296: A Woman's Story of Spiritual Formation: Community of Christ Apostle Janné Grover

Community of Christ is a worldwide church, and though small in numbers maintain a consistent effort to  “proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love, and peace.”  Their vision is a ‘table’ with everyone invited and participating and belonging regardless of gender, race, or sexuality. One of their first progressive actions was to ordain women which they did so in 1984.  Today five of the council of twelve positions in Community of Christ are held by women.   At the 2019 world conference, Catherine Mambwe from Zambia was the first African woman to be ordained an apostle. So, what does spiritual formation look like for a woman in Community of Christ? Janné Grover is a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles, the lead missionary quorum of Community of Christ. She is assigned to the Central USA Mission Field. She is also director of Formation Ministries. Her previous employment includes disciple formation ministries specialist for Community of Christ and is a musician by training and vocation. Apostle, Janne joins me to discuss spiritual formation and what it means for a woman to be in senior ecclesiastical leadership in a progressive worldwide church.