Yvette A. Flunder was born on July 29, 1955, in San Francisco, California. Raised in a devout Christian family, her father was a preacher at the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). During her youth, she became connected with gospel legend Walter Hawkins and the Love Center Choir. She began performing with them and, in 1984, started recording music as the lead vocalist of “Walter Hawkins and the Family” and the Love Center Choir.
Her notable gospel recordings include “There’s Power” with the City of Refuge Praise Ensemble and “We Won’t Be Silent Anymore” with The Fellowship Mass Choir. She also collaborated with Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer on the song “How Sweet the Sound.” During this period, she met her future spouse Shirley Miller, a cousin of Walter Hawkins. Flunder was later licensed in the Church of God in Christ and ordained by Bishop Walter Hawkins through Love Center Ministries. She went on to serve as Associate Pastor and Administrator at Love Center Church in Oakland, California.
Moved by the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, particularly within her community, Flunder responded by establishing multiple nonprofit services in the San Francisco Bay Area. She created Hazard-Ashley House and Walker House to provide support to individuals in addiction recovery and people living with HIV. She also founded Restoration House, the first residential program of its kind focused on African-American women with dual diagnoses.
These initiatives were launched under the umbrella of Ark of Refuge, Inc., a nonprofit organization delivering housing, education, training, and other vital services to individuals affected by HIV/AIDS. The organization eventually evolved into the Y.A. Flunder Foundation. Its reach extended beyond the Bay Area to other regions of the U.S. and parts of Africa.
In 1991, Flunder founded the City of Refuge under the United Church of Christ (UCC). Her aim was to unify gospel ministry with social justice and to serve communities marginalized by mainstream religious institutions. She described the church as “a spiritual community that embraces collective cultures, faith paths, gender expressions, and sexual/affectional orientations,” while challenging theologies that marginalize women and the LGBTQ+ community.
By 1997, she had earned both a Certificate of Ministry Studies and a Master of Arts in Ministry from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. In 2000, she responded to the growing need for affirming religious spaces by launching The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM), a trans-denominational body advocating for the “radically inclusive love of Jesus Christ.” Flunder was officially consecrated as a bishop in 2003.
Though The Fellowship was founded in 2000, it was renamed The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries in 2011. In June 2003, Rev. Dr. Flunder was officially consecrated as its Presiding Bishop. TFAM includes over 100 primarily African-American congregations and faith-based organizations across the U.S., Mexico, three African countries, and more recently Asia. The fellowship maintains covenantal relationships with the United Church of Christ, Metropolitan Community Churches, and Centers for Spiritual Living.
TFAM is known for its emphasis on inclusion and is predominantly composed of congregations with LGBT or LGBT-affirming pastors. While African Americans make up the majority, its members also include White and Hispanic communities.
| Birth Date: | 29 Jul, 1955 |
| Age: | 64 yrs |
| Occupations: | Singer |
| Citizenship: | United States of America |
| Birth Place: | San Francisco |
| Gender: | Female |
| Description: | American singer and minister of the United Church of Christ |
| Net Worth 2021: | 5 million |
