First AME Female Bishop In 213 Years - Vashti Murphy McKenzie of the African Methodist Episcopal Church

Ebony, Sept, 2000 by Kelly Starling

The Rev. Vashti Murphy McKenzie shatters the "stained glass ceiling"

ON a Sunday morning five years ago, the Rev. Vashti Murphy McKenzie had the second revelation that would change her life. The first had been her call to preach. Now, as she stood on the pulpit of her church, she faced another soul-shaking vision.

Tears ran down her face. Her husband, son and ministerial staff sped to her side. She trembled at the thought of what this moment would mean.

"Something overwhelmed me," says the pastor of Baltimore's Payne Memorial AME Church. "I felt a sense of urgency and peace at the same time. It sounds contradictory but it's true. A voice told me I had to take what was given to me and share it with the world. At that moment, I knew I would be a candidate [for bishop]."

In July, McKenzie fulfilled the promise of that day, becoming the first female bishop in the 213-year history of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. When she knelt in Cincinnati and a ring of bishops and elders stacked their hands on her head in blessing, McKenzie says she remembered the favor of God and the emotional struggle that most women pioneers have confronted. "All I was saying [to myself]," she told a reporter, was, `Let's not cry now. Let's cry later. Don't cry here.'"

When Bishop McKenzie arose, she was resplendent in her new purple-and-gold robe, poised and dry-eyed. The "stained glass ceiling has been pierced and broken," she said.

The celebration of her victory began in Cincinnati, where the church's quadrennial convention was held, but has spread worldwide. From Memphis to Mozambique, people salute the meaning of her win. In a world where women preachers still struggle for parity and acceptance, McKenzie has become a symbol of change.

"It makes a significant statement," says Bishop Vinton R. Anderson, the former head of the AME church. "It's a signal that if it can happen in one situation, it can happen in other situations ... Vashti McKenzie is an excellent model of what women can achieve."

McKenzie is aggressive, he says, and committed to community development. In her 10 years as pastor of Payne Memorial AME, the membership increased from 300 to 1,700. She led the church in community outreach programs such as starting computer classes, providing adult education and purchasing property to house new programs. Those skills will be vital in her new role. The commanding preacher, voted as one of the greatest 15 female ministers by EBONY in 1997, will spend her first four years as bishop in the 18th district which includes Lesotho, Botswana, Mozambique and Swaziland.

"That's when the real work begins," says the wife and mother of three. "A lot of people said the African continent was not ready for women in leadership. But the entire delegation stood up when they announced my name."

That reception doesn't surprise Bishop Anderson. Though he admits some members resisted the idea of a woman bishop, a larger number applauded the foresight of the church.

"The AME church has always been about liberation," says Anderson, who appointed the church's first female presiding elder in 1983. "From its very founding we were committed to the freedom and uplift of people. Women have been involved in ministry in the AME Church since the '40s. People understand that it's time for women to participate in every level of the church."

The religious community has not always been so open. McKenzie had few mentors when, in her late 30s, she left a career in Christian radio to enter the Howard University School of Divinity.

"It can be a scary thing to be called to preach, especially at a time when there aren't many women," says the author of Not Without a Struggle: Leadership For African American Women in Ministry, a guidebook famous for its 10 commandments for Black women ministers. "... Most people will tell you there's a season of running when you say, `Not me, Lord. You must have meant someone else.' Then there's the peace that you're moving in God's will and He will provide all that you need."

McKenzie juggled her studies at Howard with helping her husband, former NBA player Start McKenzie, nurture their babies. Those were hard but fruitful years, she says. When confronted with male students who questioned her call to preach, she clung to her faith. McKenzie says though she has had her battles, she carries fewer scars than other women preachers who faced a rockier path.

Though the Black church has eagerly challenged racism, some say sexism is more entrenched. Some denominations will not ordain women. In other churches, female ministers receive less pay than male ministers. Some women preachers tell stories of being asked to leave the pulpit or being called "sister" instead of "reverend."

These slights come not just from men, but often from women (who are the majority in many denominations, including the AME church where they compose 70 percent of its 2.3 million members). McKenzie says in each of the three churches she pastored, she adopted a show-and-prove attitude.