Newly-elected UMC Bishop visits MTS

Moravian Seminary was one of several stops for Bishop Peggy Johnson and Rev. Bronwyn Yocum, two newly-appointed United Methodist officials, as they visited various ministries, churches and pastors in the Lehigh Valley area on October 7, 2008.

Elected a bishop of the United Methodist Church at the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference in Harrisburg, PA, in July 2008, Rev. Peggy Johnson leads the nearly 1,000 UMC churches in the Philadelphia area, which is comprised of the Eastern Pennsylvania and Peninsula-Delaware Annual Conferences. This was Bishop Johnson’s first visit to Moravian Seminary. She was accompanied by Rev. Bronwyn Yocum, who was appointed in July 2008 to serve as District Superintendent of the Lehigh Valley area, Northeast District.

The event was organized and hosted by United Methodist faculty member, Deborah Appler, associate professor of Old Testament. Many of the Seminary’s United Methodist students attended the reception along with Seminary faculty, staff and students.

The gathering included a spirited exchange of questions and answers as Bishop Johnson and Rev. Yocum sought to become more familiar with Moravian — its ecumenical nature, social witness and teaching philosophy. The United Methodist ministerial candidates in attendance spoke very positively about their experience at Moravian and when asked by Bishop Johnson what could she do to show her support of them, their resounding reply was “to continue to engage in visits like this.”

The dialogue and relationship building was appreciated by all and it is hoped that this will become one of many gatherings between the students and faculty of Moravian Seminary and the Bishop and District Superintendent. For many decades Moravian has been approved by the University Senate for the training
of United Methodist ministers.