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Presenters (continued)
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Bishop Alfred Johnson
Presiding Bishop for the New Jersey Area and Chair, The Advance for Christ and His Church, The United Methodist Church






Dr. Jan Love
Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of South Carolina

Jan Love is a “preacher’s kid” who grew up in the Alabama-West Florida Conference. She received her B.A., with honors, in African Politics from Eckerd College (St. Petersburg, FL) in 1975. She received her MA in Political Science from Ohio State University in 1977, and her PhD in Political Science from OSU in 1983, where she won a prize for her dissertation research.

Jan is now an Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of South Carolina (USC). From 1982 until 2001, she taught full time in the Department of Government and International Studies at USC, and she continues to teach one course a semester there.

Jan’s publications range across a variety of topics and include two books as well as articles and book chapters on globalization, political economy, social change, Southern Africa, religion and politics, and ecumenism. A common thread in all her research is a central concern for citizen involvement in global problem solving.

Complementing her academic life is Jan's service in the United Methodist church and ecumenical organizations. Jan is a member of Wesley United Methodist Church in Columbia, SC, where 15 years ago she helped to found an intentionally cross-racial “Celebration Community” service and where she currently coordinates an adult Sunday School Class. In the South Carolina Annual Conference, Jan has served on several boards and agencies since the 1980s. She also works closely with ecumenical and inter-religious organizations in South Carolina. Jan was a youth leader in the Alabama West-Florida Conference, and when she was in high school and college, Jan served on the General Board of Global Ministries (and its predecessor, the Board of Missions) from 1970-1976. She now serves on the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious concerns.

Among a number of honors bestowed on her, in May 2000, the United Methodist Council of Bishops, in the presence of the church's General Conference, recognized Jan for her "exceptional leadership in ecumenical arenas," primarily for her work in the World Council of Churches. The WCC is an organization of about 340 denominations from more than 120 countries, headquartered in Geneva. Jan served as a member of the WCC Central Committee (158 member board of directors) from 1975 to 1998 and filled a number of leadership roles. From 1983-91, she served on the 25-member Executive Committee as Moderator (chair) of the Programme Unit on Justice and Service. From 1992 to 1998, she was Moderator of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA). She served on the Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC, 1999-2002, and currently moderates (chairs) the global group that oversees the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV). The DOV is a WCC initiative that coincides with the United Nations Decade for Peace and a Culture of Nonviolence (2001-2010). Within the United States, Jan serves on the board of directors of Church World Service. In addition, Jan continues to give speeches, conduct seminars, and preach in a number of places across the country and the world, as she has for many years.

Jan is married to Peter Sederberg, and they live in Columbia, SC with their daughter Rachel (15). They enjoy visits back home from their son, Per (28), who now lives in Boston.


Bishop Edward Paup
Presiding Bishop, Oregon-Idaho Area and President, General Council on Ministries, The United Methodist Church

Background Information 1
Background Information 2


The Rev. Dr. Bruce Robbins
General Secretary, General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns

The Rev. Dr. Bruce W. Robbins serves as the General Secretary of the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns of The United Methodist Church. The Commission is responsible for ecumenical advocacy, for strengthening relationships with other living faiths, and for enabling ecumenical understanding and experience among all United Methodists. As General Secretary, he is the ecumenical staff officer for The United Methodist Church.

Mr. Robbins was born in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Oberlin College in Ohio and graduated with majors in English and Spanish literature. He then went to Union Theological Seminary (New York) funded by a Rockefeller Fellowship for a Masters of Divinity where he specialized in theology. He received his Ph.D. in Church History from Southern Methodist University. His dissertation was a history of the Latin American Biblical Seminary in San Jose, Costa Rica. First ordained in 1974, he is a full member and elder of the Troy Annual Conference. For five years he served churches in that conference.

He has served in numerous ecumenical and interreligious relationships. He attended the Fifth and Sixth Assemblies of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Nairobi, Kenya, and Vancouver, British Columbia. He was a delegate to the WCC Seventh Assembly in Australia, and to the Eighth Assembly in Zimbabwe, where he provided the staff leadership for United Methodist delegations. In addition, he was a delegate to the Fifth World Conference on Faith and Order. He serves on the WCC Central Committee and co-moderates the WCC/Pentecostal dialogue.

Mr. Robbins serves on the Executive Board and General Assembly of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., various units and committees of the NCC and has specialized in Christian-Jewish relations. He also represents the church on the Executive Committee of the World Methodist Council and is a member of bilateral dialogue with the Roman Catholics. Through his office he participates extensively in numerous other ecumenical and academic opportunities.

Mr. Robbins is married to Carol Braswell Robbins who serves on the faculty of Cornell University. They have two children.


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