Women in Ministry | Nazarene Presence in the SoCal Megaregion (1895-2015)

Last year one of the largest Nazarene congregations in the US/Canada region, and the second largest one on the SoCal megaregion, went through an extensive review and pastoral search for a new minister. Pasadena First Nazarene, or PazNaz, called Rev. Tara Beth Leach. as senior pastor.

This would be a great time to promote Leach's new book, Emboldened: A Vision for Empowering Women in Ministry, released by Intervarsity Press in November 2017.

This is great news for PazNaz and for Rev Leach, but let's not pat our collective denominational selves on the back just yet.

There are only 23 women in senior pastor roles on the SoCal megaregion out of 352 assigned senior pastors. The largest church with a female senior pastor prior to PazNaz ran 300, and the median size was 45. Half of the female senior pastors (11) have been in place since only 2009. Progress, yes. Enough, not yet.

Click to see more info about this book

Resources:

• ​Raw Data for these six districts (link for spreadsheet)
• Nazarene Presence in the Southern California Megaregion (Organized and Closed Churches)
• Mission Centers and Large Churches | Nazarene Presence in the SoCal Megaregion (1895-2015)
• Pastors | Church of the Nazarene Presence in the SoCal Megaregion 1895-2015​
• ​Ethnic Churches | Nazarene Presence in the Southern California Megaregion (1895-2015)
• Megaregions and the Church of the Nazarene in North America
• Megaregion in the Making -- Beijing's Jing-Jin-Ji