The Rev. Gary Meekins appointed pastor of Harmony UMC

Bishop LaTrelle Miller Easterling and the Peninsula-Delaware Conference of the United Methodist Church recently announced the Rev. Gary Meekins has been appointed to pastor Harmony United Methodist Church near Millsboro.

One of the oldest established churches in Sussex County, Harmony UMC is located at 27270 John J. Williams Highway.

A native of Cambridge, Md., Meekins comes to Harmony with many years of valuable experience, having served the ministry since his ordination in 1971. He is a graduate of Livingstone College in Salisbury, N.C., and received a master of divinity degree from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.

Meekins has served as pastor of various churches in Lewes, Bridgeville and Wilmington, and on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, including Emmanuel United Methodist Church in Chestertown, Md.

In 1988, Meekins was appointed to the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference where he served at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church as senior pastor, and Wharton Wesley United Methodist Church and Camphor Memorial United Methodist Church. He was the first African American minister to serve the congregation at Pocono Lake United Methodist Church in Pocono Lake, Pa. Most notably, Meekins was associate pastor at the nationally known Tindley Temple United Methodist Church in Philadelphia.

Meekins has a stellar reputation as an outstanding orator, preacher and teacher. He has exhibited superior leadership skills in the numerous positions he has held including president of the Black United Methodist Preachers of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, secretary of Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, co-chair of the Congregational Transformation Team, and secretary of the Methodist Action Program and the Vision Team. He continues to serve on the board of directors of several religious and community organizations.

Meekins officially retired from full-time ministry in 2012, but was asked by the Dover District superintendent to pastor Mt. Calvary United Methodist Church in Bridgeville and Bethel United Methodist Church in Federalsburg, Md. He successfully led these two congregations until he accepted the call to pastor Harmony United Methodist Church.

Meekins and his wife, the former Fonda L. Burton of Lewes, are eagerly looking forward to a fruitful ministry at Harmony United Methodist Church and with the Millsboro community.

“I am honored to be called to pastor Harmony United Methodist Church, and I look forward to seeing God’s amazing grace shine on His people here. I am reminded of the beautiful United Methodist hymn that says ‘The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people. We’re many kinds of people, with many kinds of faces, all colors, and all ages too, from many times and places. I am the church! You are the church! We are the church together. All who follow Jesus, all around the world! Yes, we are the church together,’” said Meekins.

For more, go to harmonyunitedmethodistchurch.org.