June 10, 2008

Wesleyan Church Elects First Woman General Superintendent

This from Wesleyan.org...



ORLANDO, Florida -- Dr. Jo Anne Lyon wrote a new chapter in the history of The Wesleyan Church on Monday, June 9, 2008, when she was elected by the denomination as its first-ever woman General Superintendent.
Dr. Lyon, the Founder and CEO of World Hope International (WHI), was elected on the second ballot at the 11th General Conference of the denomination. World Hope is the compassionate ministries partner of The Wesleyan Church and has been affiliated with the Church since WHI’s founding 12 years ago.
“What a wonderful statement you have made as The Wesleyan Church,” said outgoing General Superintendent Dr. Earle L. Wilson. “We have been trying to say to the Christian world that we believe in women in the ministry.”
Dr. Lyon said her father, who now is in heaven, trained her to serve the Church. “My father used to tell people, ‘I trained that girl to be a good churchman.’ He didn’t know about gender-specific language.”
In accepting her new assignment, Dr. Lyon challenged the church to go places it never has gone before. “I believe the Lord is positioning The Wesleyan Church to have a voice in the 21st century like never before,” she said.
Dr. Lyon will join Dr. Thomas E. Armiger and Dr. Jerry G. Pence on the Board of General Superintendents. Dr. Armiger and Dr. Pence, both incumbents, were elected to new terms earlier Monday

2 comments:

Kimberly said...

Wow!...glad you shared this, I probably wouldn't have seen it for awhile. (Interesting that this little segment of the Church is more "progressive" than most on this issue. My grandmother 100% co-pastored successfully for many years...I didn't realize until Hobe Sound how many people disagreed with that. It just seemed normal to me.)

LindaJo49 said...

So they are following in the steps of the Church of the Nazarene?