Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories

March 23, 2023 | by Rev. Emily Nelms Chastain

Williamston, Merrill and Wilson hug after being elected bishops during the South Central Jurisdictional Conference. Photo by Louisiana Annual Conference.

In celebration of Women’s History Month 2023, The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women will be publishing eight blog articles, written by the Rev. Emily Nelms Chastain, in order to highlight the newly elected women bishops by The United Methodist Church. This blog series will follow the national theme of “Celebrating Women who tell our Stories.”

Additionally, we encourage you to document your own celebrations of women in leadership and that you share these stories with your Annual Conference COSROWs through social media using the #GCSRW.

Finally, we celebrate the author, the Rev. Emily Nelms Chastain, for her time and dedication to tell the stories of these women.

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Rev. Emily Nelms Chastain is a PhD student at Boston University, where she focuses on 19th and 20th Century American Christian History and the intersectionality of faith and gender. She earned her B.A. in History at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2007 and graduated with an M.A. Religion and M.Div. in 2019 from Claremont School of Theology. She’s an ordained United Methodist Deacon in the North Alabama Conference, and entered academia after serving for 9 years within the United Methodist Church where she worked in Connectional Ministries. Emily served as a reserve delegate to the 2016 General Conference and as a delegate for the 2016 Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference. She has served on the GCSRW board since 2016.