9
65 synod bishops are women
out of
Everist, a pastor and professor at Wartburg Teological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, for more than 30 years. In following the careers of her former students, Everist noticed a trend: “A lot of our women pastors, as they become middle-aged or older, can’t get calls. Tousands of strong, older laywomen serve our congregations. Why not more older women pastors?”
‘Great strides, still struggles’ Everist mentors many of the women clergy she taught over the years. A common topic of conversation is concern over threatening male col- leagues in ministry. Everist expe- rienced this while studying at Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Conn., and working part-time at a nearby Lutheran church. “You’re going to be a success
and you’re not going to do it here,” Everist remembered hearing from the male pastor she worked with
45th anniversary of ordination of women:
Rostered leader survey 2015
This survey of 1,243 ELCA clergy was con- ducted and analyzed in 2015. Ethnicity and age were not taken into account in this report, but ELCA Re- search and Evaluation plans to release ad- ditional data in 2016.
l A
before he asked her to resign. “Women have been [asked to leave] because they threaten men,” she said. “Tat continues to be true, and I think it’s true in other professions.” Although they’ve seen improve-
ments in the experience of women clergy, both Everist and Crist stress that sexism is a systemic issue to which the church is not immune. In November 2015, the same
Compensation
month during which the ELCA celebrated the 45th anniversary of the ordination of women, the ELCA Church Council adopted a social message on gender-based violence (
www.elca.org/socialstatements). Tis message, Crist said, acknowl- edges that gender is an important issue for the ELCA. She called for webinars and training to address both racism and sexism. Growing in inclusion is especially
important for the ELCA when it comes to ordained women of color, said Cheryl Pero, a professor at the
Compensation
Above synod guidelines
0%
Compensation Clergy compensation for their most recent call
10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
At synod guidelines Below synod guidelines
Not sureCall Wait Time 60%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 50% 40% 50% 40% 0% March 2016 31 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% l B
86
456 senior pastors are women
out of
Lutheran School of Teology at Chicago (LSTC). “Te church needs to know that they have overlooked women of color,” she added. “I have people who don’t possibly believe that I could be a Lutheran pastor —and that hurts.” In 1980, Pero was the second African-American Lutheran woman to be ordained. Pero found hope in working with
young seminarians at LSTC: “Mil- lennials have a better handle on this than those who have gone before. If our priorities are going to change, it will probably be because of the min- istry of millennials in the church.” One of those millennials is Stacey
Siebrasse, pastor of First English Lutheran Church, Billings, Mont. Growing up she saw women in ministry, but Siebrasse didn’t notice sexism in the church until she saw that the majority of books on her syllabi at seminary were authored by men. Only some books by women were listed—missing completely
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Gender difference Percent of clergy on fourth or subsequent call whose compensation is above synod guidelines
Female clergy Male clergy
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 60%
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