A New Home for TYCWP

Post Author: Elsa A. Peters

by Elsa A. Peters

We are launching a new website.

Since our founding in 2007, TYCWP has called www.youngclergywomen.org our internet home. We started with the imagination of creating a space where young clergy women could theologically reflect about their ministry. We wanted to create a community of writers. We wanted to share our stories.

As an avid reader of Fidelia’s Sisters, you know that’s what you see on our home page. You see the masthead for our e-zine and the most recent articles written for young clergy women by young clergy women. If you’ve explored beyond this first page, you know there’s a page to find the names of our editors (and other board members), a page that outlines our submission guidelines and even a page that attempts to explain our organization.

However, there are some problems. There are some really big problems because we’ve changed. After five years of ministry together as TYCWP, we have become much more than our e-zine. We host conferences. We have our own book imprint with Chalice Press. We even have a CafePress shop.We have become a community — and we want to build upon that community.

Some of you will remember the underground blog where we first shared conversation. Others will remember NING. Others are avidly sharing in conversation on Facebook and Twitter. There are still others that are meeting in person to shop for shoes, eat chocolate and share stories of ministry. Mostly, we talk about ministry. We pray for each other. We want to provide a centralized place where this amazing community of women can share ideas.

So we are launching a new website.

We have dreamed about this possibility for several years — basically since we created the Community Board. Sadly, we had a cash flow problem. We couldn’t realize the dream because we have refused (over and over again) to charge our members an annual fee. Or ask for money from some grandparent that might tell us what we should be doing with our beloved community. We refused until our Price Charming came charging along. Meet the New Media Project at Union Theological Seminary — a two-year research project funded by the Lilly Endowment to explore how digital media is expanding ministry. Guess what? We’re doing that. So, the New Media Project approached us and asked us to be a case study.

The New Media Project’s Director Verity Jones shares, “We are delighted that The Young Clergy Women Project agreed to be a case study.” Over the summer, Verity attended our annual board meeting of TYCWP where she got to see us in action. She remarks, “These young women are not only smart savvy users of technology, but they are also theologically-engaged and highly talented pastors. They are already creating compelling accounts of the Gospel and shepherding God’s people with great skill and care in this new age. We need to listen to them.”

We are thrilled to have this conversation partner. It is an engaged conversation as the New Media Project learns from us. And it solved our financial woes. It allowed us to dream to be realized.

We are launching a new website.

Community Board Member Maria Bergius Krämer is beyond excited about this opportunity. She exclaims, “As one of the non-American members of this project, the website and the underground blog are crucial for me to keep in touch with other members. Local meet-ups and conferences are amazing, but for me, the online presence is the key to this community. Therefore, I am exceptionally excited about a new website that will bring all the different online functions of this glorious sisterhood in under one roof. I really look forward to this!”

We hope you share Maria’s enthusiasm as you look forward to the new website’s launch in Epiphany 2012.