Books by Vashti Murphy Mckenzie

Not Without Struggle (Pilgrim Press,1996) / Strength in the Struggle (Pilgrim Press, 2002) / Journey to the Well  (Penguin, 2003)

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Reverend Dr. Vashti Murphy McKenzie

First Woman Bishop in the AME Church

By Jennifer McGill

Reverend Dr. Vashti McKenzie is a woman of firsts. She was the first woman to pastor at Payne Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland. On July 11, 2000, the AME Church elected her its first female bishop in its 213-year history. The AME Church will never be the same.

May 30, 1947, Dr. McKenzie was born into the well-know Murphy clan of Baltimore, an established family with a history in publishing, politics, and the social advancement of the Negro. Her great grandfather John H. Murphy started the Afro-American Newspaper in 1892; her grandfather Carl H. Murphy succeeded his father as publisher and editor, and her grandmother Vashti Turly Murphy was a founding member of the delta Sigma Theta sorority, a Christian African-American college sorority that currently has a national membership of more than 250,000.

Vashti's family lived a wonderful balance between career and faith, maintaining God as the central focus of their family life. Dr. McKenzie's parents were avid church members at St. James Episcopal Church. Vashti has described herself as a "church child," for she was active in the children's choir and Bible camp. While attending Morgan State University, Vashti met her future husband, Stan McKenzie of the Baltimore Bullets basketball team. During her junior year he was traded to the Phoenix Suns, and he asked her to marry him. Despite her parents' desires for her to complete school she married Stan and moved to Phoenix.

After Stan McKenzie's retirement they moved back to Baltimore and Vashti resumed her education, earning a BA in journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park. After graduating she started working for her family newspaper and wrote a column, "The McKenzie Report." She thereafter hosted a television show and worked for WEBB and WYBC, two local gospel radio stations. Her abilities were rewarded with a promotion to program director.

To prepare herself more formally for her new vocation, Vashti attended Howard University, in Washington, DC, and received a Master of Divinity degree. She then went on to earn the Doctor of Ministry degree from Union Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. In 1984 she was ordained a deacon and assigned to a seven-member congregation in Chesapeake City, Maryland. After one year she was fully ordained and appointed the pastor of Oak Street AME Church in midtown Baltimore. After a few short years, Dr. McKenzie was selected as pastor of Payne Memorial AME Church, becoming the first woman pastor in that congregation's 102-year history. During her 10 years as Payne Memorial, Vashti McKenzie and the Payne Memorial Church helped transform a fledgling inner-city community into a viable place to live and created training programs for employment.

Together the Payne congregation and Vashti developed the Human Economic Development Center that provides job training and placement, Seniors daycare, and youth and adult-education programs. She also joined with other churches, with banks and officials to form the Collective Banking Group which ensures equal treatment and opportunity by lending institutions. Such community involvement promoted church growth, increasing membership from 440 at her arrival to well over 1500. These successes were not Vashti's alone. She readily acknowledges the contribution of her members' gifts, talents, and time.

Because Dr. McKenzie desired to expand her ministry globally, she announced her campaign for bishop. Dr. Vashti McKenzie utilized her journalism and marketing experience in her campaign to become the first female AME bishop. Flyers, commercials, and T-shirts flooded the Cincinnati conference hall. many described the event as a presidential campaign complete with shaking hands, kissing babies, and making contacts. Dr. McKenzie stated upon her election, "The stained glass ceiling has been pierced and broken!"

Although Vashti McKenzie represents the African Methodist Episcopal Church, she characterizes for me and others hope for equality for all women in the ministry. The AME Church has historically made some major accomplishments concerning women in ministry. The door to the position of bishop for women, however, had been closed for 213 years. Dr. McKenzie addressed the women upon her election, "I stand here tonight on the shoulders of the unordained, women who serve without affirmation or appointment. I don't stand here alone, but there is a cloud of witnesses who sacrificed, died and gave their best."

The election to bishop of Vashti McKenzie has given new hope and laid the groundwork for other women in Methodism and other denominations to pursue non-traditional church positions. I do not advocate nevertheless that women seek these non-traditional roles for the sake of self-glorification and personal enhancement. but that they pursue unashamedly such positions to which god calls them, whatever the previous gender tradition.

Dr. McKenzie's election has thus changed the thinking of people that thought women were not capable of serving in high leadership church positions because of their gender. What is even more noteworthy is that Vashti has represented the ministry well by her skills and her humility. I expected no less than great results. As bishop of the 18th Episcopal District, Dr. McKenzie has started orphanages and parental-support systems for children who lost their parents to the devastating AIDS epidemic in Botswana and Mozambique.

Vashti has even verbally stated that it is OK to be beautiful, intelligent, and used by God. The myth still abounds that a woman must choose between her preaching career and her family. Even with her ecclesiastical success Dr. McKenzie continues to receive the support of her husband and her three children.

But Dr. McKenzie's life increases my faith that God will work divinely in my life and if it is to include a husband and children, then it will happen.

Although the titles specify race and gender, these words of wisdom are applicable to all clergy despite cultural origin and gender.

These common sense rules can be applied by all clergy, whether male or female. Intrigued by Dr. McKenzie's accomplishments, I questioned the members and clergy of Payne Memorial and they all said that she was indeed a team player. At Payne Memorial, she focused on specific goals, utilizing the resources of God gives her -- laity, family, city officials, etc. As I read these "Commandments," I realize that they reflect the words her members and clergy spoke.

I too consider myself a womanist, which is femininity plus. it is important for African-American women to acknowledge and celebrate their femininity. But that is not sufficient. We have that and much more to offer the world. During an interview after her election, Dr. McKenzie explained her view on this topic. "Instead of placing my gender in front of me, I'll place who I am and what I do, and who I serve in front of me. . . . They know I'm a woman when I walk in the door. So what. I've been one all my life. Get over it." The "getting over it" is a going beyond that, a seizing of new territory in being a witness for God.

Such avoidance leave women clergy unprepared for opposition and could be a fatal blow to self-esteem which ultimately undermines an effective ministry.

The next three commandments concern church relationships, successful leadership, and developing personal relationships. All three are important and imperative. unmarried clergy should avoid dating members of the congregation and members that would rather have the pastor as a girlfriend than a leader. One should also avoid the Superwoman syndrome, the belief that one can do everything oneself. such an attitude hinders church growth and such a leader will ultimately suffer from burnout and will not be effective. delegating leadership and duties is necessary. members also have a need to utilize their skills.

Building relationships with fellow clergy can guard against such behavior. being a sister to sisters in ministry builds a support system which encourages and enables one to encourage others. because there is strength in unity, brothers must be included. Women must realize that every man is not against female clergy. Forming alliances with male clergy creates more unity within the body of Christ, which yields more power to do the things God requires. Following these commandments as well as the others will change the face of ministry. The change will begin with the individual and become evident through action.

Vashti's commandments change the world from the inside outward. Dr. Vashti McKenzie's election as bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church reminds us how far women have come in ministry and at the same time the distance we have yet to go. Her election makes me hopeful that changes will take place among those who still believe women are ill equipped for leadership in the ministry. Dr. McKenzie's rise to bishop has had a great ecumenical impact. Her work in community development in Baltimore, Maryland, reminds all that ministry is about service and the transformation of lives.

Her tenure on an international level in Lesotho, Africa, will provide her an opportunity to create programs to help the uneducated, unemployed, and those suffering from AIDS. Vashti McKenzie is clearly a model example of clergy operating out a theology of obligation and liberation, while simultaneously encouraging others to pursue ministry with passion and courage.

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Minister Jennifer Nicole McGill  now serves as an Associate Minister at Wayland Baptist Church, preaching the Gospel, teaching the Word, and serving as Spiritual Advisor to Wayland's Women's Ministry are some of Minister McGill's current responsibilities. Her assistance in Church Ministry is also exercised in Richmond, VA, where she teaches Sunday School and assists in Sunday worship at Bethlehem Baptist Church. For Minister Jennifer McGill, home is where the heart is. Home is Baltimore, Maryland, where she was educated in Catholic and Public School systems.

Minister McGill attended Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, in Baltimore, Maryland, and continued higher education at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Arts in Teaching degrees. This vessel of God has traveled south on Interstate 95 to pursue her Master of Divinity at Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education. She hopes to one day research the relationship between art and religion in doctoral studies.

Minister McGill believes that study is useless until it is applied. Her plan is to use art, scripture, service, and love to help broken people piece their lives together and be liberated in and through Christ Jesus.

"If I can help somebody establish a relationship with God then my living is not in vain."

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update 28 July 2008