Bishop Reginald Jackson has been named the new leader of the African Methodist Episcopal Church's Second Episcopal District. (Hamil R. Harris/The Washington Informer)
Bishop Reginald Jackson has been named the new leader of the African Methodist Episcopal Church's Second Episcopal District. (Hamil R. Harris/The Washington Informer)

The politically active prelate, Bishop Reginald Jackson, has been named the new leader of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church’s Second Episcopal District. 

Jackson, the 132nd Bishop elected to the African Methodist Episcopal Church, served in Africa, New Jersey, Georgia, and now in the Second Episcopal District, which includes the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. 

“We are excited to have him as bishop of the most powerful city in the world,” said the Rev. Grainger Browning, pastor of the Ebenezer AME Church in Fort Washington, Maryland. “All that God has led him to do in his life in ministry, God has brought him to the Second Episcopal District for such a time as this.” 

Jackson Meets with Faith Leaders at Ebenezer

Bishop Jackson recently met with the pastors and elders in the Second Episcopal District at Ebenezer AME, where he laid out his vision for the district and how he plans to govern as a leader. 

“I am not a micromanager. There is a line that we should follow,” Jackson emphasized. “Go through your presiding elders.” 

A few minutes later, about a dozen men and women stood around the newly minted Second Episcopal District leader and said, “We are proud to be here with you Bishop Jackson.” 

Jackson’s ministry is beyond the pulpit, and the bishop has been very active in freedom fighting and politics, including in Georgia during the 2020 presidential election. As he enters into his new role, he weighed in on rights for Washingtonians. 

“If we can control the Congress and the White House we should get statehood for the people of the District of Columbia,” he told The Informer.

Just before he concluded the Second Episcopal District meeting, he challenged the church leaders. 

“We have low expectations for the church but the church leaders ought to try to do anything that you can do with God,” he said. “Let us ask that he would power us by his spirit. Brothers and sisters, let us do great things in the Lord’s name.”

Hamil Harris is an award-winning journalist who worked at the Washington Post from 1992 to 2016. During his tenure he wrote hundreds of stories about the people, government and faith communities in the...

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