CHICAGO— The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women (GCSRW) has named The Rev. Pamela Pirtle of the Northern Illinois Conference Director of Leadership Development and Accountability. She is responsible for supporting annual conference COSROWs, providing resources and education for the full inclusion on women and overseeing monitoring functions on behalf of the agency.
We are delighted to announce that Rev. Pam Pirtle is joining the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women as our Director of Leadership Development and Accountability,” General Secretary Dawn Wiggins Hare stated. “Pam brings a multitude of gifts and experiences to our mission from her work in the local church to her leadership at Northwestern University. We are grateful that she has chosen to follow her call into GCSRW’s ministry with The United Methodist Church.”
Pirtle recently served as the pastor for Gorham United Methodist Church, located in the Washington Park community on the South Side of Chicago.
“I have spent most of my professional career in equal employment opportunity, affirmative action, and diversity/inclusion in higher education and government,” Pirtle said. “I’m passionate about social justice, education and inclusion. This position with GCSRW provides me an opportunity to merge my professional experience with a way to serve the church in ministry, and enhance the Wesleyan thought, ‘A charge to keep we have, a God to glorify… to serve this present age, our calling to fulfill.’ I believe that each of us has a calling to leave this world better than when we arrived. Therefore, I am honored to be a part of such an incredible team of persons who are passionate about ensuring the full inclusion of women.”
Pirtle serves the Northern Illinois Annual Conference on the Committee on Finance Administration and the Committee on Religion and Race. She serves as a board member for United Voices for Children and is a former board member of Black Methodists for Church Renewal (BMCR).
She is a graduate of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (M.Div.), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (M.A.) and National-Louis University (B.A). She is currently a DMin student at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. She considers parenting her daughter, Jaelyn, the greatest joy of her life.
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The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women advocates for the full participation of women in the total life of The United Methodist Church. GCSRW helps the church recognize every person – clergy and lay, women and men, adults and children – as full and equal parts of God’s human family. They believe that a fully engaged and empowered membership is vital to The United Methodist Church’s mission "to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world."