The Reverend Alletta Ruth Jones Jumper is a native of Chicago, Illinois and a product of the Chicago Public School System  – graduates of Frank L. Gillespie Elementary and Calumet High School.  Her spiritual foundation began as a pre-schooler under the nurturing of her grandmother who was a member of the Church of God In Christ.  Later, she became a member of the Church of Christ Scientists.  Her faith was developed as an adolescent through the daily discipline of prayer/devotion and study of the Bible.   Years later, after searching for a home to nurture her own faith and the faith of her family, in 1982 she found a home with the United Church of Christ through the local congregation of Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, under the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., Senior Pastor.

At Trinity, in 1982, Rev. Jumper was called to a new ministry envisioned by the late Reverend Barbara J. Allen and became a charter member/founder of the ministry for persons who are differently able, Kujichagulia -a Swahili word for “self-determination” (formerly called Special Citizens’ Support Ministry).  Additionally, she served in leadership capacities for several ministries and was ordained as a deacon in 1990.  Prior to that, Rev. Jumper discerned her call to ministry while working as an instructor with the Chicago Urban League Computer Training Center.  It was there she realized her call to empower the “least of these.”   Afterwards, she became employed at Ameritech, Inc. and her call to ministry  became stronger. She,subsequently, prepared academically for ordained ministry in the United Church of Christ.  Compelled to serve and energized by the Spirit, Rev. Jumper simultaneously served  in other capacities with the UCC Illinois Conference, Chicago Metropolitan Association:

• Cluster Six Secretary
• Chicago United Eden Seminary Committee (CUE)
• CUE Seminary Board of Directors – Member at Large.

During those seminary years, her field placement was at New Faith Baptist Church, Matteson, Illinois under the Rev. Dr. Frank A. Thomas, Senior Pastor, where her primary assignment was to develop and implement  through New Faith’s media ministry a tape subscription program of the worship services.  After she retired from Ameritech Inc., Rev. Jumper graduated from McCormick Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity Degree in 2001 and was ordained into the Christian Ministry in 2003.

While serving as the Coordinator for Volunteers and Spiritual Bereavement Minister for the AMANI Volunteer Hospice Care Program through the Trinity AMANI United Community Health Corporation, Rev. Jumper earned several continuing education units for bereavement and grief care.  She also preached at the Joliet State Prison, the Women Division of the Cook County Jail, several UCC congregations, and officiated at funerals for members of the congregation and families at other funeral homes.  For eight years, she co-taught Bible study for the residents of Trinity Oaks Senior Residence in Chicago.  She continues to serve as a Bible Study Facilitator for the Center For African Biblical Studies (CFABS) at Trinity UCC where the Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III is the Senior Pastor and Deacon Shirley Bims-Ellis is the Director.

God is not through with Rev. Jumper even though she is beyond the retirement age.  As well as teaching, she continues preaching, and serving on the CMA Church and Ministry Committee as Vice Chair and Member of the Ordination Ministry Team.  It was while completing the writing of a series of seven sermonic books when God, through the Holy Spirit, gave her the vision to start a new ministry that taps the faith and experiences 0f God’s people who can witness to how God through Jesus Christ “made a way out of no way.”

Rev. Jumper also has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management from the University of Illinois, and a Master’s Degree in Project Management from Keller Graduate School of Management.  Having worked in the healthcare, academic, and legal sectors through 1960-70, she also founded two companies in 1975 and 1980 primarily providing services to small businesses/organizations:  Management Administrative Secretarial Services (MASS), and M A R S Data/Words.

Married for over 54 years to the late Jesse L. Jumper who was active in ministries at Trinity, an advocate for veterans, and who became the first African American AMVET State Commander, they were blessed with 5 children, 11 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren.  Believing that God uses whomever God chooses – even if they are senior citizens – she looks forward to the energetic and spiritual development of this ministry for God’s people; and, perhaps enhance her own spiritual growth through a doctoral program.  God is not through with her, yet!  GRATEFUL FOR GRACE!