The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women (GCSRW) is excited to introduce Bishop Delores J. Williamston as the new President of the agency's Board of Directors. She was elected during GCSRW’s Board of Directors’ Organizing Fall meeting October 9-11, 2024.
Reflecting on her election, Bishop Williamston said, “I am both excited and humbled to serve as GCSRW’s board president and to engage in the vitally important work of the agency. When I consider my journey to taking on this new role, I recognize God’s divine timing,” Bishop Williamston says as she shared the story of years ago seeking to become actively involved in GCSRW’s leadership with none of her efforts succeeding. “I am reminded that, when we leave things to God, life works things out, life will find a way. I can now stand back and say, ‘Look at what God can do!’”
Bishop Williamston made history on November 2, 2022, when she became elected as a bishop in the South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church. She currently serves as bishop of The Louisiana Annual Conference.
In addition to her role as board president, Bishop Williamston serves on the Disabilities Ministries Committee of The United Methodist Church, a ministry partner with the General Commission on Religion and Race whose mission it is to lead the denomination in creating a culture where people with disabilities are fully included in all aspects of worship, leadership, ministry and mission through advocacy, education and empowerment.
Bishop Williamston is a second career elder and served twenty-two years in the Kansas National guard, where she retired with the rank of Sargent First Class (SFC). She was ordained an elder in 2010 in the Kansas East Conference, now part of the Great Plains Conference.
Bishop Williamston left high school before graduating but later returned to earn her GED. Her educational journey continued as she went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in Christian Ethics and Management from Manhattan Christian College in Manhattan, KS, a Master of Divinity from St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, MO, with a specialization in Evangelism and Black Church Ministries, and a Doctor of Ministry from Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Okla., in May 2023.
Bishop Williamston began her pastoral ministry serving as an associate licensed pastor in Topeka, Kan. After graduating from Saint Paul School of Theology, she served churches in Mentor, Quayle and Independence in Kansas. In 2014, she was appointed to serve as a district superintendent, followed by her appointment in 2021 to serve as Director of Clergy Excellence and Assistant to the Bishop in the Great Plains Conference.
Williamston was born in Colorado Springs, Col., and grew up in Topeka, Kan. She has one son, Jerome Jr., daughter-in-law Mercedes and seven grandchildren. A breast cancer survivor, she enjoys movies, reading, bike riding, walking, painting, crochet, traveling, spending time with her grandchildren and her pet Shih Tzu.