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.
*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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Resources
United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry
Georgia Harkness Scholarship Award
Clergywoman Profile
University Senate-Approved Seminaries |