A 2016 study conducted by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Research Services, “Gender and Leadership in the PC(USA)” identified two key findings: gender discrimination is still pervasive within the denomination, and almost half its members are not particularly aware of it. The study is a part of a larger research project assessing the status of women at all levels of the church.
Shannon Schmidt is currently designing an ethics curriculum at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for a class she will be teaching in the spring of 2020. The course will be split between MIT students and incarcerated students who are working toward their bachelor’s degrees and will be taught in a prison-based setting. In addition to this work, Schmidt serves as a facilitator for a support group for formerly incarcerated men in Boston.
As Sharon Gibbons learns more about the challenges women face around the world, it swells her support for women abroad and motivates her to work harder for gender justice closer to home.
Women’s Leadership Development and Young Women’s Ministries is a national ministry of the Presbyterian Mission Agency operating within Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries (RE&WIM). The office provides resources and training programs to young adult women ages 18-35 considering leadership opportunities in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Without the support of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Rev. Denise McLeod isn’t sure she would have survived.
A widowed minister serving a small church, Trinity Presbyterian, in Key West, Florida — and raising a son who is now a senior in college — she applied for the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Loan Forgiveness for Pastors.
In a sermon that made you wonder whether you were at a retreat or a revival, the Rev. Dr. Alice Ridgill, founding pastor of New Faith Presbyterian Church, the first African American Presbyterian Church in Greenwood County, South Carolina, and a Presbyterian Mission Agency board member, reminded the women attending the African American Clergywomen Retreat sponsored by the Racial Equity & Women’s Ministries of the PMA, that they were phenomenal women.
African American clergywomen from 24 states are gathered in Daytona, Florida, for a time of Sabbath rest, to reconnect with Christ, to deepen relationships of learning and support and to gain emotional, intellectual and spiritual support for their ministries in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
