Ecclesial Storyteller
Photo by Mike DuBose, UMCom.
An ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and Professor of Biblical Preaching, Dr. Joy serves as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Academic Dean at Luther Seminary in St, Paul, MN. where she seeks to encourage theologically framed, biblically attentive, and socially compelling interpretations of Christian Scripture in order to understand the critical issues influencing community formation in contemporary culture (all that means is she tells community-forming stories from the Bible as a follower of Christ).
Moore is president of the Wesleyan Theological Society and serves on the Board of Directors for 1517 Media and Simpson Park Camp ( Romeo, Michigan). She has served on the Christians for Biblical Equality International Board of Reference and on the board of directors for ZOE Ministries. She became a John Wesley Fellow in 2001, and, is a member of the World Methodist Evangelism Order of the Flame; the Academy of Homiletics; the Society for Biblical Literature; and the American Academy of Religion, where she served as co-chair of the Evangelical Studies Group (2012-2016).
Dr. Joy focuses her research on understanding the stories behind the sound bites, examining how we use words to narrate the realities of our existence. Examining these interests in biblical studies, practical theology, homiletics, narrative hermeneutics, and social media, she works with words to tell stories with a theological twist!
Before returning to the teach at Luther, she served as senior pastor of Bethel UMC in Flint, MI. Previously she taught at Fuller Theological Seminary, where she established the William E. Pannell Center for African American Church Studies and served as its first Associate Dean. Fuller Seminary recruited her to provide the vision for the center from the Divinity School at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina where she served as Associate Dean for Church Relations, Associate Dean for Black ChurchStudies, and Visiting Professor of Preaching.
Previously the director of Student Life at Asbury Theological Seminary and chaplain and director of Church Relations at Adrian College, she has held pastorates in the Michigan Area of the United Methodist Church since 1988. Her chapter in Andrew C. Thompson’s Generation Rising: A Future with Hope for the United Methodist Church (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2011), calls for preaching that takes seriously the story of Scripture over the moralisms we choose to impose on its stories. She has contributed a chapter in the books Essential Truths: For Those Who Would Be Faithful and Unity, Liberty & Charity: Building Bridges Under Icy Waters. She has written for Sojourners magazine, Christian Century, WorkingPreacher.org, Good News and Fuller magazine. She can be heard weekly on The Sermon Brainwave Podcast.
Moore has focused on cross-racial ministry in urban, rural, and suburban congregations. As a pastor, she has called local congregations to recognize their vocation of glorifying God as a peaceable community—practicing hope, hospitality, and honesty. She has served the United Methodist denomination at the General, Jurisdictional, and Annual Conference level.
A native of Chicago, Illinois, Moore’s desire to teach led her to earn a BA in Education and Mathematics from National College of Education (National-Louis University) and an Master of Divinity from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. A fellowship (2001-2005) from A Foundation for Theological Education enabled her to work on her Ph.D. in Practical Theology, which she earned from Brunel University/London School of Theology in 2007. She joins the faculty of Luther Seminary in July 2019 to teach Preaching.
Joy grew up in Commonwealth Community Church, where she was spiritually formed and experienced her call to Christian Ministry. Dr. Joy is an avid fan of books by David Baldacci and John Hart and, when not teaching, she enjoys traveling, watching reruns of NCIS, and reading. Currently, she is reading the works of Octavia E. Butler, and rereading the works of John Wesley. Eventually, she intends to blog at www.joyjmoore.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment.