For the first time in the 217-year history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, a woman has become president of its Council of Bishops.
Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie accepted her historic role Wednesday during the opening worship service of the church's worldwide conference in Indianapolis.
"Everybody always asks what it's like to be first," said McKenzie, who was elected as the church's first female bishop four years ago. "There's excitement and exhilaration, but there's also the burden of responsibility."
Other bishops focused on the excitement of McKenzie's new position, in which the Baltimore native will preside over bishops' meetings and help set their agendas for the next year.
"It's significant and it's important for the world to know that the AME Church has embraced the ministry of women," said Bishop Vinton R. Anderson, chairman of the worldwide conference, which is being held at the Indiana Convention Center through next Wednesday.
Anderson and Bishop Philip R. Cousin also outlined a theme of unity that they hope will pervade the gathering of about 2,000 church delegates and an estimated 30,000 church members from Africa, Canada, England, the Caribbean islands and the United States.
"Instead of the church impacting the world, too often the world impacts the church," Anderson said. "We have to change that."
Anderson and Cousin challenged young people to work to improve the lives of senior citizens. They also said the church and older people must find ways to reach out to members of the hip-hop generation, to show them the benefits of a faith-filled life.
"There's always concerns about (the differences between) age groups," said Cousin, the presiding bishop at the conference. "The traditional culture has to understand the hip-hop generation. How do you get them to agree?"
The bishops also indicated it's time for the AME Church to let people from Africa and the Caribbean islands take leadership roles in those areas. The positions have long been filled by Americans.
"We want our brothers and sisters from overseas to be participating (in their leadership)," Anderson said.
He expressed a hope that at least three of the seven new bishops to be elected during the conference will come from those areas.
That's also the hope of Richard Clark, a delegate from Liberia who made a 20-hour plane trip to take part in the conference.
"I hope good things will come out of this -- a unified church and a lifting up of the kingdom of God on high," Clark said.