This week in Christian history: Galileo recants, Machen ordained, PCUSA elects first black leader
PCUSA elects first African American leader — June 24, 2016
This week marks the anniversary of when the Presbyterian Church (USA), the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States, elected its first black leader.
The Rev. J. Herbert Nelson II was elected stated clerk of the PCUSA Office of the General Assembly on the first ballot at the 222nd General Assembly in Portland, Oregon, defeating David M. Baker of the Presbytery of Tampa in a vote of 447-112.
Nelson, a third-generation Presbyterian pastor who had served as the director of the PCUSA Office of Public Witness, succeeded the Rev. Gradye Parsons, who was retiring at age 63.
“I believe we are not dying,” Nelson told those gathered at the 2016 General Assembly in response to the documented decline in membership for the denomination. “I believe we are reforming.”
Nelson would be reelected stated clerk in 2020 at the virtually held 224th General Assembly, running unopposed. He retired before the completion of his second term in 2023, saying he was doing so “for my family and the church in this time of change.”
