By Joanna Shenk
Joanna Shenk is associate for interchurch relations and communication for Mennonite Church USA and is the coordinator of the Women in Leadership Project.
This summer Emily Kraybill will be joining the Mennonite Church USA national staff as an intern with the Women in Leadership Project. This opportunity was created based on Emily’s request through the Ministry Inquiry Program. In the fall of 2011 Emily was a part of a women’s gathering at Goshen College where her professor Beth Martin Birky introduced the Women in Leadership Project and invited myself and two other local women to talk about the Project.
In addition to working with me, Emily will also connect with other woman leaders on our staff and in the broader church. She is a third year Goshen College student, majoring in social work and minoring in women’s studies. She is a member of Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster. She will be working out of the Elkhart office during July and August and will be living in south central Elkhart. I’m excited to have Emily join the work of the Women in Leadership Project!
Since early 2012, four focus groups have been working at different initiatives. These initiatives were chosen based on needs expressed by women at conversations convened by the Women in Leadership Project.
Empowering Resources, creating worship resources that integrate women’s stories and voices in worship.
Mentoring, collecting stories of mentorship and thinking about how to create a network of mentors and mentees.
Undoing Sexism, wrestling with how we have these conversations, grounded in the Bible and our Christian faith, in an invitational and transformative way.
Mennonite Monologues, collecting stories of women formed by the Mennonite tradition to be shared via performance and in written form.
If you are interested in learning more about any of these focus groups, please be in touch!
Each month this column of Equipping features input from a woman leader in Mennonite Church USA. The column is an initiative of the Women in Leadership Audit, which is now called the Women in Leadership Project. If you would like to learn more about the Project or get involved, please contact Joanna Shenk at joannas@mennoniteusa.org