The Right Reverend Doctor John L. Selders, Jr. is an ordained minister serving in the United Church of Christ, the Organizing Pastor of Amistad United Church of Christ, Hartford, CT, former Associate College Chaplain, and currently Assistant Dean, Director of Restorative Justice and Community Standards in the Office of Student and Community Life, Trinity College, Hartford, CT, and one of the leaders of Moral Monday CT. For 15 years, he served as Executive Director of Zezzo House (an 18-unit housing project) in Hartford, CT.
He is the loving spouse of Pamela and the father of two: Alisia (daughter, deceased) and Jay (son), and the grandfather of one, Makenzie (granddaughter). Bishop Selders has done his academic and theological reflection by attending Life Christian Bible College, Webster University, Eden Theological Seminary, and The Anglican Divinity School. In addition to being a talented, award-winning songwriter, musician, and performer with local, national, and international credits, he is also the Bishop Presider of The Inter-Denominational Conference of Liberation Congregations and Ministries (ICLCM), one of the Senior Bishops of the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM). He is the Vice President and 1st Administrative Presiding Prelate of the Freedom Assemblies Worldwide. Bishop Selders is co-founder of Moral Monday CT, a grassroots statewide organization committed to a wide range of social justice issues.
Bishop Selders has exhibited extraordinary commitment and dedication to many efforts that have enabled him to travel across the country, speaking, lecturing, and conducting workshops on race, oppression, and reproductive justice. He is a teacher, lecturer, workshop leader, and HIV/AIDS educator and activist with numerous citations for his work. +John worked for 12 years as a Lecturer at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, CT., was an Adjunct Faculty Member in the Field Education Department of Andover Newton Theological School, was the Dean of Urban Ministry Track for The Anglican Divinity School, and was an adjunct faculty member for The Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education. Bishop has also served as an Adjunct Faculty Member at Seattle University School of Theology and Ministry, a faculty fellow at the Center for Hartford Engagement and Research at Trinity College, director of Trinity College’s Social Justice Institute Research Cluster, “Hidden Black CT” and is currently, a lead associate with the Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion and Public Life at Trinity College. He serves on many boards, currently serving as a member of the board, an executive leadership team member of the board, and a former national President and Vice President of the Religious Coalition of Reproductive Choice and is a current board member for the Interfaith Voice for Reproductive Justice, while working with several other organizations, both locally and nationally, whose work is ultimately concerned with the healing of humanity.