About the Center

Vision: To see women called by God to be affirmed, empowered, and equipped to serve the Church and the world through a variety of ministry professions, as well as to encourage advocates who desire and affirm gender parity in church ministry.

Mission: The Wynkoop Center for Women in Leadership exists to create space to imagine together the possibilities of women’s contributions, along with creative and innovative participation in the future of the church of Jesus Christ. The Center does this by providing opportunities, assistance, and resources to explore and encourage the giftings and callings of women in traditional and new frontiers of leadership, as well as support and encourage men who advocate for women and mutuality in ministry. In addition, the Center aims to help the Church of the Nazarene and the greater Church understand and embrace the biblical and theological basis for co-equal partnership in ministry.

The Wynkoop Legacy: Mildred Bangs Wynkoop (1905-1997) was an influential educator, missionary, and theologian whose work impacted the Church of the Nazarene and beyond.

Mildred began her ministry career with her husband, Ralph, whom she met at Pasadena College (now Point Loma Nazarene University). Both were ordained as Nazarene elders who spent their early careers as co-pastors, evangelists, and eventually as missionaries. Later, as Mildred’s ministerial call sought deeper expression in teaching and writing, they continued to affirm their joint calling as fully-fledged partners in ministry throughout their lives.

As an educator and prolific writer, she bravely sought new paradigms through her engagement with Wesley’s theology. One of her notable works, A Theology of Love, published in 1973, shaped a generation of pastors, teachers, and theologians. She taught at several institutions, including Western Evangelical Seminary (Oregon), Japanese Christian Junior College, Japanese Nazarene Theological Seminary, Trevecca Nazarene College (Nashville, TN), and as theologian-in-residence at Nazarene Theological Seminary (Kansas City, MO) from 1976-1980.

The Wynkoop Center was founded in 2003 as an initiative of Nazarene Theological Seminary through the generosity of the Ralph and Mildred Bangs Wynkoop estate. In 2002, Dr. Judi Schwanz (Director 2003-2020), NTS President Ron Benefiel (President 2000 – 2011), and Dr. Keith Schwanz, proposed creating this Center as a way to support women in the life of the Church. Founded initially as the Wynkoop Center for Women in Ministry, the Wynkoop Center for Women in Leadership will continue this legacy and expand its mission to support women in leadership, scholarship, and ecclesial ministry, as well as encourage men to work toward equity and gender parity in ministry.