A few of us clergy women thought it would be wonderful to have a space devoted to collectively expressing our experience as clergy women. A space for clergy women to name what and how it is to be clergy and a woman—and all the ways of doing so. It is also a space where we acknowledge the paradox that opportunities for women to be clergy are still limited by many factors, including theological and cultural factors, AND that we are living in an age when more women than men are entering seminaries. (How is that going to work for churches who only accept male clergy, anyway?) God has called us and here we are! These are our thoughts and experiences as clergy women in our own words.

This is a place for sharing our scholarship as well as personal and professional reflections on being clergy women. We hope what we present will be taken seriously. We also acknowledge there is often a lot of humor that comes with and out of ministry, so we reserve the right to not be too serious, and hope the irony and humor of our experiences will also be taken seriously as part of our theological and personal reflections.

As a collective space for clergy women, we hope that other clergy women will join us in posting their thoughts and work. So you are invited to submit your own posts, even become an ongoing contributor or editor, or simply comment and add to the discussion as your ministry allows.

It is hoped that this website will be a space for dialogue for, and among, women engaged in ministry: both women who speak in church and women who don’t speak in church (spiritual directors, chaplains, theological educators, scholars, etc.) In addition to text and blogs, we have the technology available to do pod casts and/or interviews, post video or audio of sermons, as well as a web designer standing by to help us outgrow our current platform, so please join us and SPEAK OUT! The topics women clergy have to speak out about are as varied as our experiences. Just an initial brain storm of topics we hope to see added to the dialogue of this site include:

• Bible Studies: The first century cultural milieu, famous women of the Bible, First Corinthians, midrash pieces, lectionary exegesis and reflection, etc.
• Women and the Church(es): historical women in the Church(es), art about women in the Church(es), missionary women in the Church(es), etc.
• God: Who is God from our perspective or scholarly perspectives?, Feminist, Womanist, liberation theologies, etc.
• Women’s Spirituality.
• Daily life: How/what is life as a clergy woman? Let’s talk about boundaries, kids, family, our spouses, social reactions to who we are.
• Seminary and “call” stories
• Disability Theology
• Books and Media: What do we pay attention to? How are women portrayed?
• GLBTQI issues
• Interviews with women missionaries, feminist theologians, interfaith women clergy, and who knows?
• Whatever women clergy want to bring to the discussion…

This is now Sacred Women Web-Space. Let’s converse!