Women in Ministry

Easter Update from Kristi White & the PUMP Church in Oregon

Jen — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:18:06 +0000

I thought of you today, D’Esta, when we had a memorable (but beautifully natural) Sunday with Cheronn directing worship, Cheryl preaching the Word, Leah leading prayer, and with me orchestrating our dwelling. The only time a man spoke was to give an announcement. Of course, we have no desire to *not* hear our Godly men, but it was a lovely day to witness God’s anointed daughters be blessed to be equal voices in our church family.

Registration now open for National Conference

Jen — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:08:14 +0000

The Women in Ministry National Conference 2012 will be held in the Kansas City, KS area this summer,

June 28, 29, and July 1, 2012!

Come join us on the Tall Grass Prairie for Prairie Spirit 2012 and our theme “Partnering for Good.”

Click Here To Register!

Our main speaker will be noted author and speaker Carolyn Custis James, author of Half the Church and president of Whitby Forum, a ministry dedicated to addressing the deeper needs of both women and men as they endeavor to extend God’s kingdom together in a messy and complicated world.

Other speakers will include both men and women within the churches of Christ who will speak about ministering and partnering together. The event will also feature time to enjoy the tallgrass prairie outdoors, quiet time walking trails, and fishing, so outdoors/more casual dress is suggested for the weekend.

**There is a $45 registration fee for the conference.

**There is an optional linen fee of $25 for those who would like to rent linens at the camp.

**If you would like to give a scholarship to assist students and those in need to come to the conference, please make that additional contribution to your check and include a note that indicates it is for a travel/registration scholarship.

All funds can be paid by check made payable to “Carrie Southwell/Women in Ministry churches of Christ (WIM)” and mailed to 10913 W. 128th Terrace, Overland Park, KS. 66213.

We suggest you arrange flights to arrive at KCI airport for pickup/transport at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, June 29th. We will provide transport from KCI airport to Tallgrass that afternoon and on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. You should be able to take a mid to late afternoon flight out of KCI on Sunday (3pm or later).

Registration deadline is June 10, 2012.

Please contact Stephanie Cupp, scupp@pepperdine.edu or Jana Unruh, jana.unruh@gmail.com with any questions.

2012 National Conference: Kansas City

Jen — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:28:05 +0000

Equal to the Task: Women and Men in Partnership

Jen — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:11:19 +0000

Culver Palms is please to host a gathering called “Equal to the Task: Women and Men in Partnership” sponsored by the Women in Ministry Network, Pepperdine University, and Culver Palms Church of Christ on Saturday, January 21 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

This gathering, to which both men and women are invited, will focus on how we all can use our gifts in service to Christ. The event will include brunch, a panel discussion, and a presentation by Dr. Kathy Pulley.

Dr. Pulley received her B.A. from Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University), her M.A. from ACU, and her PhD from Boston University. Dr. Pulley, a member at East Sunshine Church of Christ in Springfield, MO, is professor of Religious Studies at Missouri State University. Dr. Pulley will also be teaching a combined Adult Bible Class on Sunday morning at Culver Palms. For more information contact Dayna Nicholson atwilamenamildew@gmail.com or Sheila Bost at skbost@gmail.com.

Houston Conference : April 2012

Jen — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:51:52 +0000

Katy Hayes will be a speaker at our conference on April 28, 2012 at the Heights Church of Christ. You are invited to attend. Our website is now up http://www.cbehouston.org/Pages/default.aspx . You can also find out more at http://www.bwebaptist.com.

We are also planning a Prayer Walk on March 28, 2012 for all women who are interested in women’s equality in the church and home. Just step outside your home and pray on that day for women everywhere that they can have the equality that Jesus opened the way for us. I would love to hear from you.

Updated information:

I am a member of the CBE Houston Conference Steering Committee. I would like to pass on some information for your members. The Heights CoC in Houston is the host of a conference April 27 and 28. The conference web site is http://www.cbehouston.org/Pages/default.aspx . Would you please pass this on to your members and ask them to forward this to church leaders who might be interested in furthering their knowledge regarding gender inclusion and gender equality in the church. We have an excellent line up of very knowledgable speakers. I appreciate your help in this matter. Just so you will know, my daughter is Shannon C. Rains, Children’s and Family Minister for the Kingwood CoC. Wiley Clarkson

Regional Gathering 2011: [Spanish] Manhattan Church of Christ 11/11/11

Jen — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:23:14 +0000

The Spanish Women in Ministry Group will meet November 11, 2011 at 6:00 P.M. at the Manhattan Church Christ in the Chapel. Our key note speaker is Dr. Sylvia Shirk, she is a pastor at Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship in New York. Her Doctor of Ministry is in international feminist theology, from San Franciso Theological Seminary. Our topic is going to be: Action and reflexion for today’s woman.

Jen — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:22:37 +0000

Greetings to you all:

I want to make you aware of a conference focused on ministry that I think you would be interested in attending. It is the Streaming conference hosted by Rochester College. I attended last year and was inspired and thrilled by the program. What I appreciated most was the courage of Rochester to make this a fully gender inclusive program. It is the only conference among Churches of Christ that features women in prominent leadership and speaking roles. We were led in worship by Caryl Parker and Katie Hays was the preacher at the closing worship service. Other women, including Sara Barton and Naomi Walters, were also participants on the program. Rochester has been courageous in its use of women in the past few years and it has cost them support in some quarters. This is exactly the kind of program we should honor and support. Next year’s conference will be June 18-20. (A flyer is attached.) We can support the conference by making ministers, both male and female, aware of the program and encouraging their attendance. I am making plans to attend in June and am hoping that some of you will join me. Blessings, D’Esta Love

ACU Summit

Jen — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:40:22 +0000

For those of you attending ACU’s Summit 2011, be sure to check out the Women in Ministry Track

Monday

9-9:45 Dating Jesus – The Role of Women in the Church, part 1, Susan Campbell, Hart Auditorium

10-10:45 Removing the Glass Ceiling - Removing the Glass Ceiling, Kathy Pulley, Hart Auditorium

4-4:45 Dating Jesus - The Role of Women in the Church, part 2, Susan Campbell, Hart Auditorium

Tuesday

8:30-9:15 Speaking Out About Silence - Part 1, Ken Cukrowski, Hart Auditorium

9:30-10:15 Bound and Determined - Christian Men and Women in Partnership, part 1 Jeanene Reese, Hart Auditorium

4-4:45 Paradox of Power in Relationship - Part 1 Rhonda Lowry, Hart Auditorium

4-4:45 The Impact of Gender on University Campuses - From Administrators to Students, Mimi Barnard, Laura Carroll and Susan Lewis, BSB 103

Wednesday

9-9:45 Speaking Out About Silence - Part 2, Ken Cukrowski, Hart Auditorium

10-10:45 Encouraged or Eclipsed? - School-Aged Girls’ Experience of Gender Roles in Church Settings, Cherisse Flanagan & Steven Johnson, BSB130

10-10:45 Bound and Determined - Christian Men and Women in Partnership, part 2 Jeanene Reese, Hart Auditorium

4-4:45 Paradox of Power in Relationship - Part 2 Rhonda Lowry, Hart Auditorium

Around the Table: Voices from the Communion Table Part 7

Jen — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 15:33:50 +0000

Table

Amanda Duncan

I’ve wandered through this world cold and isolated, striped down to nothing and then left with my heart exposed to the unforgiving elements. I’ve sought shelter and respite from the world but have only run across fear and perversion. My life was bound by a suffocating dark form whose only motivation is to strip away all the pieces of me until I simply vanish from existence.

But, along the horizon I see a warm spec that speaks to me from a distance saying “come.” So, I walk in a weakened state toward this potential of hope and wonder “what is this?” As I come closer my nose is tickled by a faint trace of a feast. Closer still my ear picks up a sound of what seems to be joyful conversation. Then my pace speeds up in anticipation of what goodness might lie ahead hoping and praying “please don’t let this be just a mirage.”

I arrive greeted by a divine figure who with a jubilant smile pronounces “Come, eat, drink and celebrate what I have offered to you at this table. Become full of my mercy and quench your thirst with the grace I have offered to you. Stay and be comforted in the midst of your new family and share in this meal with your brothers and sisters. And do this always to remember this new life of light I have sacrificed for you.”

So, I sit down with my new siblings to eat and drink until we are all satisfied and I rejoice in this new found joy. I now have found a place where the cold dark can not touch me nor blind me anymore. I have been invited to the redemptive table of the resurrected Jesus. So, come and join me at the table.

Around the Table: Voices from the Communion Table Part 6

Jen — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 20:34:20 +0000

Welcome to My Mess

Dr. Laura Carroll

The most hurtful lies I’ve been told go something like this: “I have it all together.”

Because when you tell me that you have it all together, I feel compelled to tell you the same thing.

And, church, hear me say this: “I do not have it all together.”

These lies keep us from saying things that we really need to say. Things like:

“I screamed at my kids today.”

“I hate going to church.”

“My marriage is falling apart.”

“I can’t pay my bills.”

“Some days, I just don’t think I can make it.”

And, yet, the times when I have been shown Christ are when men and women have invited me into their brokenness.

They have opened their hearts and their arms and said “Welcome to my mess.”

And then together we have pushed away literal and metaphorical cobwebs, and stepped over literal and metaphorical junk and we have communed.

It is there that I have been healed.

Today as we come to the table we sit at the feet of a Savior who in fact had it all together, and yet he chose to step into brokenness so that we might be healed.

God, thank you for becoming broken for us and with us. We pray that this table become a place of true community, where there is not only room for the strong, but the weak have a place of honor. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Lord, I confess my weakness and my doubt. I plead “I believe. Help my unbelief.” In your son’s name Amen.