McKenzie succeeds Jim Winkler, who left the ecumenical organization on Jan. 31.
By Adelle M. Banks
(RNS) — Bishop Vashti McKenzie, a recently retired bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, has been named the interim president and general secretary of the National Council of Churches, the ecumenical organization announced Tuesday (May 10).
McKenzie succeeds Jim Winkler, who left the post on Jan. 31 after serving in the role since 2013. She officially started on April 1 and is expected to serve a two-year term.
The NCC announced the transition as it welcomed the bishop to her first business meeting of the organization, which includes 37 member denominations from Protestant, Anglican, historic African American, evangelical, Orthodox and peace church traditions.
“The National Council of Churches is blessed to have Bishop McKenzie in this key leadership role,” said Bishop Teresa Jefferson-Snorton, board chair, who is also the leader of Christian Methodist Episcopal Church congregations in Florida and Alabama, in a Tuesday statement. “She brings the necessary insight, expertise, and ecumenical commitment to the Council.”
McKenzie is the first woman to serve in the combined role of general secretary and president of the NCC. She is the third woman and first African American woman in the general secretary post. She retired last July from the AME Church, after being named as bishop in 2000, the first woman to hold the title in the historically Black denomination’s more-than-200-year history.
“I look forward to the opportunity to enhance the great work that the NCC has already done and look for strategic ways to amplify its voice,” McKenzie said in a statement. “It is critical in this season of divisiveness in our country that we remain vigilant and visible advocates and bridge builders.”
Her previous ecumenical work, in roles such as delegate and preacher, includes the World Council of Churches and the World Methodist Council.
Officially founded in 1950, the NCC has its roots in the Federal Council of Churches that started in 1908. The organization has made combating racism a core aspect of its work in recent years.
Last week, the board held a retreat in Montgomery, Alabama, with programs that expanded upon NCC’s “A.C.T. NOW to End Racism” initiative that was started in 2018.
McKenzie, a Baltimore native who turns 75 on May 28, has served as the national chaplain of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority and is the author of six books. She is married to Stan McKenzie, a former NBA guard who is the first male episcopal supervisor of missionary work in the AME Church.
A year ago in an interview with the Religion News Service, McKenzie was asked to sum up her experience as the first woman bishop of the AME church.
She responded: “Being the first of anything, there is no book. There is no DVD. There’s no movie. There’s nobody in front of you, to be able to share back experiences of what it’s going to look like and feel like and be like and so you’re charting your own way. And as people receive you — not only as you are in your position but also receive you as a human being — and begin to see you have something to bring to the table and be able to embrace the uniqueness of my femininity. I do what bishops have to do, but I don’t do them in the same way because I’m Vashti.”
When asked about the contribution of other women before the 2000 turning point for women bishops, she said:Well, many, many women. Many women whose names were not written, who did not get a footnote, who were in the margins. Faces and names people have forgotten a long time ago. Beginning with Jarena Lee. Jarena Lee stood at her time, when Bishop Richard Allen says he’s not going to license women. But God created an opportunity and she stood, and so then off she goes to walking and preaching hundreds of miles.
“Elizabeth Scott ran for the episcopacy for many, many, many years. The women who were appointed presiding elders, the women who were appointed pastors, and did fabulous work because if they didn’t, then they would never give another woman a chance.”
Article first published May 10, 2022
