Oklahoman makes history being elected as first Native American United Methodist bishop

Carla Hinton, Oklahoman
·4 min read
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The Rev. David Wilson speaks at a remembrance service near Okemah as the Rev. Jimmy Nunn, Oklahoma Methodist bishop, at left, and Dr. Delores Subia Bigfoot, a metro-area child psychologist, on the right, listen to his remarks.
The Rev. David Wilson speaks at a remembrance service near Okemah as the Rev. Jimmy Nunn, Oklahoma Methodist bishop, at left, and Dr. Delores Subia Bigfoot, a metro-area child psychologist, on the right, listen to his remarks.

An Oklahoman has made history as the first Native American to be elected to the position of bishop in the United Methodist Church, the nation's second largest Protestant denomination.

The Rev. David Wilson was elected as bishop in the denomination's South Central Jurisdictional Conference on Wednesday at the jurisdiction's meeting in Houston. The denomination's South Central Jurisdiction includes Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and portions of Texas.

Wilson, 59, a member of the Choctaw Nation, currently serves as assistant to the bishop of the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference and Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, based in Oklahoma City.

"It is an honor to be elected by folks who recognized the need to not only elect an Indigenous person, but one they believed is qualified to do this work," Wilson told The Oklahoman on Thursday. "I am excited about this new role and look forward to being a bishop to all wherever I am appointed. It is an exciting time in the life of the United Methodist Church and I am thankful to be a part of this history."

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The Rev. Joseph Harris, assistant to the bishop of the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference and the conference's communication's director, said Wilson's election, along with that of two women, was a highlight of Wednesday's gathering in Houston.

"He will do well wherever we appoint him so there was just a lot of history that was made yesterday ― history for a new church," Harris said. "Because of disaffiliations and other things, the United Methodist Church will be a different church moving forward and these will be some of the new leaders that will help us move forward."

Wilson has been the assistant to the bishop for the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference since 2021, following 19 years as a conference superintendent, according to United Methodist News Service, the United Methodist Church's official news outlet. The news service said he was lead coordinator for the North Oklahoma City Native American Ministry for eight years, following eight years as a pastor of a Norman church. He served seven years as director of promotions/interpretations for the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, after being pastor of a church in Tahlequah, and campus minister for the Native American Campus Ministry program at Northeastern State University.

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Wilson was elected by United Methodist clergy and laity from the eight states forming the South Central Jurisdiction, according to United Methodist News Service. The news outlet said assignments of bishops in the South Central Jurisdiction will be announced later in the week, with terms of service to begin Jan. 1. In the United States, United Methodist bishops are elected to serve for life.

Over the years, he has played a vital role in several Native American initiatives and activities in Oklahoma and beyond and he is known internationally for his work. In addition to his faith activities, Wilson also directs the nonpartisan Rock the Native Vote. And, he was one of the first faith leaders in the state to acknowledge the importance of the reckoning surrounding the legacy of Native American boarding schools in North America. 

In 2021, Wilson helped coordinate the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference's remembrance service for victims of Native American boarding schools, both those who died at the schools and those who survived. That service and another held in September 2022 were held in conjunction with National Day of Remembrance for U.S. Indian Boarding Schools observed across the United States and Canada.

Oklahoma has more than 83 former and current boarding school sites, more than any in the nation, according to the National Boarding School Coalition. In July, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland launched a year-long Road to Healing Tour to document permanent oral history from first-person accounts of boarding school experiences. The tour included a stop in Oklahoma.

'We made history'

Harris said the South Central Jurisdiction also marked another first Wednesday by electing the Rev. Delores "Dee" Williamston as the jurisdiction's first female African American bishop. The other clergy leader elected bishop at the jurisdiction's meeting was the Rev. Laura Merrill.

"We made history last night and we elected three outstanding leaders," Harris said on Thursday. "They represent the diversity of the United Methodist Church ― the diversity of America."

He said he is on the committee that would be meeting on Thursday to decide where each of the newly elected bishops will be sent.

The minister said there were "shouts of joy" as the new bishops were elected. He said Wilson's election was a "major accomplishment, a major achievement."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: David Wilson elected as first Native American United Methodist bishop