Carol Gallagher to teach during January term at Virginia Theological Seminary
Episcopal News Service. January 11, 2008 [011108-07]
The Rt. Rev. Carol Gallagher, formerly assistant bishop of the Diocese of Newark and bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Southern Virginia, is teaching a course in Congregational Development during the January term at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria.
The class is based on Gallagher's new book, Reweaving the Sacred: Congregational Development for Unique Congregations, which is to be published this spring by Church Publishing. She draws on her experience as a Native woman and a church leader to help encourage and develop the gifts and skills of congregations that are challenged by location, finances and cultural isolation. Using traditional storytelling and narrative reasoning, the students in the class will learn to articulate the unique identity and gifts of a particular congregation, while developing their leadership skills in preparation for ordained ministry.
Gallagher, a member of the Cherokee nation, is the first and only Native American woman to be consecrated a bishop in the Episcopal Church and the first Indigenous woman to become a bishop in the Anglican Communion.