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BY MELISSA LAUBER
UMCONNECTION STAFF

When the Rev. Peggy Johnson was recently elected to be a bishop in The United Methodist Church, Bishop John Schol introduced her, explaining to the delegates of the Northeastern Jurisdiction that in American Sign Language one says bishop by mimicking a pointy hat, or miter, on one's head.

In Kenyan sign language, however, one slaps oneself in two quick motions on the forehead and back of head - in a spirit of bemused wonderment.

"It's true," said Johnson, who promised to bring "a sense of wonder, creativity, humility, compassion and grace" to her ministry as bishop.

Bishops bring the totality of who they are with them into the episcopal leadership, Johnson said. The pastors, congregations and communities she will lead can expect her "to listen, learn and be a servant leader." She intends to be relational, practicing a theology of empowerment and leaning on the Holy Spirit. "You can't do anything unless you have the heart of Christ deeply embedded in your heart," she said.

Johnson's heart has been shaped over the years by her ministry to people in the margins. Her work in the Deaf community draws people from every socio-economic group, including the very poor, who bring with them a vast array of social, human and spiritual needs.

A child of church, Johnson traces her family's roots back to some of the first members of Old Otterbein UMC in Baltimore, the mother church of the Evangelical United Brethren.

She was baptized and confirmed at Lansdowne UMC, where her husband, the Rev. Michael Johnson, now serves as pastor.

A graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., she was ordained in 1980, following a career as a vocal music teacher.

While teaching music her voice failed. She was discouraged, but her hope was renewed when she attended a concert by a Deaf choir that performed the "Hallelujah Chorus."

This visible music touched something in her soul and she began learning American Sign Language, she said.

Following ordination, she served a four-point charge in Frederick, then went to Lansdowne UMC, before working as a chaplain at Gallaudet University, a college for the Deaf in Washington, D.C., and then becoming pastor of Christ United Methodist Church of the Deaf.

Her ministry there has taken her around the world, where she helped to start or enhance Deaf ministries in Zimbabwe, Cuba and a myriad of other places in the United States and abroad.

Johnson received her doctorate from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, where she served as an adjunct faculty member and is the author of the book "A Joyful Silence."

She acknowledges that she does not come to the episcopacy through the traditional paths. "I'm not your typical profile," she said.

Instead, Johnson hopes her gifts, along with her desire to work in partnership with others and being faithful to God, will enable her to "see with the heart," where God is calling her and the church to go.

At her consecration service, at Grace UMC in Harrisburg, Pa., July 18, Johnson celebrated Communion with Bishop Joseph H. Yeakel, who served as bishop of the Baltimore-Washington Conference for 12 years.

Earlier in the conference, Bishop Yeakel quoted Augustine of Hippo: "For you I am a bishop, with you I am a Christian." One is duty, the other grace, he said.

It's a philosophy Johnson hopes to adopt as she begins Sept. 1 to lead the Philadelphia area, made up of churches in the Eastern Pennsylvania and Peninsula-Delaware conferences.