Sisters of Solidarity
In the fall of 2021, the BWIM staff and board members began to dream about expanding our work. Under the coordination of Associate Director, Lynn Brinkley, BWIM’s mentoring program was becoming increasingly multi-racial, and insights were emerging about the unique needs of women of the global majority serving in Baptist ministry. BWIM seeks to increase the ways we integrate anti-racism into our work and ministries.
Lynn Brinkley recruited a pilot group for a new BWIM program, Sister of Solidarity, with the initial group led by the Rev. Dr. Zina Jacque. We hope that this program will grow and provide the support needed by Black women who are ministering and leading in Baptist spaces.
The initial cohort of Sisters of Solidarity closed in the summer of 2024 under the leadership of previous Associate Director, Lynn Brinkley. BWIM’s new Director of Supporting Women in Ministry, Barbara Lavarin, spent the final months of 2024 preparing for a Sisters of Solidarity cohort for Black women who were called as the first female pastors of their churches to start in 2025. We look forward to sharing more about that cohort with you next year. As we transitioned from the initial cohort to preparing for 2025, BWIM sponsored 7 women in ministry to attend conferences founded and led by Black women preachers. Christina Ross, Elaine Ransom, Bianca Allen, Dana Seville, Nia Edwards, Sheena Bailey-Wilkerson, and Destiny Williams attended the Women in Ministry Conference (WIM) in Atlanta, GA and the Women Who Minister Conference (WWM) in Poconos, PA.
