Registration Open for Colloquies for Women of Color and Mid Career Clergy

July 28- The Colloquy for Women of Color: A Virtual Colloquy, will take place in two sessions September 14-November 20, 2020 and January 11-March 19, 2021.

Gain support, take time for reflection and personal growth among those who’ve experienced ministry transitions through the woman of color context.

The three facilitators for this Colloquy, Lillian (Luky) Cotto, Cynthia McDonald and Jihyun Oh, know from experience what it means to do ministry as women of color.

“I would always wonder if they could “see” me for who I was, a woman of color, capable of doing anything they were doing, especially in ministry,” said Cotto, reflecting on her experience.

Cotto, a native of Guatemala, serves as a missionary of the United Methodist Church’s GBGM, the National Plan for Hispanic-Latino Ministry and is a full-time local pastor serving at Casa del Pueblo Latino Ministry in Hatboro and Latino Ministry New Initiative at St. Paul’s UMC in Warrington PA. She is also engaged in church planting in New Jersey.

McDonald is an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, currently serving as pastor of St. Luke A.M.E. Church in Cartersville, GA and as a mental health chaplain.

Oh currently serves as the Associated Stated Clerk and Director of Mid-Council Ministries for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and has served as interim pastor, associate pastor and hospital chaplain.

The Colloquy for Women of Color is virtual and includes live sessions as part of large and small groups with independent work on your own between group sessions. The program fee is $300 for both (Sept. and Jan) sessions.

The Colloquy for Mid-Career Clergy offers clergy an opportunity to engage as reflective practitioners in a peer-learning, peer-mentoring experience.

“Once we learn the job (it takes about 3.4 years to get “competent”) and find efficient (if not effective) ways of doing it, we rarely stray from our patterned practices of routine. Within five to six years, we’re coasting. The danger here is that a failure to reflect on one’s practices leads to stagnation and stifles the imagination. This Colloquy gave me a chance to refresh my approach,” said a previous attendee.

This Colloquy takes place January 4-7, 2021 with co-facilitators Dr. Betty Pugh Mills and Rev. Jonathan W. Ball.

Pugh most recently served as Senior Pastor at Hampton Baptist Church, Hampton, VA. Previously she served as Senior Pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Richmond, VA for over twenty years.

Ball, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) serves as Coordinator of Clinical Pastoral Education at Northside Hospital, Atlanta, GA.

The total program fee is $600 and includes five meals. On-campus housing is available at special reduced rates.

For more information about the Center for Lifelong Learning and other courses and certificate programs, visit www.ctsnet.edu/lifelong-learning or email the CLL at LifelongLearning@CTSnet.edu.