On July 27, 2024, Rev. Dr. Melanie Rogers Miller became the 110th Bishop in the line of succession and will serve as the Presiding Prelate of the Western Episcopal District which includes the Alaska, California, Colorado, Oregon-Washington, and the Southwest Rocky Mountain conferences.
I asked Bishop to talk about her historic appointment. Here is what she said:
“The 52nd Session of the General Conference is a significant point in the history of The A.M.E. Zion Church because we can set new legislation to help us carry out our mission and elect episcopal leaders and general officers to lead the charge. The elected delegates have a great responsibility to study the resolutions and vote for their passage or decline based on the church’s needs and mission mandate. They also have the grave responsibility of getting to know the candidates and voting for those who will best lead this church with the rest of the Board of Bishops, General Officers, and Judicial Council into the Secure Future God intends for us to have.
Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the Democratic Party‘s presumptive nominee further heightens the election process for the church and may invigorate our members, especially our young people, to get out and vote in the upcoming presidential election. This is the year of the woman, and I anticipate God’s move in our lives at this General Conference and the upcoming election.
My historic appointment:
Being elected the second woman bishop of The A.M.E. Zion Church in its 220-year history gives hope for changing the culture of our church. So many women leaders have gone on before me, and only one has had the opportunity to sit, stand, and walk in the path I was elected to on July 27, 2024. I am honored to step in the tracks left behind by the late Bishop Mildred “Bonnie” Hines and to be elevated by a mighty move of God that thrust me through the duck-taped stained-glass ceiling Bishop Hines shattered by women and men committed to the cause of Christ. I thank God they believed that He called me for a time like this. I pray we do not wait another 190 or 16 years to elect the next woman bishop or general officer. However, I thank God for this opportunity to serve and endeavor to do all I can as a Bishop with the authority granted to me to lead His people to Calvary and to do so with faith, integrity, and compassion. We celebrate my husband, Rev. Jimmie Miller, who will serve as the first man to be appointed as a missionary supervisor in our church alongside his co-supervisor, Mrs. Rosalyn “Terry” Holland.
Blessings, Bishop Melanie Miller, Presiding Prelate
Western Episcopal District
“Alaska, California, Colorado, Oregon-Washington, Southwest Rocky Mountains”
