The Pastor Wears a Skirt: Stories of Gender and Ministry - Hardcover

by Dorothy J. Friesen (Author)

Dangerous Woman? Ordained by God? Gender matters! What do pastors really do beyond the pulpit? What's it like to be a woman pastor? It's complicated. People leave congregations when the pastor wears a skirt. Other congregations become advocates for women clergy. Rev. Dorothy Nickel Friesen, an ordained Mennonite pastor, digs deep into the soul of a pastor with humor, pathos, and passion. Her memoir, a collection of short stories based on true events, visits the agony of bedside death, lost dreams, and angry parishioners who walk away from her leadership. She also shares the laugh-out-loud stories of weddings (a missing groom), rituals of deep meaning (with water from the Jordan River), and tension-filled advocacy for peace (on a military base). With honesty and warmth, Rev. Dorothy beckons women, especially, to love God's people as a leader, preacher, and friend. She hopes this book will help you see beyond the "Bible wars" and deepen your faith that God generously gifts women for spiritual leadership.

Author Biography

Dorothy Nickel Friesen graduated from Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas (BA) and from the University of Kansas (MA).

She received a Master of Divinity from St. Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Missouri; pastored Manhattan Mennonite Church, Manhattan, Kansas, and First Mennonite Church, Bluffton, Ohio; served as assistant dean at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Indiana, and conference minister for the Western District Conference of Mennonite Church USA.

She currently resides in Newton, Kansas.