UMC Featured News & Stories

Women see God’s hand in third career in ministry

A UMNS Report
By Linda Green*
June 1, 2009 | NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)

Ordained ministry in The United Methodist Church is the third career for a clergywoman who says she had been running from God for a long time.

The pull toward ministry began when Robin Dillon was a teenager. She would go on to become a teacher and a businesswoman before enrolling at United Methodist-related Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio.

“I had been running from God for quite a long time. I had this little detour in business for a while thinking that I might be able to be content and happy there,” said Dillon, 37, pastor of Smithville United Methodist Church in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. “I really feel called to ministry and I have a passion for people.”

That passion led Dillon to apply for a United Methodist scholarship for women over 35 who are preparing for ordination as elders in The United Methodist Church as a second career. She is one of 11 recipients of the 2009-10 Georgia Harkness Scholarship.

The $5,000 award is named for the first woman theologian to teach in a Protestant seminary in the United States. Harkness dedicated her life to dismantling racial and gender discrimination in The United Methodist Church and the world. She taught at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill., and was instrumental in the 1956 decision giving women full-clergy membership in The Methodist Church. She died in 1974. About 10,000 of the approximately 45,000 clergy in The United Methodist Church are women.

It is still not easy, particularly during economic hard times.

The Rev. HiRho Park

“The economy played a role in my dragging my feet for so long,” Dillon said. As she answered the call, “I took an 85 percent pay cut to take the church that I am serving. I knew that God would take care of me in some way.”

She noted that being a recipient of the Georgia Harkness scholarship “is proof that God does provide.”

On average, more than 80 clergywomen apply for the annual award but a decrease in applicants this year to nearly 50 may be the result of the economy, said the Rev. HiRho Park, the director of continuing formation for ministry at the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry. It is always a hard decision to go back to school full time when it means most often giving up a job with full salary plus benefits. This scenario is difficult regardless of any economic situation, she said. Furthermore, most women entering ministry as a second career have been well established in their fields, she added.

“We suspect that working women might choose to remain at their job rather than starting full-time theological education,” Park said.

Scholarship winners said money is not everything.

“I do not believe that economic distress will stop anyone from entering the ministry,” said Edna Andres, 52. “If a person is called, it does not matter if the job or position pays or not. It is just go and you respond. I do not believe the church is the place to work if you are looking for money or good pay.”

Edna Andres

She was a chemical engineer in her native Philippines and spent a decade in marketing and advertising in California before becoming a third year student at the Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, Calif. She is also an associate pastor at St. Paul United Methodist Church, Fremont, Calif., an 85 percent Filipino congregation.

Andres’ first felt the sting of the economic downturn when she was laid off from her job in marketing on the eve of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and was unemployed for nine months.

“The first organization to offer me a job was the Episcopal Church,” she said. It was there that she felt the nudging of the Holy Spirit and discerned a gift for ministry. She began taking United Methodist lay speaking courses and became a volunteer at St. Paul.

“The pastor at St. Paul also affirmed my calling and encouraged me to go to seminary,” she said. “I look forward to becoming a fellow pastor in the future when I finish seminary.”

Women entering the ministry as a second career bring skills and gifts that enhance their ministry, Park said. She said the scholarship program is a valuable investment in the future of the church, especially in light of findings from this year’s Lead Women Pastors Survey. The survey found that one-fourth of senior women pastors who are serving churches with more than 1,000 members began ministry as a second career, she said.

Mary Miriti

Mary Miriti, 44, a native of Maru, Kenya, is another scholarship winner and student at United Methodist-related Perkins School of Theology, Dallas. The former business administrator of a private company felt her call to ministry in high school. She was a local preacher, bible translator and advocate for women.

“I wanted justice for women to give women an eye-opener where women can be educated to not only mind the kitchen but to work out their way of life, have a career and support themselves,” she said.

As the baby of 12 children, she is the first to obtain a college degree and was among the first women of color in a management position in the private company in Kenya. “I’ve gone through many challenges,” she said. “The church was a rescue for me.”

Miriti said the gifts she brings to ministry are preaching, evangelism and “speaking out for others. It is a gift to be able to stand up for people,” she said.

The 2009-2010 scholarship recipients, their hometown, their schools, annual conferences, and church are:

Edna Andres of Milpitas, Calif.; Pacific School of Theology; California-Nevada Annual Conference; St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Fremont, Calif.
Robin Dillon of Indianapolis, Ind.; Methodist Theological School of Ohio; Indiana Annual Conference; Avon United Methodist Church in Avon, Ind.
Nancy Geske of Ames, Iowa; Saint Paul School of Theology; Iowa Annual Conference; Collegiate United Methodist Church and Wesley Foundation, Ames, Iowa.
Meg Hegemann of Fulton, Mo.; Saint Paul School of Theology; Missouri Annual Conference; Sturgeon United Methodist Church in Sturgeon, Mo., and Riggs Union United Methodist Church in Riggs, Mo.
Wendy Inman of New Braunfels, Tex.; Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary; Southwest Texas Annual Conference; Gruene United Methodist Church in New Braunfels, Tex.
Tonya Lawrence of Princeton, N.J.; Princeton Theological Seminary; North Georgia Annual Conference; Cascade United Methodist Church in Atlanta, Ga.
Genova McFadden of Atlanta, Ga.; Gammon Theological Seminary; South Carolina Annual Conference; St. John United Methodist Church in Hartsville, S.C.
Mary Miriti of Dallas, Texas.; Perkins School of Theology; North Texas Annual Conference; Lover’s Lane United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas
Virna Solis Ortiz of Maunabo, Puerto Rico; Jenninario Evangelico de Puerto Rico; Puerto Rico Annual Conference; pastor of Iglesia Metodista Meson de Amor in Guayama, Puerto Rico, and a member of McCabe Memorial, Ponce, Puerto Rico.