Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop and Primate Michael Curry announced that the Rev. Stephanie Spellers has been named Canon to the Presiding Bishop for Evangelism and Reconciliation.

Spellers will be responsible for supporting the ministry of the Presiding Bishop and Primate as it pertains to evangelism and reconciliation efforts at the local, congregational, diocesan, and churchwide levels. 

“Her work will involve helping to spread the good news of Jesus to the church and through the church to the world,” commented the Presiding Bishop. “Canon Spellers will join Canons Hunn and Robertson in connecting me to the excellent work underway by the staff of The Episcopal Church.”

Canon Michael Hunn is the Canon to the Presiding Bishop for Ministry Within The Episcopal Church, and Canon Charles Robertson is Canon to the Presiding Bishop for Ministry Beyond The Episcopal Church.

“There’s no better time than this to be in the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement,” Spellers said. “So many of us are ready to partner, risk, heal and celebrate the good news in our neighborhoods. So many of us are hungry to fall more deeply in love with Jesus and to create spaces where different people can grow in that love, too. So many of us are yearning to follow Jesus beyond fear, beyond comfort and beyond the walls keeping us from each other and from our neighbors. I can’t wait to commit my whole heart and energy to this Spirit-work with our whole church.”

Spellers currently is a faculty member and Director of Mission and Reconciliation at the General Theological Seminary in New York, where she resides. She is also the Senior Consultant and Director of New Ministry Development at the Center for Progressive Renewal www.progressiverenewal.org. She serves as a consultant for various church organizations and as an editor at Church Publishing Inc.

Previously she was the Canon for Mission Vitality for the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island and a member of the chaplain team for the House of Bishops. She served as the co-chair of the Standing Commission on Mission and Evangelism (2009-2012). Spellers was the founding priest of The Crossing @ The Cathedral Church of St. Paul-Boston and before ordination worked at Harvard Divinity School and as a religion reporter.

She is the author of several books, articles and resources focused on embracing emerging cultures and Episcopal traditions, including Radical Welcome and The Episcopal Way (with Eric Law).  She is a former Episcopal Church Foundation fellow.

She graduated from Episcopal Divinity School with a Masters of Divinity; Harvard Divinity School with a Masters of Theological Studies; and Wake Forest University with a Bachelors in Religion, where she began organizing for justice and peace.

Spellers begins her position on January 1 and will be based in New York City. She can be reached at The Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers