Colloquy for women of color begins Sept. 14 at Columbia Theological Seminary

Online learning event includes live sessions and independent work for participants

by Columbia Theological Seminary | Special to Presbyterian News Service

The Vernon S. Broyles Jr. Leadership Center on the campus of Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. (Photo by Gregg Brekke)

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

This colloquy, being offered by Columbia Theological Seminary, will take place online and will include live sessions and independent work on your own within the course learning site. The program fee is $300 for both sessions.

Three facilitators, Lilian (Luky) Cotto, Cynthia McDonald and Jihyun Oh, will lead a series of discussions designed for participants to share support and professional growth with those who’ve experienced ministry transitions through the woman of color context.

Cotto, a native of Guatemala, is a missionary of the United Methodist Church’s GBGM – 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, Pennsylvania. Cotto also is engaged in church planting in New Jersey.

“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,” Cotto said.

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

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

Another planned colloquy, one for mid-career clergy, is designed to give clergy an opportunity to engage as reflective practitioners in a peer-learning, peer-mentoring experience. This colloquy is planned to be held in-person January 4-7, 2021. The co-facilitators are Dr. Betty Pugh Mills and Rev. Jonathan W. Ball.

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

Pugh most recently was senior pastor at Hampton Baptist Church in Hampton, Virginia. Previously she was senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia.

The total program fee for this colloquy is $600 and includes five meals during each session. On-campus housing is available at special reduced rates.

Columbia Theological Seminary’s Center for Lifelong Learning’s Pastoral Excellence Program is made possible in part by a grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc.’s Thriving in Ministry Initiative.

For more information about the Center for Lifelong Learning and other courses and certificate programs, click here or email the CLL at LifelongLearning@CTSnet.edu.

About Columbia Theological Seminary  

Columbia Theological Seminary’s exists to cultivate faithful leaders for God’s changing world. Columbia Seminary is a community of theological inquiry, leadership development, and formation for ministry in the service of the Church and the world. Columbia offers six masters and doctoral degree programs, and opportunities for continuing education through The Center for Lifelong Learning. For more information, visit the seminary’s website: ctsnet.edu.