Leontine Kelly: African-American United Methodist female bishop dead at 92

by theGrio |
United Methodist Bishop Leontine Turpeau Current Kelly preaches during evening worship at the first reunion of the former Central Jurisdiction of the Methodist Church in College Park, Ga., in 2004. Kelly died at age 92 on June 28. A UMNS file photo by Mike DuBose. Accompanies UMNS story #195. 6/28/12.

United Methodist Bishop Leontine Turpeau Current Kelly preaches during evening worship at the first reunion of the former Central Jurisdiction of the Methodist Church in College Park, Ga., in 2004. Kelly died at age 92 on June 28. A UMNS file photo by Mike DuBose. Accompanies UMNS story #195. 6/28/12.

Leontine Turpeau Current Kelly, the first African-American woman elected as a bishop by the United Methodist Church, is being remembered as an incredible leader and source of inspiration.  She passed away on June 28th at the age of 92.  The Huffington Post has more:

(RNS) Retired United Methodist Bishop Leontine T.C. Kelly, the first African-American woman elected to the episcopacy by a major religious denomination, died Thursday (June 28). The teacher, pastoral leader and activist was considered a pioneer for her ministry of more than two decades. She was 92.

Her death was reported by United Methodist News Service.

Bishop Judith Craig, who was elected a Methodist bishop just hours after Kelly in 1984, recalled the pioneer’s “audacious” life.

“She never ran from challenge or controversy, and she also stood fast in her convictions,” Craig told the denominational news service.

A preacher’s daughter who vowed never to marry a minister, but did, found herself called to become one. Trained as a public school teacher, Kelly made the ministry her second career when she started pastoring a Methodist church in Virginia in 1969 after her husband’s death. She was ordained a deacon in 1972 and an elder in 1977.

In 1984, she was named the first African-American woman and the second woman elected bishop in the United Methodist Church. She was charged with heading the denomination’s Western Jurisdiction, which included California and Nevada. Kelly served in the San Francisco area from 1984 until her retirement in 1992.

To those who argued that if Jesus wanted women to be chief administrators he would have appointed them, Kelly would point her detractors to the culture of Jesus’ day.

“We must recognize the kind of culture in which Jesus and the disciples lived,” she declared. “It was a very male-dominated culture. However, Jesus did violate the customs of the culture in that he talked with women, shared with women. God calls whomever God would call.”

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