wfn.org | Obama asks Sharon Watkins to lead national prayer service

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Obama asks Sharon Watkins to lead national prayer service

Washington, January 11, 2009 -- President-Elect Obama has invited the 
Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins to preach at the National Prayer Service in 
the National Cathedral on January 21.

Watkins is General Minister and President of the Christian Church 
(Disciples of Christ) and an active member of the National Council of 
Churches Governing Board.

"The President-Elect has chosen a preacher with exceptional skill and 
theological insight," said the Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General 
Secretary of the NCC, also a Disciples minister. "She speaks out of a 
deep personal faith commitment and with profound respect for the 
views of others, which is the historic stance of the Christian Church 
(Disciples of Christ). I'm sure she'll sound just the right note to 
bring people of faith together at this crucial moment in history."

The National Prayer Service will be attended by President Obama and 
Vice President Biden, high ranking members of the legislative and 
judicial branches of government, as well as clergy and laypersons 
from a wide range of communions and traditions.

Watkins is the first woman selected to preach at the service.

As General Minister, Watkins is general pastor of the 700,000-member 
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), responsible for representing 
the wholeness of the church, for reconciling differences, and for 
helping the church retain its clarity of mission and identity.

As General President, she is the chief executive officer for the 
denomination, responsible for overseeing the work of the church's 
various structures. She strives to help the Christian Church 
(Disciples of Christ) remain faithful to God's calling and to do its 
work effectively and efficiently. She is serving a six-year term that 
extends through the 2011 General Assembly.

Dr. Watkins is regarded in the ecumenical world as "head of 
communion" and as the chief representative of the church in national 
and world ecumenical councils. Disciples often speak of the GMP as 
the Disciples' primary leader.

Dr. Watkins has an extensive background of service both in this 
country and abroad. She is a member of the Central Committee of the 
World Council of Churches based in Geneva, and serves on the WCC's 
Permanent Committee for Consensus and Collaboration. In 2006, she was 
a representative at the World Council's General Assembly in Porto 
Alegre, Brazil.

She served for two years as a missionary in the Congo, working on 
adult literacy programs early in her professional career. In 2008, 
she returned to the Congo, renewing her ties with the Community of 
Disciples of Christ in Congo there. In 2007, she visited several 
Middle East countries, focusing specifically on the plight of Iraqi refugees.

She serves on the National Council of Church's governing board, based 
in New York City. Dr. Watkins also is a board member of 
Sojourners/Call to Renewal, a Washington, D.C. based group which 
seeks to build a movement that puts faith to work for justice.

She is former pastor of Disciples Christian Church in Bartlesville, 
Okla. where she served for eight years. In the academic world, she 
held positions as Director of Student Services at Phillips 
Theological Seminary in Oklahoma and Associate Vice-President for 
University Relations at Phillips University. She has been a member of 
the Church's General Board Task Force on Reconciliation Mission, 
Moderator of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oklahoma, 
and part of the Stone-Campbell Dialogue Group, which looks, in part, 
at the traditions and history of the Disciples. She also served as 
pastor of Boone Grove Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Boone 
Grove, Ind., and Assistant Minister at Spring Glen Church (United 
Church of Christ) in Hamden, Conn.

Dr. Watkins has been engaged in a number of ecumenical discussions, 
conversations on stewardship, and has made presentations on worship, 
Bible study and women in the ministry. She also has served as an 
adjunct professor at Phillips Theological Seminary, teaching about 
pastoral vocation, history, theology and practices of worship as well 
as spiritual dimensions.

She holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from Phillips Theological 
Seminary, a Master of Divinity from the Yale Divinity School, and a 
Bachelor's Degree in French and Economics from Butler University. In 
2007, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from 
Phillips Theological Seminary.

She is married to the Rev. Dr. Richard (Rick) H. Lowery, Interim Dean 
and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Lexington Theological 
Seminary in Lexington, Ky. They have two children, Bethany and Christopher.

NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228, NCCnews@ncccusa.org