Ms. Erin M. Hawkins is General Secretary of the General Commission on Religion and Race. She is lead official of the denominational agency that cultivates racial inclusion and the full participation of all people into the work, witness and life of The UMC. GCORR empowers church clergy and lay leadership to utilize the values of inclusion, racial equity and justice in the transformative work of vital congregations in order to build up the body of Christ. Ms. Hawkins works to share lessons in creating holy relationship with God by, “holding in tension our capacity for greatness that calls us, as Christians, to persevere in the struggle towards becoming our better selves, and to combat our worst tendencies, of racism, sexism and classism.”
Ms. Hawkins’ Master’s Degree in Organizational Development from American University in Washington, D.C. and her Masters degree in Public Policy from Indiana University have provided her an awareness of how system processes can perpetuate the sin of racism and carry from the local to the global arena.