Disciples of Christ General Minister and President, Rev. Terri Hord Owens, will be here at Sun City Christian Church on Sunday, January 26!

It’s a don’t-miss Sunday, so mark your calendar and watch for more details coming soon.

Rev. Teresa “Terri” Hord Owens is the General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada. She is the first person of color and second woman to lead the denomination, and the first woman of African descent to lead a mainline denomination.

Elected in 2017, Rev. Hord Owens was re-elected to a second term as General Minister and President in 2023. Her ministry actively reflects the Disciples’ priority of being an anti-racist church, being a movement for wholeness, and welcoming all to the Lord’s table as God has welcomed us. Her exhortation to the church is “Let’s be the church we say we are. It is in being who we say we are that we actively bear witness to God’s limitless love for all.”

Rev. Hord Owens earned her bachelor’s degree in Government with a minor in Afro- American Studies from Harvard University. Hord Owens’ resume includes more than 20 years in corporate America leading diverse teams in data management in health care and other industries before she entered seminary.

A graduate of University of Chicago Divinity School, Rev. Hord Owens served 12 years as the Dean of Students at her alma mater. Rev. Hord Owens also served as the pastor of First Christian Church of Downers Grove, Illinois, where under her leadership, FCCDG became an open and affirming, antiracism, pro-reconciliation congregation.

Hord Owens is widely sought after as a preacher, speaker, and workshop facilitator. Her ministry and intellectual interests include spiritual development, a theology of reconciliation, cultural intelligence, developing inclusive and multi-cultural congregations, and the mentoring of young adults.

In addition to collaborative service with Disciples ministries and congregations as they seek to make justice happen, she has been active in leadership in the Poor People’s Campaign, Repairers of the Breach, and other ecumenical and interfaith collaboratives. In keeping with the Disciples’ historic commitment to Christian unity, she serves in leadership at the National Council of Churches as the Treasurer of the Governing Board and a member of the World Council of Churches Central Committee.

Rev. Hord Owens is married to Walter Owens, Jr. They are the proud parents of an adult son, W. Mitchell Owens, III and daughter-in-law Adriana Owens. She is also the joyful grandmother of Zachary Owens.