New Prophet=President of Community of Christ Stassi D. Cramm

 

New Prophet=President of Community of Christ

Stassi D. Cramm

 

Stassi D. Cramm, who recently accepted a call to be prophet-president of Community of Christ, currently serves as a member of the First Presidency and is counselor to the president of the church. If her call is approved at the 2025 World Conference, she will be the first woman to hold the church’s highest office. Until then, her title will be prophet-president designate. She has served as presiding bishop of the Presiding Bishopric, a counselor to the presiding bishop, a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles, and the Southwest Pacific Region administrator and stewardship commissioner. Her ordinations: August 1987 as priest, June 1990 as elder, May 1999 as high priest, April 2002 as bishop, and June 2005 as apostle. “In retreats and leadership gatherings, my role was often as a facilitator, helping people discern how their giftedness could be lived in mission in local contexts. I’ve always had a strong commitment to developing disciples and empowering leaders. The identity, mission, message, and beliefs of the church were always a foundation to any ministry I was providing.” Sister Cramm’s full-time employment with the church began in 2000. Prior, she began her ministry volunteering with music, children, and reunions and serving as stewardship commissioners and pastor. After Sister Cramm received a Bachelor of Science degree in general engineering from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and a Master of Arts in organizational management from the University of Phoenix, she received a Master of Arts in religion from Graceland University and a PhD in organization and management from Capella University. Before full-time ministry for Community of Christ, Sister Cramm was employed as a flight-test engineer for the US Air Force. While with the church she has, among other things, provided teaching, preaching, and other guest ministry around the USA, Canada, England, French Polynesia, Africa, Honduras, and Australia. She supervised Fiscal Services, Office of General Counsel, and Information Technology at International Headquarters. She served as dean of Community of Christ Seminary at Graceland University in 2014 and 2015. She is a member of the Graceland Board of Trustees. In response to the pandemic in 2020, she helped the church develop online ministry capabilities to work around physical limitations. As presiding bishop, she helped develop the next generation of A Disciple’s Generous Response resources. She was raised in southern Illinois. Sister Cramm and her husband, Stephen Cramm, have two adult children and two grandchildren. They live alternately in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, where their grandchildren are, and Independence, Missouri, USA. Sister Cramm is known widely for her valediction, “Onward,” found at the end of most of her emails. “I’ve come to understand we are empowered to move onward by the grace of God,” she said. “We can seek forgiveness for the things we’ve messed up and grant forgiveness when we have been wronged, but we can’t undo bad events. We also can’t relive the past. We can’t recreate the heyday of what was. We can learn from it and build upon it, but we must constantly be making the most of the gift of the present as we lean into what might be as we listen and respond to God’s call. “I adopted onward…when I first went to work for the church in 2000. It was intended to mark a new chapter in my life focused on doing everything I could to help make God’s vision of shalom tangible. It came from an old hymn we used to sing when I was a kid, 

 

“Onward to Zion” (Community of Christ Sings, 390). Onward to Zion faithful and strong; Zion the beautiful beckons us on

 

Discerning Future Leadership | Community of Christ (cofchrist.org)