SHEcclesiology

Jayne Wilcox is Assistant Professor of Theology at Ashland Theological Seminary. She holds a Th.D. in ecclesiology and her field of interest is ecclesial models and the future shape of the post-institutional church. Her passion is for the church–the local church where small acts of love and generosity make the kingdom of God visible in the neighborhood. She is also smitten with the church universal–the rich diversity of peoples, structures, rituals, and practices that are the collective community of God made visible to the world. Dr. Wilcox is involved in denominational leadership roles, both regionally and nationally, including VisionUSA GSE based church planting and church revitalization teams and as national moderator on the Executive Board of The Brethren Church denomination. For three decades, she has served in various ministry roles, including senior pastor and now resident pastor-theologian in an incarnational, team-led, faith community in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She is a gifted speaker and teacher and never turns down an opportunity to guest preach or present fresh ideas at a conference. Her latest venture is hosting “SHEcclesiology–Girls Talking Church,” an all-female podcast show that provokes weighty and nuanced conversation around pivotal issues facing the church and society today. Jayne and her husband live in Loudonville, OH and have two adult sons, an adorable daughter-in-love, and a most precious grand baby girl.

Kim Hu is a Jersey girl but has called Philadelphia home since 2010. After graduating Temple University in 2014 with BAs in Communication Sciences & Disorders and Psychology, she served as a 1-year church intern in Indonesia and Singapore where she saw God’s undeniably immense heart for the nations, and life has never been quite the same since then. After completing a masters in Speech Pathology and working as an elementary school based speech therapist for 3 years, she made the big jump to full-time ministry at her home church of 11 years, Grace Covenant Church.  Work these days looks like helping young adults love and follow Jesus, discovering her voice in preaching and teaching, pursuing a Masters of Divinity at Missio Seminary with a concentration in counseling, and keeping an eye towards how to love God and neighbor both near and far. She loves making her husband Tim laugh, dreaming of what missions means, caring for her growing collection of house plants, and posting unsolicited reviews of Trader Joe’s products to her instagram.

Jennifer Johnson serves as the Chief Communications Officer at Johnson University in Knoxville, TN, where she leads a small team of artsy people who know more than she does. Before joining the JU team, she owned her own business, See Jen Write, and worked with companies and ministries around the world to create books, small group curriculum, videos, websites, and marketing campaigns. She blogs about faith, doubt, the church, and the idiosyncrasies of Christian culture and compiled some of this work into her book, “See Jen Write: The Best of the Blog.” She holds an M.Ed. and may someday finish that seminary degree she started years ago. Jen’s a wife, a stepmom of two young adults, a board member for Orchard Group and Christian Missionary Fellowship, an American Airlines Gold member, a reluctant dog owner, and a big fan of caffeine.

KrisAnne Swartley serves as Pastor of Worship and Administration at Doylestown Mennonite Church in southeast Pennsylvania. She has been living, breathing and talking church since she was born. A Mennonite pastor’s kid, she preached her first sermon at age 16 and has served in various volunteer and paid ministry roles ever since: from worship leading to coordinating community outreach, painting Sunday school rooms to sanitizing nursery toys… you name it, she has probably done it. KrisAnne has experienced wounds in church and has walked with others who have been wounded by church, but she keeps showing up. She is a wife, mom and musician; and her hobbies include caring for her two cats, feeding the neighborhood birds and drinking inordinate amounts of coffee.