What is Young Clergy Women International?

WHO WE ARE

Young Clergy Women International is a network of the youngest ordained clergy women, defined as those under forty.

YCWI started out as The Young Clergy Women Project (TYCWP) in November 2006 as just an idea about getting young ordained women together to talk online. In 2007, TYCWP received a grant from The Louisville Institute that supported our preaching conference, board meeting, and web page. Energy begets energy, and these initial funded programs have generated more ways for young clergy women to connect. To read more about our founder, click here.

Our energy initially led us to publish an e-zine by, for and about young clergy women. This publication, now known as Fidelia, began on October 1, 2007. As a community that began through the network of a series of bloggers, we were eager to share our stories in one publication – but we quickly discovered that our relationships flourished when we gathered off-line. We seek to offer an annual opportunity to gather for young clergy women at our conferences and encourage our members to host regional gatherings. We have been grateful for the support of many supporters including the Center for Congregational Health.

While we know that we cannot provide a place for every young clergy women, YCWI has identified the need for nurture and support of those that are discerning a call into the ministry. To this end, we created On the Road to Ordination to encourage those pursuing the ministry.

OUR COMMUNITY

We are our members. The young clergy women that join our project make us the dynamic group we are. Our membership includes:

  • Over 1600 young clergy women in number.
  • Women from across the US, as well as women who call Australia, Canada, Nigeria, Sweden, Mexico, and the UK (Scotland, Wales, and England), home.
  • Women serving in these denominations:
    African Methodist Episcopal (AME), Anglican (Canada, England, Scotland, Wales, Australia), Assemblies of God, Baptist (American, National, Cooperative, Alliance, and Australian), Church of Sweden, Church of the Brethren, Church of the Nazarene, Christian Reformed Church, Cumberland Presbyterian, Disciples of Christ, The Episcopal Church, ELCA, ELCC, Moravian, Mennonite, Pan African Orthodox Christian, PCUSA, Presbyterian Church of Canada, Church of Scotland, Quaker, Reformed Church in America, Roman Catholic, Scottish Episcopal, Swedenborgian, United Church of Canada, United Church of Christ, United Methodist, United Reformed Church, Uniting Church in Australia, and Unitarian-Universalist

YCWI seeks to provide members with opportunities for online relationship-building and wisdom-sharing.  Our members are invited to share in a private community with other young clergy women in our hidden Facebook group. Our public-facing Twitter and Facebook pages further provide members and friends of YCWI with the opportunity to catch up on the latest news.

We encourage our members to gather together in their area for regional meet-ups. We offer support and nurture in-person meet-ups gatherings in local churches, at coffee shops and at denominational events.  In these gatherings, our members meet for coffee or a meal and transition their online connections into real-life friendships.

YCWI also offers community to those young women discerning a call into the ministry. On the Road to Ordination is an online network of support for young women seminarians as well as those who have graduated and are waiting for judicatory approval or their first call. In short, it’s for those in that liminal period of waiting on ordination. Women who are On the Road are welcome to join with members of YCWI for conferences and any in-person meet-ups. Only the online communities are separate. We are excited to welcome On the Road members into membership in YCWI once they’ve completed their denomination’s ordination or licensing requirements. 

MISSION AND VALUES (2023)

Rationale for the 2023 Updates to our Mission, Vision, and Values
Values should not just be factual, they should be aspirational; grounding, and guiding. This is where we return to in order to remind ourselves both who we are and who we desire to become. These are “anchors and flares” to give shape to our activities, programming, leadership formation, and advocacy.

Our Mission
Young Clergy Women International creates a holy and authentic community that sustains generous collaboration, embodiment and solidarity for and by Christian clergy women under 40.  

Our Identity
YCWI is especially designed to center the experiences of women in ministry. We affirm the gender identity and participation of trans women. Genderqueer, non-binary and agender persons who feel their participation in a women’s organization aligns with their lived experiences are also welcome in our membership and leadership.

Our Vision
We witness the theotokos, God coming to earth in the body of a woman, and a resurrection first preached by women (John 20:18). From beginning to end the ministry of Jesus was surrounded and uplifted by those on the margins of the established male-dominated system; their legacy should not only be remembered, but celebrated. Our ancestors of faith inspire our call to preach, teach, equip and empower the work of the church in the 21st century.

Our Values
We live out our mission, identity and vision: 

  1. With generous collaboration in the professional community. We are not alone! Under the umbrella of kinship we affirm that we are part of the body of Christ which is not ordered according to white hetero-patriarchal structures. We believe in the power of connection across denominational and ecumenical space. We collaborate together, sharing resources and fostering safe spaces to find support and help. 
  2. By embodying leadership and empowerment. We unapologetically claim and advocate that the global church is healthier, holier, and braver when diverse and marginalized voices are empowered to lead.  We believe that all bodies are a reflection of God’s self in the world and reveal attributes of the divine. We strive to grow leaders and authors by collaborating, sharing leadership, and lifting up those who struggle to have equal power to their voice in this area. We champion the words and work of our membership knowing that it benefits not only our ministries but all of creation.
  3. In solidarity with one another in the world. Knowing that we are a work in progress and we are working towards a kin-dom that is here but not yet – we aspire to be in solidarity by advocating for the movement toward Christ’s kin-dom, including anti-racism, LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and accessibility justice. In seasons of joy and sorrow, struggle and perseverance, we create spaces of safety and trust so that all may be fully authentic and vulnerable. We celebrate and build our capacity to become the religious leaders that the world needs. We strive to live into this by proactively including and privileging the voices of Black, Indigenous and people of color, disabled people, and queer people.

Annual Reports

YCWI 2023 Annual Report Cover