Hope Morgan Ward

Bishop, NC Conference

A native North Carolinian, she was raised on the Morgan family farm in northeastern North Carolina in the community of Corapeake. Her home church, Parkers United Methodist Church, is on a three point charge.

Graduate of Duke University and Duke Divinity School.

Met spouse Mike on a volunteer in mission workteam to Bolivia in 1975. They were married in 1977.

Together, they served as teaching parents at the Methodist Home for Children in Raleigh, North Carolina.

She has served as a youth director, Christian educator, pastor, Director of Connectional Ministries and district superintendent in the NC Conference.

She was elected to the Episcopacy in July, 2004 and assigned to the Mississippi Conference in 2004 and 2008. In 2012, she was assigned to the North Carolina Conference.

Served as president of the General Board of Global Ministries and as president of JustPeace, which is the Center for Mediation and Conflict Transformation of the UMC. She now serves on the General Board of Church and Society and is the bishop assigned to give oversight of the Vietnam Mission Initiative.

Her spouse, Mike Ward, is an educator. He has been a high school teacher, coach, principal, and local school superintendent. From 1997-2004, he served as North Carolina State Superintendent of Public Instruction, an elected position. Mike is on the faculty of NC State University, consults across the United States on education, and is an advocate for children.

She and Mike have two children and four grandchildren. Brooke Morgan Ward and her husband, Derek Taira, grandson, Morgan, and granddaughter, Nyla, live in Hawaii where Derek is on the faculty of the University of Hawaii and Brooke is an educational specialist for the Hawaii Department of Education. Jason Ward and his wife, Alison Greene, and grandsons, Amos and Theo, live in Atlanta, Georgia. Jason teaches history at Emory and Alison teaches at Candler.

She and Mike enjoy sailing and other seaside joys, jogging, and reading.