Cecelia Williams Bryant, AME Church minister and mother of the Rev. Jamal Bryant, dies at 77

(RNS) — The Rev. Cecelia Williams Bryant, an African Methodist Episcopal Church bishop’s wife known for mentoring up-and-coming clergy and fostering prayer, died on Thursday (Sept. 26), her family announced. Bryant, 77, was the episcopal supervisor for the AME districts that her husband, now-retired Bishop John R. Bryant, oversaw. She also was the mother of the Rev. Jamal Bryant, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, a predominantly Black megachurch outside Atlanta, and the Rev. Thema Bryant, a Pepperdine University professor and former president of the American Psychological Association. “We were blessed to share life with this anointed and dedicated wife, mother, grandmother and liberated global citizen,” Jamal Bryant said in a statement. “Of all her immense talents and gifts, Rev. C was a powerful and committed intercessor on behalf of the poor and vulnerable. I am not the person I am today without her prayers and love, which have been my north star throughout my life.” Cecelia Bryant co-founded the AME Church in India with her husband of 55 years and helped to found the AME Church in Cote d’Ivoire, according to The Christian Recorder, the denomination’s official publication. A missionary, author and feminist, she was focused on health,...