The Rt. Rev. Dorothy Sanders Wells, D.Min., who became the 11th Bishop of Mississippi on July 20, is ready to spread her vision for the church’s ministry to a needy world.
“I’m most excited about getting to know the people in this diocese and seeing the amazing ministry already happening,” she said. “I’m doing a lot of listening right now — what are the joys? What are the sorrows?” The diocese has 82 congregations, and comprises the entire state of Mississippi. “It’s a big diocese. I want to work on building relationships, not just between me and communities, but between communities. It’s very diverse, and there’s a little bit of everything. I want to make sure we can all see we’re part of one big, beautiful church,” she said.
She thinks visibility and helping people to know about the Episcopal Church are very important. “Young people today are very committed to community, but I don’t know if church is always seen as the best way to express that. We the church have to express that,” she said. She also thinks that the more the church is known for doing good in the world, the more people will see that and will want to know more.
Wells wants people to know that God and the church are there for them. “Bishop Curry has reminded us that our God is a God of love and peace. I want to share that peace where it isn’t necessarily always obvious. I want to look around us and see how our loving God would respond. I want us to become the heart and hand of God on Earth, and make God’s love very visible,” she said.
Mississippi is the poorest state in the nation, and many residents struggle with significant hardships. “I’ve always been deeply involved with ministries that support the most vulnerable, and I’m hopeful that I’m going to get involved with those ministries in Mississippi,” she said. She also wants to do both interfaith and ecumenical work, especially as she sees all Christians as united in a common mission.
She wants to work on increasing a sense of connection. “We need to nurture young people so once they get past teen years and college, where they’re very involved and engaged, they see there’s still something for them. And when we see sparks, what does it mean to begin to discern a call?” she said.
She wants to start hosting ministry experience weekends, in which people can learn about both lay and ordained roles and what it’s like to live out those callings. She especially wants to challenge the idea that people can only live out ministry in the world if they are ordained.
She has a keen interest in promoting the vocational diaconate. “A lot of folks probably don’t realize they could be called to that role. A lot of churches have little to no exposure to it,” she said. “People already involved in healthcare or senior care don’t realize their expertise can be used for the church.”
A challenge in Mississippi is how many churches are destroyed by tornadoes and hurricanes. She visited Trinity Church in Yazoo City, which was destroyed three times, and after the third time, during the Great Depression, all that was left was the altar and the sanctuary around it. It took ten years for the parish to raise the money to rebuild.
“God really wants you in this community,” she told the people of Trinity Church. “We know this is where God wants us to be serving God’s people, and we’re going to serve until we don’t have anything left.”
The Bishop of Mississippi is on the board of trustees at Sewanee: The University of the South. “I’m learning a lot about them, and I know there’s been several incidents in and around the campus, but the university has committed to addressing a lot of those things,” she said.
Wells was previously a lawyer, and worked at large corporations before becoming a priest. She believes this gives her insight into the administrative aspects of the episcopacy. “We’re serving the people who are serving the people,” she said about the role of dioceses.
She was ordained to the priesthood in 2012 by Bishop Don Edward Johnson of West Tennessee. She has served as the rector of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Germantown, Tennessee, a Memphis suburb, since 2013. She was previously a curate at Church of the Holy Apostles in Collierville, Tennessee.
She was elected on the fourth ballot, from a slate of five nominees. Wells will be the first Black person and the first woman to be Bishop of Mississippi.
Wells is originally from Mobile, Alabama, but moved to Memphis for college. She has an M.Div. from Memphis Theological Seminary and a D.Min. from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, as well as a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Rhodes College and a J.D. from the University of Memphis. She and her husband, Herbert, have two daughters.
