The Vineyard Celebrates Women’s History Month

We celebrate Women’s History Month as a way of acknowledging the indispensable contributions made by women to the Church and to society as a whole. We wish to amplify women’s voices which have historically been pushed aside or silenced by the Church and society.

Vineyard Church of Ann Arbor believes that all people are equal members of the body of Christ and that this body is at its best when all its parts are utilized, listened to, and supported. We fully affirm female leadership in the church at all levels of teaching and pastoral ministry, including senior pastor and board chair.

We acknowledge that many parts of the Bible have been, and continue to be, used to subjugate women and minorities. We insist, however, that if an interpretation of any Bible verse results in the permission to subjugate women or children, or if it grants a license to enslave others, then it has utterly missed the point. It also threatens to undo the work of the cross of Christ which destroyed the dividing wall of hostility that previously divided us and held us in bondage.

We look to the examples of early women leaders and teachers in the Church such as Junia, Lydia, and Priscilla and state that “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Furthermore, we repent of the parts we have played in the Church’s oppression of women and minority groups. We are deeply sorry for the pain and evil that has been caused by those who have claimed Christ’s name, and we strive to instead enact God’s kingdom that turns earthly power structures upside down.

Virtual Events

Disney on Broadway: Women on Broadway Celebration 3/12

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Disney-on-Broadway-Will-Host-Virtual-Womens-Day-on-Broadway-on-March-12-2021-20210128

Women’s Museum of California virtual tour

https://www.womensmuseumca.org/

Brave Girl Storytime March 24th

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/brave-girls-virtual-story-time-ambitious-girl-tickets-142566033845

Calling all Brave Girls! Join the National Women’s History Museum and illustrator Marissa Valdez for a very special Brave Girls Virtual Storytime reading of author Meena Harris’ Ambitious Girl on Wednesday, March 24th at noon. Bring your lunch and your curious minds! Marissa will be answering questions live from the audience after the reading of the book with us.

PBS Celebrates Women’s History Month

Program schedule:

https://www.pbs.org/articles/2021/03/what-to-watch-womens-history-month-2021/

Theologians You Should Know

Natalia Imperatori Lee

A Catholic liberation theologian is an associate professor of religious studies at Manhattan College in New York. Imperatori-Lee writes as a scholar-activist who urges for reform and new ways of thinking. She writes about bodies, gender, ecclesiology and the relationship of women and the poor to institutions like the church.

Mercy Amba Oduyoye

A renowned theologian, educator, writer, mentor, and poet, she has worked tirelessly to address issues of poverty, health care, youth empowerment, women’s rights, destructive cultural and religious practices, and global unrest. She is the founder of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, an organization that encourages African women to research, write, and publish their own books and articles on “African issues” and concerns

Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite

She’s an activist, scholar, and theologian. After serving two, five- year terms as president of Chicago Theological Seminary, Thistlethwaite has gone on to work as a public scholar and even returned to teaching. Her work focuses on women, violence, peace, and justice

Mayra Rivera

Rivera explores colonialism, race, and gender through a lens of materiality, namely in Poetics of the Flesh, the body. She explores critical issues of being, knowing. She uses theopoetics as a way of embracing deeper ephemeral concepts. Her work is elegant and purposeful.

Emilie Townes

Townes’ broad areas of expertise include Christian ethics, cultural theory and studies, postmodernism and social postmodernism. She has been a pioneering scholar in womanist theology, a field of studies in which the historic and current insights of African American women are brought into critical engagement with the traditions of Christian theology. Townes has a strong interest in thinking critically about womanist perspectives on issues such as health care, economic justice, poetry and literary theory

Kwok-Pui Lan

Kwok Pui Lan is Distinguished Visiting Professor at Candler School of Theology of Emory University, and the 2011 president of the American Academy of Religion. She has published extensively in Asian feminist theology, biblical interpretation, and postcolonial criticism. Kwok received her doctorate in theology degree from Harvard University, and a master’s in theology degree and a bachelor of divinity degree from Southeast Asia Graduate School of Theology

Elsa Tamez

Born in Victoria, Mexico, Dr. Tamez currently resides in Costa Rica where she is on the faculty of the Latin American Biblical University in San José. She has previously taught at Vanderbilt Divinity School in the field of Latin American Liberation Theology and Harvard Divinity School in the area of World Christianity. She has also received several awards for her contributions to Contextual Biblical Hermeneutics including the Hans-Sigrist Award from the University of Bern, Switzerland

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