Rev. Dr. Francine Brookins

The Rev. Francine Brookins received a big endorsement in her campaign to become a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Sixty-seven of 100 delegates in the Fifth Episcopal District of the AME Church voted for her during a primary election held at the district’s Mid Year Convocation on March 10-11.

“This is historic on many levels, one of which is that the Fifth District has elected a woman to represent it as its endorsed candidate for bishop at the bicentennial celebration of the African Methodist Episcopal Church,” said Brookins.

The AME Church will elect six bishops at its General Conference in Philadelphia in July 2016, which will also mark the denomination’s 200^th year. Six AME bishops, including the Right Rev. Theodore Larry Kirkland, will complete their service due to the church’s mandatory retirement age.

Brookins, the daughter of the late Bishop H. Hartford Brookins, is one of 31 candidates seeking episcopal office, including three others in the Fifth District. The holder of a J.D. and Master of Divinity degrees, she currently serves as pastor of Bethel AME Church of Fontana.

To learn more, visit francine2016.org.