Introducing the newest members of the MC USA Women in Leadership steering committee: (from left to right) Dianne Garcia, Joanne Gallardo and Rosalind Young.
Mennonite Church USA’s Women in Leadership ministry, a denominational initiative that empowers women and works to dismantle patriarchy across MC USA, has named three new members to its steering committee: Dianne Garcia, Joanne Gallardo and Rosalind Young. Each will serve a three-year term, beginning Jan. 2026.
Through Women in Leadership, MC USA partners with conferences, congregations and leaders across the denomination to cultivate spiritual vitality, justice-centered leadership and equitable practices in the church. The steering committee plays a vital role in shaping that work, offering theological insight, lived experience and strategic guidance to support women as they respond to God’s call in diverse ministry settings.
“I look forward to the gifts of leadership that each of our new members bring to the steering committee,” said Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz, staff liaison for Women in Leadership and denominational minister for Peace & Justice. “These women bring deep spiritual wisdom, and I have no doubt their voices will guide the work in ways that reflect the full range of gifts women bring to MC USA.”
Meet the incoming steering committee members
Joanne Gallardo is conference minister for MC USA’s Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference. She is a graduate of Goshen (Indiana) College, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS), Elkhart, Indiana, and is currently working on her Doctor of Ministry degree at Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Indiana, where her dissertation is titled “Non-Violent Pastoral Ethics: The Cross, Trauma, And the Way of Peace.” Joanne cares deeply about mental health in the church, the recognition of intersectionality, and disability advocacy. Coming from multiple identities, Joanne sees Jesus as an exemplar of a cross cultural, intersectional minister.
Dianne Garcia is lead pastor and one of the original planters of Iglesia Cristiana Roca de Refugio, San Antonio, Texas, which seeks to create a community of belonging and belovedness in the family of God for immigrants. In February 2024, the church founded Nuevos Vecinos, a ministry – led by Garcia – that supports families in crisis. Garcia believes fundamentally in the biblical call to hospitality that requires all Christians to be co-creators in the transformation of the world. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a master’s degree in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, also in Cambridge. She has trained as a mental health counselor at Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio, Texas, and taken courses at AMBS. Garcia has been chosen to receive the Rothko Chapel Oscar Romero Award for human rights advocacy in 2026.
Rosalind Young is program director with Mennonite Central Committee-Great Lakes, interim pastor at Freeport (Illinois) Mennonite Church and an ordained minister with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She is a spiritual leader, peace practitioner and founding pastor of Infinite Mercies Ministries, an outreach rooted in Christ’s call to stand with “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40) and to confront the systems that marginalize underserved communities. For more than 20 years, Rosalind has woven pastoral ministry with a commitment to liberation, healing and community transformation. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Education degree from Cleveland (Ohio) State University, a Master of Divinity degree from Ashland (Ohio) Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from South University.
Thank you to the outgoing steering committee members
Steering Committee members who completed their service in 2025 are Shannon Dycus, Lynette McIntosh-Madrigal and Bonita Rockingham.
“I am so grateful to the women who have recently served on the steering committee,” said Stutzman Amstutz. “Their wisdom and their collaborative and courageous spirits are a living testimony of care for the work being done for and by women across our denomination.”
About Women in Leadership
The Women in Leadership steering committee meets online monthly and in-person once every other year with Stutzman Amstutz. Together, they plan events, develop resources and provide guidance that helps women live into God’s call, build leadership capacity and contribute wisdom in congregations, area conferences, agencies and institutions throughout MC USA.
Women in Leadership projects have included:
- The 2025 Women’s Summit in Greensboro, North Carolina.
- “Laboring Toward Wholeness,” a small-group curriculum for dismantling patriarchy.
- Holding it Together podcasts.
- Women in Leadership blogs, written by Steering Committee members.
- Learn, Pray, Join: Undoing Patriarchy, an initiative equipping MC USA church communities with tools and resources for creating a more equitable world.
- “The Gathering,” an Advent devotional featuring reflections, prayers and artwork by women leaders across MC USA.
- Worship resources.
Links to these resources can be found on MC USA’s Women in Leadership web page. (https://bit.ly/4pHmDIy)
Mennonite Church USA is an Anabaptist Christian denomination, founded in 2002 by the merger of the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church. Members of this historic peace church seek to follow Jesus by rejecting violence and resisting injustice. MC USA’s Renewed Commitments state the following shared commitments among its diverse body of believers: to follow Jesus, witness to God’s peace and experience the transformation of the Holy Spirit. Mennoniteusa.org
Written by Camille Dager.
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Women in Leadership works to dismantle patriarchal systems in MC USA by empowering women to live out the call of God in their lives, increase their capacities, and contribute their wisdom in congregations, area conferences, agencies and institutions.
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