Women Bishops of the United Methodist Church: Extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit

Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader and Margaret Ann Crain interviewed and collected stories from each of the women bishops elected in The United Methodist Church, the first denomination with women elected to the episcopacy. Through these stories, they seek to answer the following question:

• What was it about these women that enabled them to persevere, claim authority, define leadership in their own ways, and rise to the episcopacy?
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• How did their presence challenge and change the church?

Their stories reveal how these clergywomen changed the Church while they blazed leadership trails both before and after their election to the episcopacy. The book will share inspirational stories and pivotal moments that illustrate how women manage the complexities of family, faith, and authority. It is about both realized and unrealized differences that women bishops made/make/will make in The United Methodist Church.