
1947-present · Contribution: 1990-2021
Became the first woman elected bishop in the more than 200-year history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2000, later becoming the first woman to serve as Titular Head of the denomination and, in 2021, President and General Secretary of the National Council of Churches
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Impact on the world
Descended from Delta Sigma Theta sorority co-founder Vashti Turley Murphy and Baltimore Afro-American publisher Carl J. Murphy, McKenzie left a career as a radio and television broadcaster in her late thirties to earn a Master of Divinity from Howard University, and in 1990 became the first woman appointed pastor of Baltimore's Payne Memorial AME Church, where she grew the congregation from 300 to 1,700 members over a decade while launching community job-training and senior-care programs. Running against 41 other candidates at the AME General Conference in 2000, McKenzie won election as the denomination's first female bishop, declaring in her acceptance speech that “the stained-glass ceiling has been pierced and broken,” and was assigned oversight of AME congregations across four southern African nations; she made history again in 2005 as the first woman elected Titular Head of the AME Church, presiding over its global Council of Bishops. President Obama appointed her to the inaugural White House Commission on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships in 2009, and after retiring from the episcopacy in 2021 she was named President and General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, representing 37 denominations and roughly 35 million Christians nationwide.
Life & background
Born May 28, 1947, in Baltimore, Maryland, McKenzie earned a journalism degree from the University of Maryland before pursuing a Master of Divinity at Howard University and a Doctor of Ministry at United Theological Seminary. Ordained an AME minister in 1984, she pastored Baltimore's Payne Memorial AME Church from 1990 to 2000, served as bishop over the 18th, 13th, and 10th Episcopal Districts from 2000 to 2021, and continues to serve as President and General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA.
Sources
- BlackPast.org; Religion News Service; The Christian Century
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