April G. Johnson

Rev. April G. Johnson serves is the Minister of Reconciliation for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada. She brings to this work a deep passion for racial understanding, justice and compassion.  As Minister of Reconciliation, Rev. Johnson facilitates the church-wide process of awareness, dialogue and action toward healing the separation in the body of Christ caused by systemic racism. She collaborates with trainers, regional and congregational staff leadership, anti-racism teams and ecumenical partners in her efforts to guide this work.  In her capacity as both Pastor and administrator, Rev. Johnson emphasizes the importance of relationship-building across difference as one of the critical ways that we live into God’s beloved community.

Before coming to the Disciples’ Center, Rev. Johnson served at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois as Assistant Dean of Students /Director of Diversity Services and as Associate College Chaplain.  During her tenure at the College, Rev. Johnson provided leadership in developing a campus climate of welcome and inclusion, particularly for racial and ethnic minorities.  She also led several cross-cultural short-term immersion experiences for her students in Belize, Central America and Kenya, East Africa. 

She brings this same passion for helping young adults realize their connectedness to the global community to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in its mission to witness reconciliation to the larger body believers, even the ends of the earth.   

She received her Bachelor’s of Arts from the University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana and her Masters of Divinity from Howard University in Washington, DC.  While at Howard, she was the Assistant to the Editor for the Journal of Religious Thought and the editor of the school’s weekly student-staff newsletter, the weekly word.  She enjoys writing and travel and is hopeful to return to playing golf.  Rev. Johnson is a native of Chicago, Illinois.