Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership Colloquium

The Regent University School of Divinity presents the 2006-2007 Colloquium on Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership. Papers will focus on the Historical (Oct. 2006), Biblical/Theological (Feb. 2007), and Global (June 2007) aspects of our topic.

Overview

The role of women in church ministry and leadership remains a major issue facing the Pentecostal/charismatic movement into the 21st century. Throughout the history of the movement, this issue has set Pentecostals apart from much of the rest of the Evangelical church while at the same time, galvanizing them. Yet though women have been vital in the movement since its inception, opportunities for leadership have gradually eroded and many highly-trained women are moving into traditions which provide them a more public role.

Leading scholars from around the world and from both within and outside the movement will join Regent faculty and Ph.D. students in a year-long colloquium designed to look at the historical struggles, contributions, current trends, and future challenges related to this issue which is vital to the future of the renewal movement.

The colloquium on Women in Pentecostal/Charismatic Leadership is the first in a five-part series reflecting on major trends within this vital movement which has shaped not only American, but world Christianity in the 21st century.

Historical Perspectives (October 7, 2006: 9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.)

Susie Stanley, Ph.D. – The Rev. Dr. Susie C. Stanley is professor of historical theology at Messiah College.  As an ordained ecumenical minister in the Church of God (Anderson, IN), she does supply preaching as well as teaching at universities and seminaries around the country. Dr. Stanley has served as president of the Wesleyan Theological Society where she was instrumental in initiating the first joint meeting between this society and the Society for Pentecostal Studies.  She was a delegate to the Fifth World Conference on Faith and Order sponsored by the World Council of Churches.  She has served as founder and Executive Director of Wesleyan/Holiness Women Clergy, Intl. since 1991, overseeing seven conferences, averaging over 480 participants.   She has participated in over 90 workshops, presentations and lecture series.  She has published over 30 articles and book chapters, and one book prior to Holy Boldness: Women Preachers, Autobiographies and the Sanctified Self.
Paper title: "Wesleyan/Holiness Influence on Pentecostal Women Preachers" | Abstract
Respondent: Rosemarie Hughes, Ph.D.

David G. Roebuck, Ph.D. – Dr. Roebuck is an ordained bishop in the Church of God and serves as both the church historian for the Church of God and the director of the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center in Cleveland, Tennessee.  The Dixon Pentecostal Research Center is one of the world’s most significant collections of Pentecostal materials as well as the archives of the Church of God.  His education includes a Ph.D. and M.A. in Religion from Vanderbilt University along with a B.A. from West Coast Christian College and a M.Div. from the Church of God Theological Seminary.  An Assistant Professor at Lee University, Roebuck regularly contributes to books and periodicals about the Pentecostal movement.  His most recent publication is “From Azusa to Cleveland: The Amazing Journey of G.B. Cashwell and the Spread of Pentecostalism” in The Azusa Street Revival and Its Legacy.  Among his other activities, he has been a member of the Church of God Historical Commission since 1996, and is the Executive Secretary of the Society for Pentecostal Studies.  He and his wife Kimberly have two children, William and Beth.
Paper title: "Hearing Voices:  The Influences of Word, Spirit and Culture on Women Ministers in Classical Pentecostalism" | Abstract
Respondent: J. Lyle Story, Ph.D.

Karen Kossie-Chernyshev, Ph.D. – Dr. Kossie-Chernyshev is an associate professor of history at Texas Southern University.  She holds a dual B.A. in English and French (Rice University), an M.A. in French (Michigan State University), and a Ph.D. in History (Rice University). Her primary research and teaching areas include American History, African American History and Religion, and Women and Religion in the African Diaspora.  She has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Texas Council for the Humanities (TCH), and East Texas Historical Association.  She has reviewed books for the Journal of Southern History, Kentucky Historical Quarterly, Pneuma, and Religious Studies Review.  She has also published articles in East Texas Historical Journal, Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History (Oxford University Press, 2006), and Harvard University's forthcoming African American National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2008).  Her forthcoming book project examines the history of African American Pentecostalism in the United States Southwest. 
Paper title: "African American Pentecostal Women and Leadership: Redefining the Vanguard" | Abstract
Respondent: Bramwell Osula, Ph.D.

Barbara Liddle Cavaness, Ph.D. – Dr. Cavaness has ministered more than 30 years in countries of Africa and Asia as a career missionary educator. Among other assignments, she worked at a publishing house in East Java, helped to establish the Ecclesia School of Theology in Jakarta, Indonesia, and served on the faculty of the Asia Pacific Theological Seminary in the Philippines for eight years. She earned a Ph.D. in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary, her dissertation discussing factors influencing a decline in single women missionaries. Since basing in the US since 1994, she has been part of the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary faculty and facilitator of their Global Missions Track, as well as adjunct professor at Evangel University. She co-authored a book with Deborah Gill entitled, God's Women--Then and Now (2004), explaining the biblical basis for women in ministry. Her vision includes encouraging women in missions and training Majority World intercultural ministers. As a member of the Asia Pacific Theological Association, Cavaness has been involved in their Accreditation Commission since 1986.
Paper title: "How Leadership Attitudes Impact Ministering Women: Historical and Missionary Perspectives" | Abstract
Respondent: Mara Crabtree, D.Min.

 

Biblical & Theological Perspectives (February 17, 2007)

Jenny Everts Powers, Ph.D. – Dr. Powers, associate professor of religion at Hope College, is one of 11 biblical scholars selected to serve on the Board of Advisors of the newly formed Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship (TFFPS). Powers has been a member of the Hope faculty since 1985. She is an ordained minister whose area of expertise is the New Testament. Her publications include articles in Christian History, Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, Anchor Bible Dictionary, The Cresset and Journal of Pentecostal Theology. She contributed the chapter "'Your Daughters Shall Prophesy,' Pentecostal Hermeneutics and the Empowerment of Women" to The Globalization of Pentecostalism: A Religion Made to Travel. She received a grant from the Lilly Foundation to help her expand the chapter's thesis to a book-length work, conducting research for the project. Powers is a member of the Chicago Society of Biblical Research and the Society for Pentecostal Studies, where she served as chair of the Diversity Group. She graduated from Wellesley College with a B.A. in 1972. She completed an M.A. at Claremont Graduate School in 1973, an M.Div. at Fuller Theological Seminary in 1977 and a Ph.D. at Duke University in 1985.
Paper title: "Pentecostalism 101: Your Daughters Will Prophesy" | Abstract
Respondent: Rosemarie Hughes, Ph.D.

Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, Ph.D. – Dr. Gilkes is the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of African-American Studies and Sociology and director of the African-American Studies Program at Colby College (Waterville, Maine). She is also assistant pastor for special projects at the Union Baptist Church (Cambridge, Massachusetts).  She holds degrees in sociology from Northeastern University (B.A.,M.A., Ph.D.) and has pursued graduate theological studies at Boston University's School of Theology. Some of her essays and articles are gathered in her recent book, If It Wasn't for the Women: Black Women's Experience and Womanist Culture in Church and Community (Orbis Books, 2001).  Several of her journal articles have been reprinted in anthologies, most recently in African American Religious Thought: An Anthology, edited by Cornel West and Eddie Glaude (Westminster John Knox Press, 2004). Her published sermons have appeared in The African American Pulpit.
Paper title: "You've Got A Right to the Tree of Life: The Biblical Foundations of an Empowered Attitude" | Abstract
Respondent: Bramwell Osula, Ph.D.

Cheryl Bridges Johns, Ph.D. – Dr. Johns was an Instructor in Christian Education at Northwest Bible College for three years, taught at Lee College for three years, and for three years she participated in the Garrett Teaching Fellowship at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. She has been a curriculum writer for Pathway Press and has provided leadership training in Christian Education for several local churches. Her published works include two books and numerous articles to scholarly and professional journals. Dr. Johns is a former President of the Society for Pentecostal Studies and has presented position papers at numerous national and international conventions. As Professor of Discipleship and Christian Formation since 1985, she has excelled as a teacher and motivator of students. She is actively involved in New Covenant Church of God where her husband serves as Pastor. She is on the Executive Committee of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, the professional accreditation agency for seminaries throughout North America. An active participant in the international Pentecostal-Roman Catholic dialogue, she is a frequent speaker at ecumenical conferences around the world and a noted representative of the Wesleyan-Pentecostal faith.
Paper title: "Spirited Vestments: Why the Anointing is Not Enough" | Abstract
Respondent: Mara Crabtree, D.Min.

Frederick L. Ware, Ph.D. – Dr. Frederick L. Ware, an ordained minister in the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), is assistant professor of theology at Howard UniversitySchool of Divinity in Washington, DC.  He earned his Ph.D. and M.Div. from Vanderbilt University and his B.A. and M.A. in philosophy from the University of Memphis.  Prior to Dr. Ware's appointment at Howard University, he taught at Stillman College, Christian Brothers University, and Memphis Theological Seminary.  He has also taught in COGIC's Bible college system.  He has served congregations in Memphis and Middle, Tennessee.  Active in ecumenical affairs, he is a participant in the World Council of Churches and Pentecostals consultation.  Dr. Ware is author of Methodologies of Black Theology, The Church of God in Christ: Religious Beliefs and Healthcare Decisions, and "The Church of God in Christ and the Azusa Street Revival" in The Azusa Street Revival and Its Legacy.  Dr. Ware and his wife, Sheila, have two daughters, Kayla and Megan.
Paper title: "Spiritual Egalitarianism, Ecclesiastical Pragmatism, and the Status of Women in Ordained Ministry" | Abstract
Respondent: J. Lyle Story, Ph.D.

 

Global Perspectives (June 9, 2007)

Gaston Espinosa, Ph.D. – Dr. Espinosa is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Claremont McKenna College. He is a graduate of Princeton (M.Div.), Harvard (M.Ed.), and UC Santa Barbara (Ph.D.). He served as manager of the $1.3 million Pew Charitable Trusts-funded Hispanic Churches in American Public Life (HCAPL) project, which surveyed the religious and political attitudes of 3,000 Latinos across the U.S. and Puerto Rico.  Espinosa is the author or co-author of four books, nineteen refereed articles, book chapters, and reviews, 54 encyclopedia entries, 76 scholarly keynotes and presentations, has made eight television and radio appearances, and has served as the director of six conferences. In 2002 he spoke at the National Hispanic Presidential Prayer Breakfast with President George Bush and Senator Joseph Lieberman. In recognition of his work, the Generations Center of Princeton named him one of the nation's 100 Positive Men of Color.
Paper title: "Third Class Soldiers: A History of Hispanic Pentecostal Women in Ministry in the United States" | Abstract
Respondent: Mara Crabtree, D.Min.

Pamela M. S. Holmes, Th. D. (candidate) – Pamela Holmes is an ordained pastor who has ministered in Edmonton, Alberta, Ottawa and Trenton, Ontario.  Spurred on by concerns arising from both her own and other women’s experiences, Holmes returned to school to work on an advanced degree in systematic theology focusing on the possibilities of a dialogue between feminism and Pentecostalism.  Her dissertation entitled “Feminist Critical Theory of Religion and Pentecostal Spirituality and Praxis:  An Examination of Select Themes” explores the relationships between ideology and power particularly as it influences and affects Pentecostal women in leadership positions.  Currently she is teaching and overseeing the Field Education programme at Queen’s Theological College, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario an ecumenical, United Church of Canada college.  Pamela and her husband, Tom, reside in Trenton, Ontario and are the proud parents of two sons and two daughters-in-law and one baby granddaughter.
Paper title: "Canadian Pentecostalism and its Ministering Women:  A Pentecostal Feminist Critique" | Abstract
Respondent: J. Lyle Story, Ph.D.

Deidre Helen Crumbley, Ph.D. – Deidre Helen Crumbley is an Associate Professor of Africana Studies in Interdisciplinary Studies at North Carolina State University. Her forth coming book, Sprit, Structure and Flesh: Gender and Power in African Churches, explores the interplay of gender, power, doctrine, and ritual in African Instituted Churches (AICs). Her current research project focuses on the intersection of race, gender, migration, and religious innovation in the rise of an African American, female-founded storefront church. In addition to her terminal degree in anthropology from Northwestern University, Dr. Crumbley also holds a Masters of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. She is on the editorial board of Religion, an international and interdisciplinary journal, and she is an active member of the Society for the Anthropology of Religion.
Paper title: "Sanctified Saints – Impure Prophetesses:  A Cross-Cultural Study of Gender, Purity, and Power in Two Afro-Christian Spiritual Churches" | Abstract
Respondent: Bramwell Osula, Ph.D.

Julie Ma - Ph.D. - Julie C. Ma served as a faculty member of Anthropology and Biblical Theology of Missions at Asia Pacific Theological Seminary, Baguio City, Philippines (1996-2006), while serving as a field missionary with her husband, Wonsuk, since 1981. She has also served as editor of Journal of Asian Mission (2003-2005),  published When the Spirit Meets the Spirits (Peter Lang, 2000) and Mission Possible: Biblical Strategies for Reaching the Lost (Regnum, 2005), and edited with Wonsuk Ma, Asian Church and God's Mission (2003). She is now preparing a third book, Pentecostal Mission in Asian Context. Her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Intercultural Studies and Theology are from Fuller Theological Seminary. Currently she is serving as Research Tutor of Missiology at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. 
Paper title: "Phenomenological Change of Woman's Image in Global Setting and It's Influence on the Role of Women in the Church" | Abstract
Respondent: Rosemarie Hughes, Ph.D.

 

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Lodging: A limited number of rooms are available at The Founders Inn which is on the Regent University Campus. For reservation and rate information, please call 800.926.4466.