Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi elects its first woman, Black person as bishop

JACKSON, Miss. — In a historical election, the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi chose Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells as its new bishop Saturday, making her the first woman and first Black person elected to lead the church.

On Saturday, Wells was selected on the fourth ballot by delegates from all 87 congregations during the diocese's annual conference. She was among five candidates.

Wells will replace Brian Seage, who led the diocese through the COVID-19 pandemic and the Jackson, Mississippi, water crisis. Seage was elected in 2014 and succeeded Bishop Duncan Gray in 2015, upon Gray's retirement.

"This is a historic moment and this marks a new chapter in our history," Seage said. "It's the first time we have elected a woman and the first time we have elected an African American as the bishop of the diocese. I think this speaks dramatically for this movement within our church."

The selection continues a trend in Mississippi as Sharma Lewis was elected as the first Black woman to become the Mississippi United Methodist Church bishop in November 2022. Wells will become bishop-elect on May 1 and work alongside Seage before being ordained on July 20.

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Who is Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells?

Wells, who will become the 11th bishop of the Mississippi diocese, is Rector of St. George's Episcopal Church in Germantown, Tennessee, and is chaplain of the church's preschool. She has served the church since 2013.

"I am truly humbled by the confidence that the council has placed in me, and I am so looking forward to working with the good people of the Diocese of Mississippi," Wells said. "We are reading all kinds of statistics and reports about declining church attendance and declining church engagement, but we know God is in the midst of all of this and I am looking forward to exploring with this Diocese all of the ways we can continue love God and love one another and serve our neighbors and care for the people around us."

Wells is a native of Mobile, Alabama, and graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis with a degree in vocal performance. She has a Juris Doctorate from the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis. Wells also holds a master's degree in divinity from the Memphis Theological Seminary and a doctorate in ministry from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.

She said one of her first orders of business will be to get out and visit churches across Mississippi.

"When we had our meet and greets when I was able to get to know some of the people in the Diocese, I said then that I really want to get out into the districts," she said. "I want to meet people. I want to meet clergy and I want to meet lay folks in these different convocations. I want to see what is happening in their ministry, and I want to get some good conversations going so that we can be good relationship builders together and be about the business of exploring the ways that we can serve God."

The ordination is scheduled to be officiated by Michael Curry, who is the first Black to serve as Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. He was previously bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina and gained international acclaim when he preached at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2011.

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State of the Episcopal Church in US

The Episcopal Church is a mainline Protestant denomination divided into 99 dioceses and nine provinces across the United States. As of 2022, according to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church's most recent parochial report, there are over 6,000 parishes and missions within the country.

The church has reported a regular decline in membership in recent years. In its report, the church recorded over 1.4 million active members in 2022.

Since 2013, according to the church's report, the number of active members has decreased and the average Sunday worship attendance (ASA) also "dramatically" declined during the pandemic. The church noted that while the number of average worship attendance has appeared to rebound in recent years, it is not back to the pre-pandemic levels.

A majority of churches within the Episcopal Church are also small, the report said. Over a third of churches havean ASA of 25 or fewer people and about 93% of congregations have an ASA of 150 or fewer.

According to the report, about 68% of churches have 200 or fewer members while nearly 15% have memberships of over 400.

The decline in membership was reported to be strongest in the Northeast and Upper Midwest, according to the church's news service.

“The overall picture is dire – not one of decline as much as demise within the next generation unless trends change significantly,” Rev. Dwight Zscheile, an expert in denominational decline and renewal, told the Episcopal News Service in 2020. “At this rate, there will be no one in worship by around 2050 in the entire denomination."