ABSTRACT

How do independent sacramental churches approach the difficult issues around clergy training? In 2005, John Plummer posed this question in his research dissertation entitled The Many Paths of the Independent Sacramental Movement. This qualitative method case study demonstrated that the training was successfully accomplished by the woman bishop of an independent sacramental church who founded an ecumenical seminary focused on social justice-sacred activism. The focus of this project was the ecumenical liturgy created in honor of the feminine divine createdin celebration of the ordination of the first class in 2023. The analysis demonstrates a strong correlation between the social justice-sacred activism focus of the seminary and the components of the liturgy. We conclude that this method of training is one way that independent sacramental churches can approach the difficult issues around clergy training. 

     Keywords: Independent Sacramental Ministry, ecumenical, feminine divine,       social justice, sacred activism