Don’t Miss She Leads: Church Together
This November, She Leads will be held at Pasadena First Church of the Nazarene and broadcast to multiple regional locations. The gathering is a Missio Alliance event, with multiple sponsors and stakeholders from a variety of denominations and traditions. This year’s theme is represented in a stark but hopeful visual: the words church too melded into church together.
As the website states,
The world has an old, painful story about men and women. This year the #metoo moment brought to light some of the most disturbing parts of the story and the #churchtoo moment forced us to confront how much the brokenness of the world has entered the Church. This broken story is deeply painful on a personal and communal level.
It’s easy to believe we’ll never overcome the brokenness.
But this is not how God sees our story.
It’s time to name and lament how the world’s story has limited the Church’s imagination.
And it’s also time to tell a better story. God is weaving a restoration project in us as individuals and as a body. It will give us a better story to tell the world.
It’s not the first year for She Leads, even if it’s the first year you’re hearing about the one-day conference. (You can listen to a panel segment from 2016 here or a talk by Carolyn Custis James here. Past speakers include Rev. Jo Saxton, author Nancy Ortberg, General Superintendent Emerita of The Wesleyan Church Dr. Jo Anne Lyon, Bishop Todd Hunter, Professor Janette Ok, and Rev. Tish Harrison Warren. This year, speakers include Rev. Tara Beth Leach, Dr. Mark Labberton, and Rev. Ines Velasquez-McBryde.
Though many of the speakers are different, The Junia Project‘s 5 Reasons You Don’t Want to Miss #SheLeads are much the same, especially “connecting with likeminded women and men in your area.” At the same time, the urgency for this kind of gathering is felt in reading reflections like this one – What One Small Church Plant Learned from She Leads.
Registration is currently open for attendance in Pasadena or at one of the regional gatherings, and student discounts are available. There are still opportunities to be a regional host or to host a viewing party, as well. Click here to learn more about being a regional venue.
For more resources on women in ministry visit Missio Alliance, The Junia Project, Sacred Alliance, and CBE International.