Distinguished program hosted by Princeton Theological Seminary equips dynamic women with resources for innovative, effective leadership.

PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY, JANUARY 2, 2024. Iron Sharpening Iron (ISI), a professional development network for women in ministry, is excited to announce that Rev. Erin Jones, Communications and Advocacy Engagement Manager at Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania (LAMPa), completed its signature executive leadership program. Hosted at Princeton Theological Seminary, Iron Sharpening Iron draws on best practices and subject matter expertise from leaders in public service, the private sector, the church, and the academy with the goal of promoting capable women to thrive in God’s calling in a way that has theological integrity as well as sophisticated philosophy and practice.

Iron Sharpening Iron’s distinctive short-term program combines curriculum, coaching, and a community of participants from around the country, representing an array of denominations, ministry contexts, and backgrounds. Entrance into the cohort is highly selective, with just 21 women admitted each year. Rev. Jones is part of the program’s third class, which began in May 2022.

“Being the pastor of a congregation is a joyful, complex vocation. It requires spiritual depth, as well as the leadership capacity to build and grow a thriving organization in a rapidly changing landscape,” said Rev. Dr. Anne Stewart, Executive Vice President of Princeton Theological Seminary and Director of Iron Sharpening Iron. “Pastors are simultaneously spiritual care providers, preachers, community leaders, and executives of non-profit organizations. This program equips pastors for the breadth and depth of their leadership role. It invites women to claim their sense of agency and use their unique gifts with confidence and competence to serve at a vital moment for compelling, authentic leadership.”

Iron Sharpening Iron is supported by Lilly Endowment Inc. through its Thriving in Ministry initiative. The initiative aims to help pastors thrive in congregational leadership and, in doing so, enhance the vitality of the congregations they serve.

“Thriving pastors nurture thriving congregations and thriving communities,” Stewart continued. “Since the first disciples gathered around Jesus, women have always been leaders in Christian communities. It is a joy to witness the ways that the graduates of Iron Sharpening Iron continue this legacy and are meeting the challenges and opportunities of the contemporary context. The church and the world need their leadership.”

For more information on Iron Sharpening Iron and its portfolio of leadership development opportunities, go to isi.ptsem.edu.

About Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary prepares women and men to serve Jesus Christ in ministries marked by faith, integrity, scholarship, competence, compassion, and joy, equipping them for leadership worldwide in congregations and the larger church, in classrooms and the academy, and in the public arena.

Media Contact
Thais Carter
Director of Strategic Initiatives, Princeton Theological Seminary
Associate Director, Iron Sharpening Iron
thais.carter@ptsem.edu