Angelique Walker-Smith (born 1958) is an American Baptist minister and ecumenical leader. In September 2022, she was elected as president of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...

, representing the North America region. She is ordained in the

National Baptist Convention, USA The National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., more commonly known as the National Baptist Convention (NBC USA or NBC), is a primarily African American Baptist Christian denomination in the United States. It is headquartered at the Baptist World Cen ...

. Since 2014, she has been on the national staff of

Bread for the World Bread for the World is a non-partisan, Christian advocacy organization based in the United States that advocates for policy changes to end hunger. Bread for the World provides resources to help individuals advocate to end hunger, which might inc ...

. Before that, she was the executive director of the Church Federation of Greater Indianapolis for nineteen years.

Biography

Angelique Walker was born in 1958 in Cleveland, Ohio. Her parents were Roosevelt and Geneva Walker; her father was an ordained minister. Walker-Smith earned a telecommunications degree at Kent State University. She then attended Standford Seminary, where she earned an MDiv in 1983. She later completed a Doctor of Ministry degree at Princeton Theological Seminary, where she was the first African American woman to earn that degree from that institution. She was ordained in the

and served as an associate pastor at the beginning of her ministerial career. Walker-Smith worked for nineteen years as the executive director of the Church Federation of Greater Indianapolis. She succeeded Paul McClure, becoming the fifth executive director and the first woman and first African American to lead the organization. During her tenure, she focused on economic issues and racial justice initiatives. She served in this role until 2014 when she joined Bread for the World as their associate for national African American church engagement. Walker-Smith has been engaged in many ecumenical activities. She served as the ecumenical representative for the Baptist Convention USA to the National Council of Churches of Christ. She was elected to the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) for three successive terms. In 2013, Walker-Smith was invited to participate in events in Washington, D.C., surrounding the 50th anniversary of the

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, also known as simply the March on Washington or The Great March on Washington, was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic rig ...

, including a private reception at the White House with then-President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

and First Lady Michelle Obama. In August 2022, at the 11th WCC Assembly held in Karlsruhe, Germany, she was elected a president for the WCC, representing the North American region. Walker-Smith has also been active in

anti-racism Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate ...

activism. She has credited her family as having provided her with "Christian

Pan African Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous and diaspora peoples of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement ext ...

values" from a young age. She is a member of the Preparatory Working Group for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

Permanent Forum of People of African Descent.

Personal life

Walker-Smith is married to R. Drew Smith, a Baptist minister, and professor. They met at church and attended Yale Divinity School together. Smith is Professor of Urban Ministries at

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (PTS) is a Presbyterian graduate seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1794, it houses one of the largest theological libraries in the tri-state area. History Pittsburgh Theological Seminary was formed ...

Awards

In February 2022, Walker-Smith was awarded the Figel Ecumenism Award, which is given by the Washington Theological Consortium.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker-Smith, Angelique 1958 births Living people Religious leaders from Cleveland 21st-century Baptist ministers from the United States Kent State University alumni Princeton Theological Seminary alumni African-American Baptist ministers