Episcopal bishop in Mississippi speaks out on women's role in church, LGBTQ pastors

She actually took office on May 1 and has been visiting churches across the state to listen to their needs, wants and their vision of where they would like to see denomination grow in the future.

The Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells was selected an historic election in February, becoming the first woman and first Black person to become the Episcopal Bishop of Mississippi.

This continues a trend in Mississippi as Sharma Lewis was elected as the first Black woman to become bishop of the Mississippi United Methodist Church in November of 2022.

While she won't officially be ordained until July 20, Wells has been on the job for a couple of months now as they new Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi.

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

"It's been exciting just to get out and meet people already," Wells said in an interview with the Clarion Ledger. "We are definitely looking at ways we can help some of our smaller and more rural congregations reclaim their voice and understand that God is calling them to serve in the communities where they are and help them utilize all of the resources that are available to them. It is a priority to re-energize and get people excited again about all of the ministry opportunities that we have."

Christians face declining numbers

There are 82 Episcopalian churches in Mississippi, with approximately 17,000 members, according to Wells. That is down from 89 churches and 20,000 members in 2017.

That is consistent with national trends in the Episcopal church that suggest the church has declined in membership over the last few years, including a 5.6% drop between 2021 and 2022.

Wells is well aware of the drop in numbers and wants to address that problem with education, understanding and forward thinking.

"We really need to focus on how we talk to people about Christianity, period," Wells said. "What do people perceive about us that claim Christianity and profess that faith? What are the perceptions that folks are taking away when they encounter us? Are we showing God's love, radical love, in everything that we do?"

Wells said she spoke to a group of people in the last week and talked with them about the need to emphasize their faith more than in just the hour they spend at church every Sunday.

"If it ends when our time together ends on Sunday mornings, then we have already missed the message," Wells said. "That should be the beginning. When we walk out the doors, that becomes the beginning of us showing that radical love and hospitality. We want people to see that we walk the walk and talk the talk. It's all of those things. I think when Christians do a better job of that, more people will believe there is a reason for them to be in church, period, whether that is the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian church, the Baptist church or the Episcopal church."

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She went on to say that she hears from young people that they aren't seeing the practice from the preaching, and that leads them away from the church in general and Christianity, specifically.

"People seem to believe that we aren't living it out in the world all of the time," Wells said. "We have to be very cognizant of what people think of us when they see us, not on Sunday, but on Monday and Tuesday. What are we communicating about who we are as Christians."

First Black woman to serve as MS Episcopal Bishop

Despite becoming the first woman and first Black person to become the Episcopal Bishop of Mississippi, Wells says that is not something on which she focuses.

Wells is becoming the 11th bishop in the Mississippi diocese. She comes to Mississippi after being Rector of St. George's Episcopal Church in Germantown, Tennessee and chaplain of the church's preschool. She had been there since 2013.

"I am here because God has called me," Wells said. "That's irrespective of me being Black or female or anything else. I am really just focused on ministry here. I do realize I am walking into spaces where people might not have imagined a person like me might be walking, but there are other Black, female bishops in our diocese around the country."

Wells said she hopes that when she was elected the people were listening to the voice of God, that he was calling her at this moment to lead this group of people.

Wells is a native of Mobile, Alabama. She graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis with a degree in vocal performance. She also has a juris doctorate from the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis. Her Master of Divinity is from Memphis Theological Seminary and her Doctor of Ministry degree is from Candler School of Theology at Emory University.

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. Curry rose to international acclaim when he delivered the sermon at the royal wedding of Britain's Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle.

Schisms, differences in denominations

Wells said she is very aware of the recent battles within some denominations, such as the schism in the United Methodist Church over power and homosexuality as well as the discussion the women's role in the church within the Baptist denomination. However, she said there is more to those discussions than the battles that have been so public.

"I will say this and I will take it scripturally," Wells said. "I know that that there are folks that certainly disagree about how we read and appropriate and interpret scripture, but in John's gospel, the last commandment that Jesus gives the disciples is to love one another. 'How you will be identified,' Jesus says, 'as my disciples will be by your love for one another. Love one another as I love you.' "

Wells says she takes that literally.

"That one thing, I take quite literally," she said. "Because if Jesus goes to the effort to say, that I am giving you a new commandment and that you haven't understood it up until now. So, I am giving you a new commandment. Love one another. If we are doing anything other than showing love and acceptance of one another, then I feel like we are already off base."

Outside of that, Wells said that she will leave judgment to God.

"I have a job, and judging is not part of that. I am inadequate to do that," Wells said. "What I can do is love. I can love in the ways that Jesus speaks in Matthew's gospel about loving the prisoner and love the one who is hungry and the one who is naked and the one who is without. I can love, and I can create an atmosphere in which those who do not feel a sense of God's love can know that they too are beloved of our God. To me, that's it. And too me, that means our doors are open and that whoever comes through our doors feel that sense of love and care and acceptance."

She said she will leave the rest to God.

"When my time comes before God to speak to how I have lived, I'd rather God say that you loved too much, rather than you loved too little," Wells said.

Ross Reily can be reached by email at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter @GreenOkra1.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Episcopal Church bishop speaks out on women's role in church