May 4, 2009 issue
Fewer women in leadership roles seen
Group is asked to increase advocacy within MC USA
By Patricia Burdette Mennonite Women USASTURGIS, Mich. — In some parts of Mennonite Church USA, there are fewer women in leadership than in previous years.
Regina Shands Stoltzfus, left, Goshen (Ind.) College professor and MW USA board member from Elkhart, Indiana speaks about the price of “active advocacy” while Rebekah Wingert, a writer for *timbrel: women in conversation together with God* writer from Waynesboro, Pa., reflects at the Mennonite Women USA Strategic Planning Retreat at Amigo Centre. — Photo by Rhoda Keener/MW USA
That was the observation of several of the 30 participants of the Mennonite Women USA Strategic Planning Retreat at Amigo Centre March 27-28.
Participants urged the organization to speak out for more women in leadership within the church and its agencies.
Elizabeth Soto, a theologian, said women have a prophetic voice for the church that is being silenced.
Mary Shertz, a professor at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, said fewer women are in leadership positions at the school now than there were a decade ago, according to a recently completed AMBS self-study.
Twila King Yoder, assistant to the president of Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., and MW USA board member, said women in church leadership did well for some time, but that this is no longer the case.
She noted that a few years ago, two Mennonite higher-education institutions had women presidents, yet today, all of the presidents are men. This fall, she said, she will be the only female member of EMU’s president’s team. Her home church previously had a male-female pastoral team, but the team is currently all men, she said.
She wondered whether women are just “tired of pushing” or whether “we are not training — and failing — ourselves.”
Yoder said some women are saying, “I’ve been trying to use my gifts for the church, but if they are not valued in the church, I’ll use them somewhere else.”
Though Sharon Waltner, a woman, currently chairs the MC USA Executive Board, all four churchwide agency boards are chaired by men, a participant noted. At least two were chaired by women two years ago.
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