The Tower First United Methodist Church at 23 Chambers St. is hosting Western Pennsylvania United Methodist Conference Bishop Cynthia M. Moore-Koikoi on Feb. 12.
Moore-Koikoi will be speaking in both 9:30 and 11 a.m. services. During fellowship time between services there will be a short meet and greet with the bishop.
This is the bishop’s first official visit to the Bradford community since being elected a bishop and appointed to the WPA United Methodist Conference in July 2016. Upon her election, last July, Moore-Koikoi became just the second African-American woman to be elected as bishop in the Northeastern Jurisdiction.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Loyola College in Maryland, and a Masters of Arts and advanced certification in school psychology from the University of Maryland. She worked as a school psychologist for Anne Arundel County Public Schools for 17 years before answering her call to ordained ministry.
Moore-Koikoi then completed her Master of Divinity degree at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., in 2007. She served as pastor of a small church in East Baltimore and as associate pastor at Calvary UMC, a large congregation in Annapolis.
Ordained an elder in 2010, she served on the staff and as district superintendent of the Baltimore-Washington Conference. She was serving as superintendent of the Baltimore Metropolitan District when elected a bishop.
She began her assignment in WPA on Sept. 1.
