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Patricia Ann Curtis Davenport, the first African American woman to be elected a bishop in the ELCA, died Wednesday, July 29. She was 70 years old.
Davenport served the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod as bishop from 2018 to 2024, as director for evangelical mission from 2009 to 2018 and as assistant to the bishop from 2007 to 2009. She served as pastor of Spirit and Truth Worship Center in Yeadon, Pa., from 2001 to 2007. She retired in 2024.
Yehiel Curry, presiding bishop of the ELCA, reflected on Davenport’s legacy. “Bishop Davenport often reminded us, especially in difficult moments, that we are called to pause, pray and listen for the Holy Spirit to move within us so that we may respond and not react. Those words provided a guide to how she lived and led.” Curry will deliver the eulogy at Davenport’s funeral.
Davenport earned a degree from the Community College of Philadelphia and received her Master of Divinity from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (now United Lutheran Seminary) in 2001. United is one of seven ELCA seminaries. Davenport was a lifetime member of the Philadelphia chapter of the African Descent Lutheran Association.
Services will be held Saturday, Aug. 15, at 10 a.m. at Mount Airy Church of God in Christ in Philadelphia.
