Pastor Catherine Gilliard and Pastor Tim Rodgers serve as co-senior pastors of New Life Covenant Church, a multi-cultural congregation in Atlanta, Georgia. Catherine is ordained to Word and Sacrament, holds an MDiv from North Park Theological Seminary and is a candidate for a Doctor of Ministry in Preaching from the Association of Chicago Theological Schools. She currently serves as president of Advocates for Covenant Clergy Women (ACCW).

When I enter into the pages of scripture, I see a model of discipleship that is rarely duplicated. It is our call to ‘make disciples.’ In most parts of the business world this is called, ‘mentorship.’ I define it as the journey you take with another person to grow deeper in understanding — a journey of transforming you into a new way of ‘being.’ Throughout scripture, we witness this transformative journey as Jesus walked with disciples moving through each day with a heightened awareness of God’s priorities in their world. When we enter into discipleship and mentorship relationships, we, too, are able to walk together with new understandings and a deeper sense of urgency and call. The process of being transformed will always mean being challenged and constantly changed — and change is a difficult process for us all. Sadly, I believe comfort is something rarely found in discipleship and mentoring relationships.

Whenever I have entered into discipleship relationships with other men and women, I have been changed by their story, as they are also changed by mine. We are each also changed by the Word of God as we are led by the Holy Spirit to follow Christ’s example of challenging systemic structures of prejudice, oppression and abuse, inside and outside of the church. It is in walking together that I discover your heart’s longings, while you encounter mine. We are changed, because we have intentionally chosen to walk into places of challenge together: listening, talking, sharing, and seeing the world and one another, differently. New models aren’t needed for transformation. To truly be transformed, we need to be ‘with’ each other more – and not through technological devices, but in our walking together. As we listen to one another we can discover God’s voice in the midst of those issues we name as places of struggle for us. Continue Reading »

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Julie Jane Capel serves as secretary of Advocates for Covenant Clergy Women ministerium board. She is a recent seminary graduate of North Park Theological Seminary and hopes to use her MDiv. as an associate or solo parish pastor in the near future. Currently she is working as a chaplain at a trauma one hospital on the west side of Chicago – where she sees the Holy Spirit show up every time she walks into a new hospital room.

In Detroit, fifty-three weeks ago I sat in the lobby of the hotel that the 128th Annual Meeting was held at. My roommate’s flight had been delayed and I was unable to get into our shared room. So I sat in the lobby in a relatively comfortable, overstuffed chair with my bags at my feet – unsure what my next move should be.

A few Covenant men and women (an assumption made because of their nametags) saw me and waved me over to their restaurant table. I vaguely recognized only 10% of the people but I still sat down. At their invitation, I told them about myself, my pastoral call and where I would hope to minister. Only after my monologue did I realize this was a gathering of the Covenant Executive Board – the women and men who cast mission, vision and action for our denomination as our elected officials. (Explained in http://covchurch.tv/am2013-ex-board/)

Fast forward a year and a few days to the Gather14 (129 Annual Meeting) when a woman came up to me and asked, “do you remember me?” I exclaimed, “Of course!” Here was the woman who had invited me to the table. She again asked where I was in the pastoral search and promised to be my advocate throughout the rest of the annual meeting. I laughed. But she meant business.

Over the next few days, she and another man from the Executive Board, made it their personal mission to introduce me to people I would otherwise not have had access to. They used their social capital to vouch for me because they believed in me, in North Park Seminary’s training, and in the Covenant pastoral call process. In my opinion, these Executive Board members enacted out the mission of the Commission for Biblical Gender Equality.

As I have reflected further I realize that this is what Jesus does for us. Jesus brings us to the Father and uses his social capital (as the Son) to vouches for us. (1 John 2:1) He advocates for us and sets an example for us to advocate for each other. I am deeply grateful that our Executive Board has done that for me. Will you follow suit, and use your social capital for someone else?

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Jean Cheng Gorman currently serves as the Vice-President of Advocates for Covenant Clergy Women and as Associate Pastor at Covenant Grove Church in Modesto.  She is married to a wonderfully supportive physician and is a mother to three active children and a divinely-guided dog.

While doing research for a seminary paper on the ordination of women, I read an article written in 2009 by a professor who is devoted to God and passionate about truth.  Along with other points made against the ordination of women, he also argued that it was harmful to evangelism:

Getting men involved in church is particularly difficult. Why should we think that men who typically live in tension with their wives in marriage are going to subject themselves to the oversight of women ministers? To put the matter bluntly: in many marriages, wives try to control or at least change their husbands, and men refuse to be bossed. Unchurched men in particular are not apt to look favorably on ecclesial practice that puts women in the same position over the household of faith that they chafe against in their everyday home lives. They will simply avoid the church even more than is already and tragically the case. This may be a factor in the dramatic shrinkage of mainline denominations that has been underway for several decades.[1] Continue Reading »

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Lisa Sundell Olsen has been a member of the BGE commission for 6 years. She is the senior high youth director at Covenant Church of Thomaston in Connecticut. Lisa and her husband, Reverend Timothy Olsen’s daughter Maja, will be getting married next month. Their son John Alrik is in his last year at North Park University.

One year ago, on Easter Sunday, my dad announced to our family “What do you think of a trip to Israel this time next year?” Shouts of enthusiasm and a few questions followed. On May 15th, eleven of my family members boarded El Al flight 002 to Tel Aviv from JFK. We spent 10 full days traveling, learning, seeing, hearing and tasting our way through The Holy Land.

We learned as much about the history, culture and politics as we did about the sites Jesus walked. Our guide, named Beja, told us a lot about the Israeli army and it’s people. We met many of them since they are everywhere. When we got to Haifa, Beja introduced us to a some women who were in the special forces of search and rescue. He went on and on about how difficult it is for anyone to achieve membership in this unit because of the sheer physical strength needed. I was so proud of these women and got my picture taken with one of them. Every 18 year old woman and man, if they are a citizen of Israel, joins the army for 3 years. Continue Reading »

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Dominique DuBois Gilliard is a graduate of North Park Theological Seminary where he also served as an adjunct professor. Dominique currently serves on the CHIC council, is the director of the Journey to Mosaic Squared, and is an ECC pastor in Oakland California. In addition to his work within the ECC, Dominique is an active member of the Christian Community Development Association, serving on both the association’s national theology task-force and its faith and public education council. You can follow Dominique on Twitter: @@WEB_DuBois_Ture 

How does one best care for marginalized people, those who have been isolated from community, stigmatized by society, and even neglected or wounded by the Church? This question has dwelt within my soul. It has inspired me to study the Bible in deeper, more focused ways. It led me to seminary and while there, it lingered on. It led to me taking courses which explored issues of individual and social brokenness that bred marginality and isolation. I asked hard questions within these courses, inquires which could not be pacified by the prototypical Sunday school responses. I read, researched, and wrote on these issue, all in a diligent pursuit to answer this one question.

Along the way, I had a few revelatory moments, but I also became intrigued by a biblical character who I believe personifies everything I was wrestling with, the nameless Canaanite woman of Matthew 15: 21-28. While theologians have correctly articulated how her interaction with Jesus foretells the gentile inclusion into the mission and kingdom of God, this text has more to say to us than just this. First, a close reading of the text mandates that we ask a few questions; what are the scriptural implications of being a Canaanite, nameless, and the parent of a demon possessed child? Continue Reading »

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My name is Drusilla (Dru) McLeland and I serve as the Central Conference Liaison to the Board of the Advocates for Covenant Clergy Women.  My husband, Paul, and I have been married 27 years and we have one daughter, Katie.  In response to God’s call to pastoral ministry, I am pursuing a Master of Divinity degree at Northern Theological Seminary.  I am currently in Clinical Pastoral Education with the Adventist Midwest Health System.  I want to be a gracious woman, who becomes more and more like my Heavenly Father who is Home to all prodigal daughters and sons.

Sometimes I overlook people who are marginalized. This disturbs me.  It goes against my core belief in the value of every person.  I want my actions reflect my core beliefs and it bothers me they are incongruous.  There are some Old Testament characters I’ve overlooked.  One of these is Tamar the wife of Er (Gen. 38).

Jacob’s son, Judah, moves and marries Shua, a Canaanite woman.  They have three sons; Er, Onan and Shelah.  Er marries Tamar.  He is wicked, so God kills him.  There is no male hair carry on Er’s legacy and Judah tells Onan to go to Tamar, perform his duty as a brother-in-law and produce an heir.  Onan knows the child won’t be his so he spills his semen on the ground.  The Lord is not pleased with this and puts Onan to death.  Judah sends Tamar to go back to her father to wait until Shelah is old enough to marry.  But really he has no intention of giving Shelah in marriage to her.  He’s afraid Shelah will die if he is associated with Tamar. Continue Reading »

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Ironically, this article was published exactly one year ago by Corrie Gustafson on her blog.  She has given permission to repost it in its entirety. Corrie has served 6 years in young adult ministry, 2 years in hospital and hospice chaplaincy and 3 years as the Care Pastor at Hope Covenant Church, Chandler, AZ. In June she will be Ordained to Word and Sacrament and also begin working as a chaplain at the Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii. She blogs regularly at http://www.pastorwithapurse.com

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Submitted by:
Rebecca Worl

The elderly woman caught my attention as I was exiting the church. She gave me a smile and waved me over. Her eyes glistened a bit as she grabbed my hands and put them between her own.

“Hello dear, I just wanted to tell you, that I was so moved by your… talk today, it was one of the best – you know, I ever heard in all my 80 years… “

I smiled as I could tell she was struggling with the words, I offered a little help,
“The best…Sermon?” I volunteered.

“Well, I wasn’t going to say THAT, you know, after all, at my age I can’t change my spots!” She laughed a little under her breath.

I was puzzled. “Sorry, what spots do you refer to?” Continue Reading »

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Submitted by:
Valeri Chow Tao

I grew up in a church that does not believe that women should pastors, and accepted that as a reality. My first class at North Park Theological Seminary was New Testament 2. It was the first time that I heard biblical rationale for women in ministry. When we talked how the New Testament supported women in ministry, I understood that and my paradigm shifted. While I do not agree with those that understand the Bible as being against women in ministry, I can see how they might come to that conclusion and know many faithful Christians who take that position. The commonality between both sides is that each is committed to faithfully understanding the Scriptures and living accordingly. The Evangelical Covenant Church believes that there is a biblical basis for men and women to serve in ministry. While there are other churches and denomination do not hold this belief, we are all still part of the body of Christ, the Church. Women in ministry is only one of many issues that not only divide the Church, but keep followers of Christ from fully loving their neighbor as themselves and fully loving God who created their neighbor and themselves.

May we strive to love God and love our neighbors, especially those with whom we may disagree.

May we not let differences of opinion prevent us from seeing those we disagree with as fellow brothers and sisters who are created in the image of God and loved by him.

May we seek community with brothers and sisters with whom we may disagree, so that by learning from and with those created by God and in in his image, we may more fully understand and love God who created us all.

May we as the Church be a witness of the good news of Jesus Christ to the watching world by modeling the ability to disagree well and love one another in the midst of difference.

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