MethodistThinker.com

The premiere podcast of our spring 2010 season features the leader who served for two decades as the bishop of the Los Angeles Area of The (United) Methodist Church: Bishop Gerald Kennedy.

Bishop Gerald Kennedy

Born in Michigan and raised in California, Gerald Hamilton Kennedy was schooled at the College of the Pacific, the Pacific School of Religion, and Hartford Theological Seminary.

In the 1930s and 40s, he served as a pastor and college instructor, leading churches in Connecticut, California and Nebraska, and teaching at the Pacific School of Religion and Nebraska Wesleyan University.

At the age of 40, in 1948, Gerald Kennedy was elected to the episcopacy and was assigned to the Portland, Oregon Area. Four years later, he was assigned to the Los Angeles Area (Southern California, Arizona, Hawaii) and continued in that post from 1952-1972.

In 1960, just before beginning a term as president of the Council of Bishops of The Methodist Church, Bishop Kennedy wrote The Marks of a Methodist (Methodist Evangelistic Materials), echoing themes from John Wesley’s classic work, The Character of a Methodist.

In the book, Bishop Kennedy noted that modern Methodists “have so minimized our history, our traditions, our doctrine, and our discipline, that to many of our church members, Methodism is only a convenience and a name.”

At a May 1960 laymen’s luncheon in Los Angeles, Bishop Kennedy delivered an address based on The Marks of a Methodist and focused on four defining marks of Methodist belief and practice:

To listen, use the audio player below (23 min.) — or right click (Windows users) to download an mp3 (10.6MB).

Additional addresses and sermons by Bishop Kennedy are available in the UMC Audio Library.

For previous MethodistThinker Podcasts, and/or to subscribe via iTunes or other Podcast software, use the “Subscribe to Podcasts” link at the top of the right column.

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Bishop Gerald Kennedy’s books include:

Bishop Kennedy’s hymn, God of Love and God of Power, written in 1939, is hymn #578 in the United Methodist Hymnal.

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An interesting historical footnote: Gerald Kennedy is the only United Methodist bishop to serve as both an active bishop and the pastor of a local church at the same time. In 1968, he appointed himself to the First United Methodist Church of Pasadena, California. The controversial appointment gave rise to a case that went to the UM Judicial Council.

Bishop Kennedy served as the pastor of First UMC-Pasadena until 1973. He died Feb. 17, 1980, at the age of 72.