Newly elected bishops hopeful about the future AME Church

Six new bishops were selected Aug. 26 at the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s 52nd Quadrennial session of the General Conference..

The Revs. Erika D. Crawford (Mt. Zion AME, Dover, DE.), Julius McCalister, (Bethel AME, Tallahassee, Fl.), Rev. Vernon R. Byrd, Jr., Esq., (St. Matthew AME, Philadelphia) Henry A. Belin III (Bethel AME – Harlem), Jeffrey Cooper, CIO, and Gregory V. Eason (Flipper Temple, Atlanta) were each elected to serve in the highest office of the church during the election, one of the final acts of the global conference hosted in Columbus, Ohio, which drew delegates from across five continents. 

Mixed emotions filled the convention center ballroom – celebratory for the winners and their supporters, and disheartening for those came up short in their bids.  Nonetheless, the election appeared to have gone rather smoothly – a welcomed process following a week of intense debates around critical issues, such as the misappropriation of retirement funds, LGTBQ inclusion, the overall budget of the church, and more. 

This year, six bishops will retire due to the mandatory retirement age of 75. Thirty candidates sought the office of bishop. The Episcopal Committee will assign bishops to their respective episcopal districts Aug. 27.

Three new general officers were also elected: Tyronda Burgess (General Secretary/CIO), Mark Tyler (Historiographer/Executive Director Department of Research & Scholarship), and Brian Blackwell (Executive Director of the Department of Retirement Services.

Burgess is the first woman to be elected General Secretary in the AME Church’s 208-year history.

History was also made with the elections of Reverends Belin and Byrd. At the 1984 General Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, their fathers Henry A. Belin, Jr. and Vernon R. Byrd, Sr. were elected Bishops.

On Aug. 28, the episcopal committee will assign all bishops to their respective districts. 

The election follows a night filled with both activity and anxiety.

The evening before ballots were cast, the halls of the convention center filled as candidates made their final attempts to persuade voters and rally their supporters. The center bustled with activity to the liking of a secular political convention as people paraded large signs favored candidates, sang songs, snapped photos, and handed out political pins. 

But the beneath the excitement lay concerns about the future of the church, which finds itself wrestling to address a wide range of important issues, namely the millions of dollars missing in retirement funds and the retired clergy waiting to receive their money, LGBTQ inclusion, the need to engage young people in the church, declining membership, and much more.

Progress has been made. A resolution was adopted to state all bishops can serve in any episcopal district, barring that they have passed episcopal committee examination. There is “no exception based on indigeneity or any other factor outside of the prayerfully discerned complementarity of each bishop’s gifts and the needs of each respective district.” 

Also, the church and plaintiffs have engaged in a settlement cornering the misappropriation of funds. A total of $20 million will be set aside as an initial step to “provide immediate restoration of some funds and create a pathway for the church and plaintiffs to restore the balance of the lost retirement funds.” 

But much work remains undone around the full inclusion of the LGBTQ community. The Sexual Ethics Discernment Committee will continue its work which includes examining biblical texts addressing sexual orientations and gender identities. Also, some concern was also expressed about the 2.5 percent increase in the General Budget that will be used to help replenish the retirement funds that have gone missing, in addition to the ongoing effort to balance traditionalism with contemporary style to attract younger members. These issues still loom on the horizon. How do the newly elected bishops intend to help move forward a church that appears deeply divided among these problems, as well as a denomination with lay and clergy who have a lack of trust in the leadership?

Most say they are prioritizing restoring trust within the church.

The night before he was elected bishop, surrounded by supporters in a hallway packed with other candidates, Rev. Byrd acknowledged restoring trust between leadership and members as a critical issue. 

“If we don’t have trust, we can’t do what we need to do,” he said.

Dr. McAllister shared his thoughts about being elected at such a pivotal time in the church’s history the afternoon before he was chosen for the episcopacy.  In spite of its troubles, he still believes the AME church is on the “caring end of ministry,” adding that there are “no problems God can’t answer.”

Economic development will also be a priority for some of the newly elected bishops.

Dr. McAllister pastored churches where he oversaw the building and rehabilitation of 85 homes at a cost of $18 million in Tallahassee, and led a credit union that offered financial assistance to low income persons who could borrow up to $2,000 at a one percent interest rate in Chicago. He hopes he can apply that experience in the office of bishop in a way that might allow the connection to engage in large-scale projects such as these.

“When you start doing that type of ministry, you have this tug at your spirit where you could do this on a larger level,” he said.