Meet SanDawna Ashley
The Rev. SanDawna Theresa Gaulman Ashley joined the General Assembly Mission Council in April 2011 as associate for gender and racial justice. Ashley most recently served as pastor of Morgan Park Presbyterian Church, a multicultural congregation in Chicago, Illinois. She previously served as pastor of Community Presbyterian Church, New Castle, Delaware, and the historic Capital Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She also served as chairperson of the New Castle Presbytery Church Development Unit and chairperson of the New Church Development and Church Transformation Committee of the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic.
Ashley has a Doctor of Ministry degree in parish focus ministry from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and a Master of Divinity degree from Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Ashley says, “I look forward with grace to sharing with the denomination the message that we are all God’s people, gifted in various ways and intentionally unique for the glory of God.”
Ashley’s work will include facilitating ministry and programs at all levels of the PC(USA) that assist the church in becoming inclusive, diverse, and racially just. She will develop workshops and resources for congregations and other groups, addressing issues of gender equality, fairness, and racial justice, with the goal of providing practical and specific ministry to women and racial ethnic persons, helping to change conditions to create equal opportunities for all. She will also work with middle governing bodies, the GAMC, and other PC(USA) groups to assist the PC(USA) in its efforts to improve leadership opportunities and parity for women and racial ethnic persons in the church and in society.