Truth-telling & Healing from Church Harm for Women - A conversation with the Rev. Chantal McKinney

This week the Southern Baptist Convention voted  to advance a formal ban on women from serving as pastors … something that has drawn understandable and righteous scorn and outrage from other denominations, including my own Episcopal Church.Those of us who even long ago began ordaining women need to understand that our work for gender equity and justice is far from over.Official studies in mainline denominations that ordain women report between 50 and 75% have experienced instances of gender-based harassment and abuse.  Ordained women will tell you that the percentage is much higher than that … upwards of the high 90s. Much like anyone who is not white and male in the church, lack of discrimination, harassment and abuse is such the outlier that many have told me that it is just an accepted part of life.For much of the past year, I have been honored to be working with the Rev. Chantal McKinney, who is dedicating her life to gathering healing communities of women who have experienced and are experiencing harm in the church, creating safe spaces and platforms for them to share their stories and to call the church to a new life of justice not just in its structure and practice but in its very theology.She has a new book out, Following Jesus Beyond Church Walls, where she talks about her own story of harassment and abuse, her healing journey and then in what is really a love letter to the church, extends an invitation to the church into a new way of being that begins with truth telling and continues with reparation and a changed way of life.A movement is growing around her work called Water + Light. It is becoming a powerful place for truth-telling and healing for women … and others .. who have experienced church harm. Women who are refusing to be silent anymore and who are calling the church to be true to her calling in Christ and give much more than the lip service it has given justice in this arena since its inception.Chantal McKinney joins me today for this episode of the Mutual Aid podcast. She talks about her story, the reaction of church leadership to her book and to this new movement, the depth and breadth of the epidemic of church harm and much, much more. She also talks about how you can find healing community if you have been harmed and how everyone can join in a growing movement of solidarity … which is the heart of what mutual aid is about.Order Chantal's book here - https://www.chantalmckinney.com/about-the-bookJoin the solidarity group here - forms.gle/M2Re2rwYEiaHbeGK9Find out more about Water + Light here - https://www.chantalmckinney.com/water-lightJoin a circle of support here - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScopX-eNkNIrGRdV0lSl0Zpkl4MhZJXpHrkGRtaIPWMDbHRTQ/viewformSign up for a healing circle here - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfj6wieQj20xEginXrKLGH4ou1IXDpYPC-CDFvQyAKjJfNY5g/viewformDonate to Water + Light here - https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/water-and-light-support-women-harmed-in-the-church