Blog brings RevGals (and guys)
together to share, pray
Reprinted with permission of the United Methodist Reporter (http://www.umportal.org/).
"Clergy and laity alike have found a sense of community through an online network called RevGalBlogPals.
By Amy Forbus,
Digital Community Builder
Life in the ministry isn't always easy, and pastors -- especially clergywomen -- say they sometimes feel isolated. Yet peers who could offer prayerful support and encouragement might live too far away to be helpful.
Enter the RevGalBlogPals: an online community (http://revgalblogpals.blogspot.com) that meets in cyberspace at any hour, any day.
Who are they? They're bloggers -- people who maintain an online journal -- who are both clergy and laity, female and male.
Most of them are college-educated females in mainline Protestant denominations. Their theology might differ slightly, but they have at least one theological point in common.
"We are all committed to the validity of women's call to ordained Christian ministry," said the Rev. Martha Hoverson, a United Church of Christ pastor whose blog name is Songbird.
"That is the tie that binds. How you baptize or when you serve Communion, whether you kneel or sit to pray -- the kind of disputes that have separated faith communities -- are not part of how we understand ourselves."
They linked up in July 2005, starting with about a dozen bloggers. RevGalBlogPals now includes more than 300 members.
And by now, they're all friends, even though many of them have never met in person. Instead, their community exists online, in what's known as a "Web ring," or a collection of related Web sites linked together by a common navigation bar.
Some of the RevGals "go public" on their blogs and reveal their real names; others use pseudonyms like St. Casserole or Rebel Without a Pew.
They're planning an in-person gathering in 2008. Members pray for each other at an offshoot blog called RevGalPrayerPals (accessible by invitation only for privacy's sake).
The online group has published two devotional books together and incorporated as a nonprofit organization.
And they know how to laugh, too. Readers can click on a link to buy RevGalBlogPals t-shirts, coffee mugs and note cards bearing slogans like, "Does this pulpit make my butt look big?"
An open table
The RevGalBlogPals (also called RevGals or RGBPs) describe themselves in their blog subtitle as "an open table set for a diverse group of people."
That diversity shows itself in age (teenagers to retirees), geography (the Web ring extends across several international borders), category of ministry (laypersons to career clergy) and the variety of denominations represented. In addition to mainline Protestants, members are nondenominational, Baptist, Assembly of God, Unitarian and Quaker, along with a handful of Roman Catholic nuns and postulants.
"I have made friends in denominations I didn't even know about," said Episcopal laywoman Mary Beth Butler in a recent e-mail interview.
It doesn't stop with denominational and theological diversity. There's gender diversity, too. Several men are RGBP members. There are even a few transgendered bloggers.
"On hot-button issues such as abortion and the ordination of GLBT people, we do not have one voice," said Ms. Hoverson. "I have been touched and amazed when ring members of a particular denomination found it possible to agree to disagree with one another, respectfully, on a deeply divisive matter.
"It is in knowing one another as individuals and treasuring that connection that we are able to accept each other in spite of, and perhaps because of, our differences."
Jody Harrington, who blogs as Quotidian Grace, agrees.
"As one of the more conservative -- both theologically and politically -- members of the Web ring, I have learned to have more appreciation for the beliefs and the life experiences that I hold in common with my fellow RGBPs who are more liberal in their opinions than I am," said Ms. Harrington, a laywoman who serves as moderator-elect of her Presbytery.
"Christians of all denominations spend too much time on the things that divide us and not nearly enough time on the things that unite us," she said.
Through the Web ring, she's had gratifying exchanges with people who don't agree with her, and now counts several of them among her friends and favorite bloggers.
"RGBP has broadened my horizons and encouraged me to think more systematically about my beliefs," Ms. Harrington said.
Becoming a community
How did a handful of women who stumbled across each other's online writings become a community? It might have something to do with one of the group's maxims for preaching: "The Holy Spirit has got your back."
The Rev. Abigail Carlisle-Wilke, a United Methodist pastor who blogs as RevAbi, said she's learned two things in particular.
"The biggest surprise is a deeper spiritual connection to God and myself through this connection with people. Second is laughter -- ministry doesn't seem so heavy and burdensome these days as it used to."
And none of them imagined it would grow so large.
"Within a few weeks of starting my blog, I found St. Casserole -- and realized I was not alone," said the Rev. Theresa Coleman, a United Methodist pastor whose blog name is Reverend Mommy. "Then we were four and eight and 300. The growth was phenomenal."
Many RGBPs see blogging as another valuable way to build relationships. "We can support the spiritual walk of people we have never met in real life," Ms. Coleman said.
Ms. Butler first realized the strength of the connections during a natural disaster: "When one of our members was in the path of Hurricane Katrina, I worried aloud to my husband about her by her blog name, because I didn't know her real name."
Since then, more than one church mission trip has included a RevGalBlogPal meet-up along the Gulf Coast.
Even though most interaction among RevGals doesn't happen face-to-face, it still holds value, says Ms. Coleman.
"We pray for each other; we e-mail each other with questions, problems and celebrations," she said. "We share our gifts with each other -- spiritual and physical."
And when an in-person meeting does happen, she says it feels "like a homecoming."
Sharing the load
Keeping the interest level up in an online community of hundreds of members is no small task, especially when each member has her own blog to manage in addition to participating in the group blog. That's why no one RevGalBlogPal does it alone.
"We don't want anyone burning out," Ms. Butler said. "Our goal is that this be a sustainable, long-term place of refuge, friendship, shared learning and community."
So while there's a list of who is responsible for each day's content, the RevGals remain flexible.
And they stay in touch about conflicts or crises through e-mail, Ms. Hoverson said. "If you need a substitute, it is usually easy to find one, and there are a few of us who will always step up in a case of need."
Readers have plenty of choice, too. For example, the laity might not participate much in sermon-planning discussions, but the Wednesday "Meet 'n' Greet" feature draws them in. Those who don't have time to drop by every day -- and most do not -- can keep up individually with their own favorites.
"I think the fact that we offer so many different features is part of the success of the Web ring," Ms. Harrington said.
Supportive for ministry
RevGalBlogPals learn and struggle together, and support each other, too.
"Several times this group of loving women have held me accountable for my words and actions -- something I appreciate, since they are in similar life situations," Ms. Coleman said. "We really do hold each other accountable in love, even if we are thousands of miles apart."
Since joining RevGalBlogPals, Ms. Butler, a layperson, said she's more aware of the challenges faced by clergy. "And reading about their lives and work has shown me how crucial is the work of the laity in concert with it."
Ms. Carlisle-Wilke believes that RevGalBlogPals has transformed her own ministry.
"I think it has helped me with my preaching a whole lot due to our lectionary discussions and the '11th Hour Preacher Party,'" she said. "I think it has caused me to pray and meditate more. I think it has helped me know that I am not alone out here.
"It has empowered me to be the minister God is calling and creating me to be."
Though Ms. Forbus is not a "Rev," she is a member of RevGalBlogPals. email: aforbus@umr.org