STAMFORD, Conn. (UMNS) - During her long involvement with the World Council of Churches, Jan Love has come into contact with women from many different countries.
She has noticed the cultural peculiarities that make women different and the similarities they share. She also has encountered situations when political movements have misused religion in a way to limit opportunities and even basic freedom for women.
What women need, she said, is the chance to thrive and gain leadership skills.
"A lot of women across the world are trying to carve out space where they can not only pursue their own callings, but also stay more open to their gifts and concerns," she told United Methodist News Service.
Love, 51, will take those findings with her as she assumes the chief staff leadership position with the Women's Division of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. The division is the administrative arm of the 1 million-member United Methodist Women.
She was elected to that position by division directors during their March 19-22 spring meeting in Stamford and will succeed Joyce Sohl, who is retiring July 31.
Love paid tribute to both Sohl and Theressa Hoover, a former Women's Division chief executive, in a brief speech after the election, which she called "a high moment in my life."
Genie Banks, Women's Division president, said Love would be a creative and determined leader who would guide the organization "into the future with faith."
A "preacher's kid" and Alabama native, Love's interest in global issues began early. In 1970, while in high school, she became a director of what was then the denomination's Board of Missions. That involvement served as a springboard for her attendance at the 1975 World Council of Churches in Nairobi, Kenya, where she was first elected to that organization's Central Committee.
Love remained as a United Methodist representative on the 158-member WCC Central Committee until 1998, filling a number of leadership roles. From 1983 to 1991, she was part of the WCC's 25-member executive committee. She served as moderator of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs from 1992 to 1998 and was part of the Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC from 1999 to 2002. She currently is moderator of the global group that oversees the council's Decade to Overcome Violence.
The United Methodist Council of Bishops recognized Love for her "exceptional leadership in ecumenical arenas" during the meeting of the 2000 General Conference, the denomination's top legislative body.
United Methodist Women is involved in some of the worldwide ecumenical networks with which Love is familiar, and she said she is looking forward to connecting with other UMW contacts.
The organization has a long history of global witness, and Love wants to strengthen that commitment to the Wesleyan notion of social holiness. She hopes UMW "can build on the work they've already begun to embrace the energy and skills and capacities and perspectives of young women."
Her academic career also has centered on a world view. After studying African politics as an undergraduate at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., she received a master's degree and doctorate in political science, with a focus on international relations, from Ohio State University in 1977 and 1983, respectively.
She has taught at the University of South Carolina since 1982, serving as an assistant and associate professor in the Department of Government and International Studies. In 2001, she became an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the university, where she teaches courses on religion and world politics.
Since 2000, she has been serving a four-year term on the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns. She also is a member of the board of directors of Church World Service.
Love and her husband, Peter Sederberg, live in Columbia, S.C., with their 16-year-old daughter, Rachel. They also have an adult son, Per, who lives in Boston.
*Linda Bloom is a UMNS news writer based in New York. News media can contact Linda Bloom at (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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