Special to 1808Delaware from the Methodist Theological School of Ohio
The Methodist Theological School in Ohio has announced that Rev. Grace Imathiu, senior pastor of First United Methodist Church, Evanston, Illinois, will deliver the 2022 commencement address. The commencement ceremony begins at 11 AM on May 21 in Dickinson Courtyard on the MTSO campus, 3081 Columbus Pike in Delaware. Guests are welcome, and tickets are not required.
A sought-after preacher who earned her Master of Divinity degree from MTSO in 1987, Imathiu has pastored congregations from Green Bay, Wisconsin, to Nairobi, Kenya. Long an ally and activist for the LGBTQI community, she uses sermons as tools of justice at the intersection of religion, race, sexuality and gender.
Among her many professional roles, Imathiu has served as a church planter in Kenya, a superintendent minister overseeing 68 rural churches in Nkubu, and an urban minister to an ecumenical congregation in Nairobi with strong outreach to the neighboring slums of Kawangware.
She has preached in Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Togo, Liberia, Denmark, Australia, Malaysia, Brazil and throughout the United States. A founding member of Kenya Methodist University, she is the author of the books Matthew’s Message: Good News for the New Millennium and Words of Fire, Spirit of Grace.
Imathiu was scheduled to deliver the 2020 commencement address before the 2020 and 2021 commencement ceremonies were moved online due to COVID-19 precautions.
“Rev. Imathiu is a preacher and activist of impact whose work spans the globe,” said MTSO President Jay Rundell. “We’re excited to welcome her back to our campus – finally – to share her considerable wisdom and inspiration with our graduates.”
MTSO will award master’s degrees in divinity, counseling ministries, theological studies, social justice and practical theology, as well as the Doctor of Ministry degree, at the May 21 ceremony.
