If you find your way to Dorchester Presbyterian Church outside of Charleston, South Carolina, on Thursday, December 5, you can witness, and perhaps even participate in, the powerful impact of Black Presbyterian women.
In 1987, the Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon, the first Black woman ordained in the United Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), used the term “Womanist” to explore an interpretation of the Bible connected to Black women’s liberation. Her book that followed one year later, “Black Womanist Ethics,” helped launch the field of womanist ethics.
Whenever they step into their pulpits to preach, the Rev. Erika Rembert Smith, pastor of Washington Shores Presbyterian Church in Orlando, Florida; the Rev. Dr. Alice Ridgill, previously the pastor of New Faith Presbyterian Church, the first and only African American Presbyterian Church in Greenwood, South Carolina, and now the associate general presbyter for the Presbytery of Charlotte in North Carolina; and the Rev. Amantha Barbee, formerly pastor of Oakhurst Presbyterian Church in Decatur, Georgia, and now the pastor of Quail Hollow Presbyterian Church in Charlotte are challenging calcified notions about women in ministry.
Gone now more than four years, the Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon, one of the foremost educators in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the first Black woman ever ordained by a forebear denomination, lives on in the lives of the scholars whose work relies in no small part on what they learned from her.
Fresh off his appearance in a 12-minute video explaining the historical importance of Catawba Presbytery, the Rev. Dr. Ed Newberry told “Leading Theologically” host the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty he’s been enjoying his retirement in part “to have the leisure time to explore what I’ve been curious about.”
Fresh off his appearance in a 12-minute video explaining the historical importance of Catawba Presbytery, the Rev. Dr. Ed Newberry told “Leading Theologically” host the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty he’s been enjoying his retirement in part “to have the leisure time to explore what I’ve been curious about.”
People sensing God’s call to be a catalyst for change in their community can consider enrolling in “Lead Change: A Certificate in Community Faith Formation,” a new certificate in community faith formation being offered by Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary. The inaugural cohort of 15 learning partners, as the seminary calls its students, will begin in March and finish in late November.
Dr. Delores Seneva Williams, a seminal thinker and writer in the development of womanist theology, died at the age of 88 on Nov. 17, said her daughter, Celeste Williams.
The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has appointed the Rev. Dr. Jerry L. Cannon as Vice President, Ministry Innovation, effective Nov. 1. The appointment of Cannon, most recently pastor and head of staff at C.N. Jenkins Memorial Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the largest Black congregations in the PC(USA), strengthens the agency’s commitment to serve more and serve better in support of a changing Church.
Before the end of her final sermon as pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Teaneck, New Jersey, the Rev. Dr. Gloria Tate capped off her nearly 30 years in the PCT pulpit by urging the congregation “to finish the race” despite her retirement.
